GENTLEMEN— The Local Board of the Eighth District, Borough of Brooklyn, after hearing had at a meeting held on June 29, 1899, duly advertised, adopted the following: Resolved, That the Local Board of the Eighth District, Borough of Brooklyn, deeming it for the public interest so to do, hereby directs that the sidewalk opposite the lots lying on the south side of Sumpter street, between Ralph avenue and Patchen avenue, known as Lots Nos. 44 and 45, Block 43, Twenty-fifth Ward Map, be flagged with bluestone flagging (5) five feet in width, at the expense of the owner or owners of the said lots. "Resolved, That this resolution be forwarded to the Board of Public Improvements for its approval." Attached is copy of report from the Department of Highways. Respectfully, EDWARD M. GROUT, President, Borough of Brooklyn. (Copy.) CITY OF NEW YORK-DEPARTMENT OF HIGHWAYS, Hon. EDWARD M. GROUT, President, Borough of Brooklyn: DEAR SIR-AS requested by you, I have the honor to report that the estimated cost of flagging the sidewalk on the south side of Sumpter street, between Ralph and Patchen avenues, in front of Lots Nos. 44 and 45, Block 43, Twenty-fifth Ward Map, with bluestone flagging, five feet in width, is $42, and that the assessed value of the real estate within the probable area of assessment is $700. Very respectfully, (Signed) Board of Public Improvements: JAMES P. KEATING, Commissioner of Highways. CITY OF NEW YORK-BOROUGH OF BROOKLYN, GENTLEMEN-The Local Board of the Eighth District, Borough of Brooklyn, after hearing had at a meeting held on June 29, 1899, duly advertised, adopted the following: Resolved, That the Local Board of the Eighth District, Borough of Brooklyn, after hear-、 ing had this 29th day of June, 1899, deeming it for the public interest so to do, hereby recommends to the Board of Public Improvements of The City of New York that proceedings be initiated to regulate and grade Prescott place, between Herkimer street and Atlantic avenue, in the Borough of Brooklyn, and to set or reset curb, gutter, lay crosswalks and flag or reflag sidewalks of said street where not already done." The above resolution was adopted by the Local Board at the suggestion of the Commissioner of Highways (see page 889 of the Minutes of the Board of Public Improvements of May 10) as a substitute for a resolution of the Local Board providing that the said street be graded. Respectfully, EDWARD M. GROUT, President of the Borough. The following resolution was adopted : Resolved, by the Board of Public Improvements, That, in pursuance of sections 413 and 422 of the Greater New York Charter, the grading and paving of the carriageway of Meeker 1 avenue with granite blocks, between Kingsland avenue and the Meeker avenue bridge, in the Borough of Brooklyn, and the setting or res. tting of the curb and the flagging or reflagging of the sidewalks of said street where not already done, under the direction of the Commissioner of Highways, be and the same hereby is authorized and approved, there having been presented to said Board an estimate in writing, in such detail as the said Board has directed, of the cost of the proposed work or improvement, and a statement of the assessed value, according to the last preceding tax-roll, of the real estate included within the probable area of assessment, the estimated cost of said work being forty thousand dollars. The said assessed value of the real estate included within the probable area of assessment is one hundred and seventy-four thousand six hundred dollars. And the said Board does hereby determine that no portion of the cost and expense thereof shall be borne and paid by The City of New York, but the whole of such cost and expense shall be assessed upon the property deemed to be benefited thereby. Affirmative Commissioner of Water Supply, Commissioner of Highways, Commissioner of Street Cleaning, Commissioner of Sewers, Commissioner of Bridges, President of the Borough of Brooklyn and President of the Board. Negative-None. In connection with the foregoing resolution, the following form of ordinance was approved for transmission to the Municipal Assembly: IN MUNICIPAL ASSEMBLY. Be it Ordained, by the Municipal Assembly of The City of New York, as follows: That, in pursuance of sections 413 and 422 of the Greater New York Charter, the following resolution of the Board of Public Improvements, adopted by that Board on the 6th day of July, 1899, be and the same hereby is approved, and the public work or improvement therein provided for is hereby authorized, and it is hereby determined that the cost and expense thereof shall be borne and paid as therein provided, namely: "Resolved, by the Board of Public Improvements, That, in pursuance of sections 413 and 422 of the Greater New York Charter, the grading and paving of the carriageway of Meeker avenue with granite blocks, between Kingsland avenue and the Meeker avenue bridge, in the Borough of Brooklyn, and the setting or resetting of the curb, and the flagging or reflagging of the sidewalks of said street where not already done, under the direction of the Commissioner of Highways, be and the same hereby is authorized and approved, there having been presented to said Board an estimate in writing, in such detail as the said Board has directed, of the cost of the proposed work or improvement, and a statement of the assessed value, according to the last preceding tax-roll, of the real estate included within the probable area of assessment, the estimated cost of said work being forty thousand dollars. The said assessed value of the real estate included within the probable area of assessment is one hundred and seventy-four thousand six hundred dollars. "And the said Board does hereby determine that no portion of the cost and expense thereof shall be borne and paid by The City of New York, but the whole of such cost and expense shall be assessed upon the property deemed to be benefited thereby." The following communication from the Corporation Counsel was read, and the matter was laid over for one week: CITY OF NEW YORK, LAW DEPARTMENT, OFFICE OF THE CORPORATION COUNSEL, To the Board of Public Improvements: GENTLEMEN—I am in receipt of your communication of June 2, 1899, which reads as follows: "At a meeting of this Board, held on the 19th day of April, 1899, the President of the Borough of Brooklyn submitted a petition to close Eleventh avenue in said borough. The matter was referred to the Chief Topographical Engineer of the Board, who reported adversely thereon. "At a meeting of the Board held on the 31st ultimo, a communication on the matter was received from the President of the Borough, submitting an opinion from the Counsel of the Title and Guarantee Company,' and the following resolution was thereupon adopted by the Board: 666 'Resolved, That a copy of the communication just read, relating to the closing of Eleventh avenue, in the Borough of Brooklyn, together with a copy of the "opinion of the Counsel of the Title and Guarantee Company" be referred to the Corporation Counsel for his opinion as to whether or not Eleventh avenue, between Forty-third street and New Utrecht avenue, in the Borough of Brooklyn, is owned by the City in fee, or whether the City has an easement thereon. "I inclose copy of the communication from the President of the Borough and of the opinion from the Counsel of the Title and Guarantee Company above named.” In reply thereto I would say that I have examined all the proceedings and laws relative to the laying out and opening of Eleventh avenue, from Forty-third street to New Utrecht avenue, in this Borough, and am unable to find any statute authorizing the town authorities to take the fee of the land in question. Section 11 of resolution of Board of Supervisors (Min. July 30, 1891, page 514) provided, among other things, that "the lands for which awards shall have been made shall thereupon vest in the Town of New Utrecht for the purposes of a public street or highway.” In Sweer vs. Buffalo, N. Y. & P. R. R. Co. (79 N. Y., 293) and in matter of Water Commissioners of Amsterdam (96 N. Y., 351), the Court say: "The act itself, inasmuch as it authorizes the taking of private property against the owner's consent, is to be strictly construed, and while the property and the estate which is to be taken, whether an easement or fee, and the purpose to which it is to be applied, may be designated in the statue, it must be by unequivocal words, and in pursuing it, all prescribed requirements must be strictly observed." In Washington Cemetery vs. Prospect Park and Coney Island R. R. Co. (68 N. Y., 591), the Court say: "The act under which Gravesend avenue was to be opened contained no expression that the fee of the land was to be taken. The land, according to the act, was to be taken for the avenue. There is nothing inconsistent in the public use of the land for an avenue and the retention by the landowners of the fee, subject to the easement. It is not necessary that the exact language should be used in a statute for taking private property for public use in order to vest the fee in the public, but it must clearly appear before this effect can be given to a statute that it was the intention of the Legislature, disclosed by the act itself, to take a fee." The acts authorizing the Town Survey Commissioners to lay out streets and avenues in the county towns of Kings County provided that the streets and avenues laid out by said commissioners should conform to those in the late City of Brooklyn. The late City of Brooklyn took only an easement for street and highway purposes, and not the fee. It is reasonable to suppose that the same system should prevail in the county towns. In view of the foregoing facts, I am of the opinion that the land lying in Eleventh avenue, between Forty-third street and New Utrecht avenue, in the Borough of Brooklyn, is not owned by the City in fee, but that the City has an easement thereon for the uses and purposes of a public street or highway. Respectfully yours, JOHN WHALEN, Corporation Counsel. Thereupon the following resolution was unanimously adopted : Resolved, That the Board of Public Improvements of The City of New York, in pursuance of the provisions of section 436 of chapter 378, Laws of 1897, deeming it for the public interest so to do, propose to alter the map or plan of The City of New York by closing and discontinuing Eleventh avenue, from Forty-third street to New Utrecht avenue, Borough of Brooklyn, City of New York, more particularly described as follows: Resolved, That the President of this Board cause to be prepared for submission to this Board, three similar maps or plans for certification and filing in the matter required by law, showing as nearly as possible the nature and extent of the proposed closing and discontinuing of the abovenamed avenue, and the location of the immediate, adjacent or intersecting, open or established, public streets, avenues, roads, squares, or places, sufficient for the identification or location thereof. Resolved, That this Board consider the proposed closing and discontinuing of the abovenamed avenue at a meeting of this Board to be held in the office of this Board on the 26th day of July, 1899, at 2 o'clock P. M. Resolved, That the Secretary of this Board cause these resolutions, and a notice to all persons affected thereby, that the proposed closing and discontinuing of the above-named avenue will be considered at a meeting of this Board to be held at the aforesaid time and place, to be published in the CITY RECORD and corporation newspapers for ten days continuously, Sundays and legal holidays excepted, prior to the 26th day of July, 1899. The following report from the Chief Topographical Engineer was read and placed on file : CITY OF NEW YORK-TOPOGRAPHICAL BUREAU, June 29, 1899. Mr. JOHN H. MOONEY, Secretary, Board of Public Improvements : SIR-In reply to the action taken by the Board of Public Improvements, referring, for report, letter from Van Riper and La Coste, including six surveys in relation to the resetting of monuments on Park avenue, between East One Hundred and Sixty-fifth street and the Twenty-third Ward line, in the Borough of The Bronx, I have to state that the stakes which are set in Park avenue in the vicinity of the property of Van Riper and La Coste were set to monument the street lines as filed on the final maps and profiles of the Twenty-third and Twenty-fourth Wards, are correct, and cannot be altered without changing the block dimensions as given on the final maps. The houses were probably staked out in accordance with monuments set by the Park Department, and must have been wrong if the surveys made for Van Riper and La Coste are correct. The present points set for the streets between Park avenue and Third avenue indicate that the ground is there and that the petitioners on the south end of their property failed to use two feet in the rear from Park avenue. On October 15, 1891, a stake was set for the correct position of a monument, and the old monument was allowed to remain, which fact could be seen by the surveyor when he made his second survey for staking out the buildings, January 25, 1892, and March 10, 1892. The papers and surveys in the matter are herewith returned. |