STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 9408--A IN SENATE May 15, 2024 ___________ Introduced by Sen. HOYLMAN-SIGAL -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Cities 1 -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee AN ACT to amend the Hudson river park act, in relation to the rights, powers, duties and jurisdiction of the Hudson river park trust and the boundaries and uses of the Hudson river park The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. The opening paragraph of subdivision (e) and subdivisions 2 (g), (j) and (m) of section 3 of chapter 592 of the laws of 1998, 3 constituting the Hudson river park act, as amended by chapter 517 of the 4 laws of 2013, are amended to read as follows: 5 "Hudson river park" or "park" means the area in the city and county of 6 New York within the following boundaries, but excluding [pier 76 except 7 as otherwise provided in paragraph (c) of subdivision nine of section 8 seven of this act and] piers 78, 88, 90, 92 and 94 and their associated 9 upland areas: 10 (g) "Park/commercial use" means a use that is not a prohibited use and 11 is compatible with park use, and that is: 12 (i) a transportation water dependent use, including commercial mari- 13 time and marine ferry terminals; 14 (ii) an entertainment, retail, restaurant, broadcast, television, or 15 film or media studio facility, commercial recreational use, commercial 16 amusements, performing arts, schools and educational facilities; 17 (iii) limited parking spaces incidental to permitted uses; 18 (iv) solely at piers 59, 60, and 61 and the headhouse (commonly known 19 as "Chelsea Piers") the uses authorized at such piers and headhouse as 20 of the effective date of this act; 21 (v) a non-tourism/non-recreation heliport for commercial and emergen- 22 cy transportation use; [and] 23 (vi) solely at [pier] piers 57 and 76, business, professional or 24 governmental offices[;], provided that at pier 76, the height of any 25 commercial office building may not exceed a height of one hundred eight- EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD15130-06-4
S. 9408--A 2 1 y-five feet measured from the deck of the pier, excluding building 2 mechanicals, and provided further that any such office building may not 3 be located proximate to the pier's edge along the western or southern 4 portion of the pier; and 5 (vii) solely at pier 76, large-scale amusement rides and other tourist 6 attractions; warehouse facilities needed for waterborne transportation 7 activities occurring at the pier; and floating restaurants. 8 (j) "Prohibited use" means any of the following uses: 9 (i) residential; 10 (ii) manufacturing, except in furtherance of and incidental to park 11 uses, provided that small scale creation of artisan foods or other craft 12 products shall not be considered manufacturing; 13 (iii) warehousing; 14 (iv) hotel; 15 (v) incompatible governmental uses; 16 (vi) casino and riverboat gambling, and the docking of vessels to be 17 used substantially for gambling or for transportation to such a vessel; 18 (vii) any facility for motorized aircraft, including a heliport except 19 a heliport which is defined as a park/commercial use; 20 (viii) commercial office, except office space that is incidental to a 21 permitted use, and further provided that such prohibition shall not 22 apply to [pier] piers 57 and 76; and 23 (ix) other uses determined by the trust to be incompatible with the 24 purposes of this act. 25 (m) "Water dependent use" excludes any prohibited use and means: 26 (i) any use that depends on utilization of resources found in the 27 water section; 28 (ii) recreational activities that depend on access to the water 29 section, such as fishing, boating, swimming in such waters, passive 30 enjoyment of the Hudson river and wildlife protection and viewing; 31 (iii) facilities and incidental structures needed to dock and service 32 boats; 33 (iv) scientific and educational activities that by their nature 34 require access to marine reserve waters; 35 (v) the development, operation and maintenance of a non-tourism/non- 36 recreational heliport located between west 29th and west 32nd streets 37 provided (A) that there shall be no structures other than the helicopter 38 take-off or landing pads built on floating structures; and (B) such 39 floating structures shall be no higher than a pier deck at low tide; and 40 (vi) mooring or docking of a barge used as part of a cultural, educa- 41 tional, historic or other public programming in the park; provided that 42 no more than two barges may be moored or docked per year and provided 43 further that the duration of any such mooring or docking of a barge 44 shall be limited to six months per year at any location within the boun- 45 daries of the park, except that at pier 76, the limit of six months per 46 year shall not apply. 47 § 2. Subdivision 1-a of section 7 of chapter 592 of the laws of 1998, 48 constituting the Hudson river park act, as added by chapter 517 of the 49 laws of 2013, is amended to read as follows: 50 1-a. The trust shall not be authorized to forgo or assign any revenues 51 or payments due to it by law, provided however that the trust may assign 52 revenues or payments to maintain, reconstruct and repair the piers and 53 bulkheads existing and as depicted in the May 20, 1998 final environ- 54 mental impact statement within their historic footprints or boundaries 55 subject to a determination by the department of environmental conserva- 56 tion that, to the maximum extent practicable, any significant adverse
S. 9408--A 3 1 impact on the marine environment resulting from such maintenance, recon- 2 struction or repair will be minimized or avoided, and provided further 3 that the reconstruction of pier 54 and pier 76 shall not be subject to 4 the historic footprint restriction, provided that at pier 76, any change 5 to the historic footprint shall result in the same size footprint and in 6 more than fifty percent of the footprint dedicated to a park use. 7 § 3. Paragraphs (c) and (i) of subdivision 9 of section 7 of chapter 8 592 of the laws of 1998, constituting the Hudson river park act, para- 9 graph (c) as amended by section 2 of part WW of chapter 56 of the laws 10 of 2020 and paragraph (i) as amended by chapter 517 of the laws of 2013, 11 are amended to read as follows: 12 (c) [(i) On or before July 1, 2020, the city of New York shall convey 13 to the state of New York under the jurisdiction of the office of parks, 14 recreation and historic preservation its interest in Pier 76, who, upon 15 such conveyance shall immediately lease a possessory interest to the 16 trust. Upon such conveyance, Pier 76 shall become part of the park and 17 shall remain part of the park under the operational control of the trust 18 and following redevelopment at least] No less than the equivalent of 19 fifty percent of the Pier 76 footprint shall be used for park uses that 20 are limited to passive and active open space [and which shall be contig- 21 uous to water; and provided further that the remaining portion shall be 22 for park/commercial use. (ii) The city of New York shall, prior to 23 December 31, 2020, cease using or occupying Pier 76 for any purposes. 24 Should the city of New York continue to use or occupy Pier 76 for any 25 purpose subsequent to December 31, 2020, the city of New York shall (A) 26 compensate the trust in the amount of twelve million dollars, and (B) 27 beginning February 1, 2021, pay fees in the amount of three million 28 dollars for each complete or partial month of occupancy. (iii) On or 29 after the effective date of the chapter of the laws of 2020 which 30 amended this paragraph, the trust shall be entitled to timely and 31 reasonable access to Pier 76 for the purpose of conducting assessments 32 and inspections necessary to further redevelopment of Pier 76 following 33 its inclusion in the park. (iv) Beginning July 1, 2020, the city of New 34 York shall periodically prepare and submit a report to the state of New 35 York, with a copy to the trust, detailing actions taken by the city of 36 New York to relocate the tow pound. In the event that the city provides 37 demonstrable evidence of its effort to relocate the tow pound or any 38 other city uses of Pier 76, initiation of and compliance with land use 39 review processes and environmental review processes, such as, issuance 40 of a request for qualifications or request for proposals for design or 41 construction services for the project; and initiation and completion of 42 construction of, and relocation to a replacement tow pound, the state of 43 New York, in its sole discretion, may waive the fees assessed in subpar- 44 agraph (iii) of this paragraph. (v) This paragraph may be enforced by a 45 court of competent jurisdiction and in any suit brought by the state, 46 through the attorney general, the trust shall not be a necessary party]; 47 provided that up to one hundred percent of this pier may be limited to 48 park use as determined by the trust. Notwithstanding any other 49 provision of this act to the contrary, commercial or municipal parking 50 garages or facilities are not permitted at Pier 76. 51 (i) Consistent with the general project plan, the area of the park 52 east of the bulkhead line shall be used solely for park use and to 53 permit access to permitted uses; provided that this limitation shall not 54 apply to (i) the area east of the bulkhead line at pier 76 or those 55 areas east of the bulkhead line that are occupied by pier headhouses or 56 other pier-related structures at the base of piers 57, 59, 60, and 61;
S. 9408--A 4 1 (ii) a one story heliport terminal building, fuel tank structure and 2 five accessory parking spaces used in connection with a water dependent 3 non-tourism/non-recreational heliport to be located on a floating struc- 4 ture or fixed barge in the Hudson River located between west 29th and 5 west 32nd streets (referred to in this paragraph as "the site") provided 6 that the landing and takeoff area located east of the bulkhead may 7 continue to operate until the landing and takeoff area west of the bulk- 8 head is completed and operational. If the trust initiates a request for 9 proposals relating to a heliport, the trust shall meet the following 10 requirements: 11 (A) the trust shall form a West 30th street heliport site task force 12 consisting of: three members appointed by the chair of Manhattan commu- 13 nity board 4, and one member each appointed respectively by the Manhat- 14 tan borough president, and by the New York City councilmember, the New 15 York state senator, the New York state assembly member, and the United 16 States representative whose districts include the area of the site, and 17 one member appointed by the commissioners of the state departments of 18 transportation and environmental conservation acting jointly and by the 19 commissioners of the New York city department of transportation and the 20 department of environmental protection acting jointly. The task force 21 shall review and comment upon any draft request for proposals under this 22 subparagraph before it is issued; (B) the task force shall review and 23 comment upon the proposed request for proposals no less than ninety days 24 before the final request for proposal is issued; provided that members 25 of the task force and the officials who appointed them shall not be 26 involved in the selection of contractors or vendors under the request 27 for proposals, except and unless in relation to a public office held by 28 the individual; (C) any final plan, contract or lease for the site shall 29 not exceed the requirements of this act; or (iii) an interim commercial 30 recreational use along the upland park area between 29th and 34th 31 streets, provided that: (A) any such related enclosed structure shall 32 not exceed two stories; (B) any such use and any related enclosed struc- 33 ture shall not exceed a maximum of two hundred feet in length and shall 34 maintain open view corridors to the Hudson river from streets running 35 towards and away from the park and shall not be located within any 36 designated visual corridors consistent with and to the extent required 37 under the city of New York zoning requirements; and (C) such interim 38 upland commercial recreational use shall not be permitted to be located 39 or continue to operate after July 1, 2024. 40 § 4. Paragraph (c) of subdivision 3 of section 8 of chapter 592 of the 41 laws of 1998, constituting the Hudson river park act, is amended and a 42 new paragraph (g) is added to read as follows: 43 (c) Paragraph (b) of this subdivision shall not prohibit floating 44 structures, and lateral stabilizing elements to secure such floating 45 structures, for water dependent uses; minor improvements along the shore 46 front including bulkhead and other repairs, habitat restoration, and 47 platforms either for a waterfront esplanade or to allow public access to 48 the Hudson river; subject to the limitation that, in the aggregate, no 49 more than eight acres of the water section may be covered or altered by 50 floating structures or minor improvements at any time. Any building or 51 other structure constructed on a floating structure must be limited to 52 water dependent uses and may not exceed one story. No dredge spoils 53 shall be allowed for any purpose. Nothing in this subdivision shall 54 impair the ability of the trust or other persons to maintain navigabili- 55 ty or maintain, reconstruct and repair the piers and bulkheads existing 56 and as depicted in the May 20, 1998 final environmental impact statement
S. 9408--A 5 1 within their historic footprints or boundaries or as otherwise author- 2 ized in this chapter subject to a determination by the department of 3 environmental conservation that, to the maximum extent practicable, any 4 significant adverse impact on the marine environment resulting from such 5 maintenance, reconstruction or repair will be minimized or avoided. 6 (g) Notwithstanding the provisions of this section, pier 76 may be 7 reconstructed outside of its historic footprint provided that any change 8 to the historic footprint shall result in the same size footprint and in 9 more than fifty percent of the footprint dedicated to a park use. 10 § 5. Severability. If any provision of this act, or any application of 11 any provision of this act, is held to be invalid, or to violate or be 12 inconsistent with any federal law or regulation, that shall not affect 13 the validity or effectiveness of any other provision of this act, or of 14 any other application of any provision of this act, which can be given 15 effect without that provision or application; and to that end, the 16 provisions and applications of this act are severable. 17 § 6. This act shall take effect on the one hundred eightieth day after 18 it shall have become a law.