Local governments, and developers and other property owners, as well as their counsel, routinely face the challenge of “demapping” or discontinuing unimproved “paper streets” contained on a subdivision map. Less often, they also must consider demapping improved streets. The reasons for demapping can be quite varied, ranging from urban renewal and construction or property development to public safety.
Numerous sections of New York law make reference to the different standards that apply to demapping streets in counties, towns, and cities. Authority for discontinuing streets is found in Highway Law §131-b(1) for counties, General City Law §§20(7) and 29 for cities, Second Class Cities Law §101 for second class cities, the Administrative Code of the City of New York §5-432(a) for New York City, Highway Law §§171(2) and 205(1) for towns, and Village Law §§6-612 and 6-614 for villages. These various statutes were enacted at different times and do not reflect uniform standards or procedures. A county may discontinue a highway, for instance, by merely determining that the “interest of the county will be promoted thereby,”1 whereas a town may discontinue a highway only if it has become “useless”2 or “abandoned.”3
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