Section 335. Filing of maps and abandonment of subdivisions in Suffolk county; penalty for nonfiling

1. It shall be the duty of  every  person
  or  corporation,  excepting church cemetery organizations, attached to a
  religious parish within the county of Suffolk, who  as  owner  or  agent
  subdivides  real  property in Suffolk county into lots, plots, blocks or
  sites, with or without streets, for the purpose of offering  such  lots,
  plots,  blocks  or  sites for sale to the public, regardless of how they
  are conveyed, to file or cause to be filed in the office of  the  county
  clerk of Suffolk county a map thereof together with a certificate of the
  surveyor  endorsed  on the face of such map certifying same to have been
  made from an actual survey of the property  that  was  performed  by  or
  under  the  direction of said surveyor and the date of the completion of
  the  survey.  Said  certificate  shall  state  that  stone  or  concrete
  monuments  have  been  set  at not less than two corners of every street
  intersection as indicated on such map, provided, however, that where the
  planning board or other governmental agency having jurisdiction over the
  approval of said maps has required the subdivider to  deposit  with  the
  town  or  local governing body a performance bond or bonds to secure the
  installation and completion of all site improvements, including  setting
  stone   or   concrete   monuments  in  the  streets  as  aforesaid,  and
  simultaneously with the filing of said map the subdivider files with the
  county clerk a written certification from the town  or  local  governing
  body  that  such  bond or bonds have been duly deposited and accepted by
  the town or local governing body and that said bond or  bonds  expressly
  include  the  setting  of  stone or concrete monuments as aforesaid, the
  said surveyor's certificate may state that stone or  concrete  monuments
  will be set at not less than two corners of every street intersection as
  indicated  on  such  map  upon  completion  of  the installation of said
  streets and that the  surveyor  shall  execute  and  deliver  a  further
  written  certification  of  the completion of such monumentation to both
  the county clerk and the town or local governing body prior to and as  a
  condition  for  the  release of said performance bond or bonds. All lots
  and blocks on such map shall be numbered consecutively. Said  map  shall
  set  forth  the courses, measurements and adjoining property owners with
  sufficient definiteness to determine the location of said  property  and
  the  name  of  the  subdivision  as  stated by the owner. Said name must
  differ from any name already filed with the county  clerk  and  must  be
  approved  by  the  county clerk before the acceptance of the map. At the
  time of the filing of such map there shall  also  be  furnished  to  the
  county  clerk  two copies of such map for each town and village in which
  any portion of the mapped property is located. Such copies shall be duly
  certified by him to be true copies of the  original  and  one  certified
  copy shall be forwarded by said county clerk to the assessor or board of
  assessors,  as  the  case  may  be, of each town or village in which any
  portion of said property is located. At the time of filing such map with
  the county clerk an abstract of title of all of the  property  shown  on
  said  map  which  shall cover a period of not less than the twenty years
  last past the date  it  is  submitted,  certified  by  an  attorney  and
  counselor  at  law  of  the  state  of  New  York,  a title company duly
  incorporated and authorized to transact business in  the  state  of  New
  York  or  a  competent  searcher  of  titles, shall be presented to said
  county clerk, and be filed in his  office,  unless  the  title  to  said
  property has been duly registered pursuant to the provisions of the real
  property  law  for the registration of titles to real property, in which
  case this fact shall be set forth upon the original  map  together  with
  the  number  of  the certificate of the title so registered. An index of
  such abstracts and registrations shall be maintained to clearly indicate
  the maps to which they refer. In the case of a tax title, the fee  title

  for  a period of at least twenty years prior to the date of the tax sale
  under which title is  claimed  must  be  submitted  as  a  part  of  the
  abstract.  A key map, made to the scale of six hundred feet to one inch,
  must appear on all maps submitted and must show one or more monuments in
  the  tract  definitely  tied  to  a given point or a monument set at the
  point of the intersection of the side lines (as prolonged, if there is a
  curve) of two established highways; said point or monument shall be that
  which is nearest the  proposed  subdivision  and  shall  not  require  a
  measurement  to be made across any portion of an established highway. No
  re-mapping of subdivided property will  be  accepted  for  filing  until
  there  has been filed with the county clerk a certificate of abandonment
  and cancellation of the original  map  or  the  portion  thereof  to  be
  abandoned  and  cancelled in accordance with the provisions of this act.
  Before a map will be eligible for filing, a certificate  of  the  county
  treasurer  of Suffolk county or the report of a tax search by a licensed
  title company must be submitted by the  party  presenting  the  map  for
  filing as a part of the abstract of title showing the payment in full of
  all taxes due and payable at the date of filing. Such maps and abstracts
  of title shall be filed as aforesaid and a copy of said map filed in the
  office  of  the  clerk of each town or village where any portion of said
  property is located prior to the offering for sale  of  any  lot,  plot,
  block  or  site  thereon.  All  such  maps must be printed or drawn upon
  tracing cloth or linen or printed on mylar and must  be  of  a  standard
  size  of eighteen inches by twenty inches or thirty-six inches by twenty
  inches and the original of such maps filed in said county clerk's office
  shall be placed and kept by some suitable method in  consecutive  order,
  be  consecutively  numbered  in the order of filing and shall be indexed
  under the initial letters of all of the substantives in the title of the
  subdivision. However, he may  maintain  a  record  of  such  maps  in  a
  microfilm  format  provided  he  supplies facilities for displaying said
  maps through projection with microfilm to the aforesaid standard  sizes.
  The  fee  of  the  county clerk for such filing, certifying and indexing
  each  map  and  copy  thereof,  and  abstract  of  title  therewith  and
  forwarding  copies of said map to the assessors, boards of assessors and
  clerks of the towns and villages where the property therein described is
  located, shall be ten dollars and be paid by the party  presenting  them
  for  filing.  Failure to file any such map as required by the provisions
  of this section shall subject the owner of such subdivision  or  of  the
  unsold lots therein, to a penalty to the people of the state of New York
  of  two  hundred  fifty  dollars for each and every lot therein sold and
  conveyed by or for such owner prior to the due filing of  such  map  and
  abstract of title as aforesaid. The requirements as provided for in this
  section  may  be  applied  to  the  filing of each and every kind of map
  submitted for filing which is not a subdivision map of real property, at
  the discretion of the county clerk, and the filing fee  of  ten  dollars
  shall be paid for the filing of any non-subdivision map so submitted.
    2.  Every  such  subdivision  map  of  property in any of the towns of
  Suffolk county located wholly or partly outside an incorporated  village
  in  such  towns,  shall,  before  the  filing  thereof,  as hereinbefore
  provided, have indorsed on the face thereof in writing the  approval  of
  the  planning  board  of such towns, or in the towns not having planning
  boards, the approval of the town board. Likewise, every such subdivision
  map of property located wholly or partly within an incorporated village,
  shall before the filing thereof, as hereinbefore provided, have endorsed
  on the face thereof in writing the approval of  the  planning  board  of
  such  village, or in a village not having a planning board, the approval
  of the board of trustees. In addition, every  such  subdivision  map  of
  property  in  any of the towns of the county of Suffolk, whether located

  wholly or partly, inside or outside, an  incorporated  village  in  such
  towns,  shall  before the filing thereof, as hereinbefore provided, have
  endorsed on the face thereof in  writing  the  approval  of  the  county
  department of health.
    3.  Whenever at least two years have elapsed since the filing of a map
  of the subdivision of any tract of land  into  lots,  plots,  blocks  or
  sites,  with  or  without  opened  or  proposed roads, the owner of such
  tract, or of any part thereof, may abandon and cancel the subdivision of
  the property so owned by recording in the office of the county  clerk  a
  written  certificate  of  abandonment,  duly  executed and acknowledged,
  which shall contain a description of the property to be  abandoned,  the
  complete  title  or  name  of  the  map, the filing date and file number
  thereof, except that no opened or proposed  streets,  other  than  those
  entirely  within the bounds of the property to be abandoned, or the area
  within such bounds of streets which as laid out on said map  come  to  a
  dead-end  within  such bounds, shall be abandoned unless each owner of a
  lot or interest in the subdivision consents to the  abandonment  thereof
  by  instrument  in writing duly executed, acknowledged and recorded with
  the certificate of abandonment;  provided,  however,  that  whenever  at
  least  twenty years have elapsed since the filing of said map, the owner
  of the property to be abandoned may, without such consent,  abandon  any
  streets  or  portions thereof shown on said map and which are within the
  bounds of the property to be  abandoned  if  such  streets  or  portions
  thereof are neither opened, nor public highways, nor used by the public,
  nor  necessary  for  the  use  of owners, occupants or any other persons
  having an interest in any part of the subdivision;  but  nothing  herein
  shall  prevent an owner using or a seller of land from conveying part of
  a lot, plot or site separately or together with an adjoining  lot,  plot
  or  site, subject to the provisions of local zoning ordinances. Whenever
  there is on file more than one map of the property to be abandoned, such
  property must be abandoned in the manner herein provided as to  each  of
  such maps.  A copy of each certificate of abandonment must be filed with
  the  assessor and/or board of assessors of each town and village wherein
  any portion of the  property  to  be  abandoned  is  situated,  and  the
  endorsement  of approval by each such assessor and/or board of assessors
  must be endorsed on the original of each certificate  presented  to  the
  county  clerk  for recording. An abstract of title to the property to be
  abandoned covering a period of at least twenty years last  past,  and  a
  certificate of the county treasurer of Suffolk county to the effect that
  there  are  no unpaid tax liens against such property, must be submitted
  to the county clerk and be approved by him at the time  the  certificate
  of   abandonment   and  cancellation  is  offered  for  recording.  Said
  certificates and abstracts shall be filed in the county clerk's  office,
  a  suitable index shall be kept of the same, and notice thereof shall be
  endorsed by the recording officer upon the map therein  referred  to  at
  the  time  of  recording  the  certificate  of  abandonment.  Where  the
  endorsement of approval of the town or village assessor  above  referred
  to  includes  a  recitation to the effect that the municipality has duly
  adopted an urban renewal plan pursuant to article fifteen of the general
  municipal law which plan provides for  adequate  street  access  to  all
  properties  within  and  adjacent to the planning area, and further that
  the  property  to  be  abandoned  is  subject  to  said  plan,  and  its
  abandonment  is  required  thereunder, the clerk shall accept and record
  the certificate of abandonment tendered therefor regardless of the  area
  thereof,  and  notwithstanding  that  the  property to be abandoned is a
  portion of an opened or proposed street for which  the  consent  to  the
  abandonment  thereof required in this subdivision has not been obtained.
  Upon the abandonment of subdivided  property  as  herein  provided  such

  property shall, for all purposes, be regarded as a single tract of land.
  No abandonment of lot divisions shall be made under this section for the
  purpose  of  reviving  or  making effective any other subdivision of the
  same  tract  of land and no map may be reinstated as it was prior to the
  filing of any abandonment certificate. The fee of the county  clerk  for
  such  filing  and indexing each certificate and abstract therewith shall
  be ten dollars and shall be  paid  by  the  party  presenting  them  for
  filing.  Provided, however, that the Suffolk county board of supervisors
  shall have full authority to abandon any subdivision of property or  any
  portion  thereof  which  the county of Suffolk now owns or may hereafter
  acquire through the sale of tax liens, by causing to be filed  with  the
  county  clerk  of  Suffolk  county,  a  certificate of abandonment, duly
  executed by the said county board, without regard to any  of  the  other
  foregoing  requirements  of  this  section.  Nothing  contained  in this
  section shall be construed to prevent  the  filing  of  a  new  map  and
  certificate  of  a subdivision of real property in the manner prescribed
  herein, after, and in the area of,  a  subdivision  or  portion  thereof
  abandoned in accordance with the provisions of this section.