Opinion
March 12, 1962
In consolidated condemnation proceedings (known as Neversink Riparian Sections 3, 4 and 5, Sullivan and Orange Counties), pursuant to title K of the Administrative Code of the City of New York (known as the Water Supply Act), to acquire real estate in Sullivan and Orange Counties for and on behalf of the City of New York, for the purpose of diverting and providing an additional water supply for the city's use, the claimants Riehle appeal from an order of the Supreme Court, Orange County, dated February 24, 1959 and entered August 6, 1959, which denied their motion to direct the Commissioners of Appraisal to accept their claims and to determine the damages sustained by them to their property by reason of the taking and diversion of the waters of the Neversink River. Order affirmed, without costs. These proceedings and these claimants have been before this court on prior occasions ( Matter of Huie [ Riehle], 6 A.D.2d 838; 6 A.D.2d 1015). On this appeal claimants contend, inter alia: (1) that the notice provisions of said title K of the Administrative Code are unconstitutional; (2) that the city is estopped from asserting that a claim had not been timely filed; (3) that the city is also estopped from asserting that the requirements for such filing had not been waived by it; and (4) that in any event the city failed to comply with the statutory requirements. We find no merit in these contentions. The notice provisions of the Water Supply Act (Administrative Code of City of New York, tit. K) are constitutional ( Schroeder v. City of New York, 10 N.Y.2d 522). Failure to file the claim within three years bars claimants' right to compensation ( Schroeder v. City of New York, supra; Benedict v. State of New York, 120 N.Y. 228, 232). In our opinion, there is no basis in this record for a claim of waiver or estoppel on the part of the city to plead the Statute of Limitations. We also believe that the notices, the taking maps, the posting, and the petition were not defective. Nor is any time limitation prescribed by the statute for the completion of a massive project such as the one here involved. Beldock, P.J., Kleinfeld, Brennan, Hill and Rabin, JJ., concur.