N.Y. Environmental Conservation Law § 56-0508

§ 56-0508. Foreclosure of a tax lien.\n Notwithstanding any general, special or local law or ordinance to the\ncontrary:\n 1. upon the commencement of a proceeding to foreclose a tax lien, the\ntaxing district bringing the proceeding or any taxing district other\nthan the one foreclosing the tax lien, having any right, title, or\ninterest in, or lien upon, any parcel described in the petition of\nforeclosure may upon twenty days notice to all parties having any right,\ntitle, or interest in, or lien upon such parcel, move, at a special term\nin the court in which the foreclosure proceeding was brought, for an\norder granting such taxing district the temporary incidents of ownership\nof such parcel for the sole purpose of entering the parcel and\nconducting an environmental restoration investigation project upon such\nparcel.\n 2. unless prior to the return date of the motion brought pursuant to\nthis section the parcel has been redeemed by a party having the right of\nredemption, the court shall enter an order granting such relief to such\ntaxing district, or, if more than one taxing district applies for such\nright, to the taxing district which the court determines has the\ngreatest public interest, but, where possible and proper, preferences\nfor such relief should be accorded first to cities and villages, second\nto towns, and third to counties. Such order shall be granted upon such\nterms and conditions as the court shall deem just and proper to permit\nthe environmental investigation to go on unhindered as well as to\nprotect the interests of all other parties having a right, title, or\ninterest in such parcel. Such order shall act as a stay to the\nforeclosure action on such parcel until the environmental restoration\ninvestigation project has been completed and the final investigation\nreport filed with the court pursuant to subdivision four of this section\nor such other time as the court may deem proper, and particularly upon a\nfinding by the court that the investigation has not been carried out in\nan expeditious manner.\n 3. such temporary incidents of ownership by such taxing district shall\nalso qualify it as being the owner of such property for the purposes of\nobtaining funding from the state of New York for such environmental\nrestoration investigation project under this article or for such funding\nfrom any source pursuant to any other state, federal, or local law, but\nsuch incidents of ownership shall not be sufficient to qualify it as the\nowner of such property for the purposes of holding it wholly or\npartially liable for any damages, past, present, or future from any\nrelease of any hazardous material, substance, or contaminant into the\nair, ground, or water, unless such release was caused by such taxing\ndistrict.\n 4. within thirty days of the completion of the environmental\nrestoration investigation project and the receipt by the taxing\njurisdiction of the final report of such investigation, such taxing\njurisdiction shall file such report with the court on notice to the\ncourt and all other parties of record, and the stay of the foreclosure\nshall be lifted (unless lifted earlier by a prior court order), and all\nincidents of temporary ownership of the taxing jurisdiction that was\nawarded such taxing district, except any right to receive funding for\nthe environmental restoration investigation project, shall cease to\nexist, and nothing in this subdivision shall preclude the taxing\njurisdiction that conducted the environmental restoration investigation\nproject or the taxing jurisdiction that commenced the foreclosure\naction, if it is a different taxing jurisdiction than the taxing\njurisdiction which conducted the investigation, from withdrawing the\nparcel from foreclosure pursuant to section eleven hundred thirty-eight\nof the real property tax law.\n 5. all costs associated with any environmental restoration\ninvestigation project conducted pursuant to the authority of this\nsection shall be added to the taxes owed to, and the tax lien of, the\ntaxing district that undertook the environmental restoration\ninvestigation project pursuant to this section.\n