16 N.Y.2d 267 (1965)

A municipality’s power to regulate traffic on private roads open to public motor vehicle traffic includes the power to prohibit parking, but does not necessarily allow the municipality to permit parking contrary to the wishes of the property owner.

Summary

Fieldston Property Owners’ Association owned streets in fee and contracted with homeowners to maintain them. The City of New York regulated parking on these streets. The Association sued, claiming the city’s actions were a taking of private property without just compensation and an impairment of contract. The Court of Appeals held that the city could prohibit parking, but the Association retained the right to bar parking altogether. The city’s regulations were prohibitive, not permissive, leaving the Association free to use common-law remedies to enforce its own parking rules.

Facts

The Fieldston Property Owners’ Association, Inc. (Association) owned streets in fee simple. The Association had contracts with abutting homeowners to maintain and repair the streets until the City of New York acquired title. The Association allowed the public to use the streets for vehicular traffic for many years. The City of New York (City) had neither taken title to the streets nor maintained them at public expense. The City began regulating parking on these privately owned streets, both permitting and prohibiting it in certain areas.

Procedural History

The Association sued the City, claiming the parking regulations constituted a taking of private property without just compensation and an impairment of the contractual obligation with homeowners. The lower courts ruled in favor of the City, upholding its right to regulate parking. The Association appealed to the New York Court of Appeals.

Issue(s)

Whether the City’s regulation of parking on privately owned streets, by permitting as well as prohibiting parking, constitutes a taking of private property without just compensation or an impairment of contractual obligations, when the property owner has granted public access to the streets but retains ownership and maintenance responsibilities.

Holding

No, because the City’s power to regulate traffic includes the power to prohibit parking. However, the Association, as the owner of the fee, retains the right to bar parking altogether, as the city’s regulations were prohibitive and not permissive.

Court’s Reasoning

The court reasoned that the municipality’s authority to regulate traffic under the Vehicle and Traffic Law (§ 1642) and the New York City Charter (§ 435) includes the power to prohibit, restrict, or regulate traffic, including parking, on highways, even privately owned roads open to public traffic. The court cited People v. Rubin, 284 N.Y. 392, to support the notion that the power to regulate traffic includes the power to prohibit parking. The court emphasized that the city’s parking regulations were “prohibitive” rather than “permissive,” meaning they restricted parking in certain areas but did not affirmatively authorize it. Because the regulations were prohibitive, the court did not need to decide whether the city could constitutionally sanction parking on these private streets over the Association’s objection. The court stated that the Association retained its common-law rights as the fee owner. The court noted, “[T]he plaintiff is entitled to a declaration, therefore, that municipal regulation of parking on these streets does not prevent the plaintiff, as the owner of the fee, from barring parking altogether… [T]he plaintiff, on proper notice, may assure compliance with its rules by rigorous use of traditional common-law remedies.” Judge Burke dissented, arguing that the Association had previously acquiesced to the City’s authority and should not now be able to challenge it, invoking the principle that “one who has availed himself of the benefits of a statute cannot thereafter attack it.”