Whenever a board of appeals shall be established, the building commissioner of the city shall thereupon have exclusive power to grant building permits, and any order, requirement, decision or determination made by him in reference thereto shall be final, except as hereinafter provided.

Appeals to the board of appeals may be taken by any person or corporation aggrieved, by the city or any officer, department, board or bureau thereof, affected by any decision of the building commissioner of the city. Such appeal shall be taken within the time provided by the rules of the board of appeals, by filing with the officer from whose action the appeal is taken and with the board of appeals a notice of appeal, specifying the grounds thereof. The officer from whose decision the appeal is taken shall forthwith transmit to the board of appeals all papers constituting the record upon which the action appealed from was taken, or, in lieu thereof, certified copies of said papers.

An appeal shall stay all proceedings in furtherance of the action appealed from, unless the officer from whose decision the appeal is taken certifies to the board of appeals, after the notice of appeal shall have filed with him, that by reason of facts stated in the certificate, a stay would in his opinion cause imminent peril to life or property. In such case proceedings shall not be stayed otherwise than by a restraining order which may be granted by the board of appeals or by a court of record on notice to the officer from whose decision the appeal is taken and on due cause shown.

The board of appeals shall fix a reasonable time for the hearing of the appeal, due notice of which shall be given to the parties in interest, and shall decide said appeal within thirty days after the final hearing thereon. Upon the hearing any party may appear in person, by agent or by attorney. Hearings on appeals shall be held before at least four members of the board of appeals.

The board of appeals, to such extent as may be provided by the council in said ordinance, may reverse or affirm, wholly or partly, or may modify the order, requirement, decision or determination appealed from and shall make such order, requirement, decision or determination as in its opinion ought to be made in the premises, and to that end shall have all the powers of the officer from whom the appeal is taken.

The concurring vote of four members of the board shall be necessary to reverse any order, requirement, decision or determination of the building commissioner, or to decide in favor of the applicant any matter upon which it is required to pass under any such ordinance or to effect any variation in such ordinance. The decision of the board shall be in writing and shall be immediately filed in the office of the city clerk.

The city, any person or corporation, or any officer, department or bureau of the municipality aggrieved by any decision of the board of appeals, may present to a court of record a petition, duly verified, setting forth that such decision is illegal, in whole or in part, specifying the grounds of the illegality. Such petition shall be presented to the court within thirty days after the filing of the decision in the office of the board.

Upon the presentation of such petition, the court may allow an order of certiorari directed to the board of appeals to review such decision of the board of appeals, and shall prescribe therein the time within which a return thereto must be made and served upon the relator's attorney, which shall not be less than ten days and may be extended by the court, or a justice thereof, without notice. The granting of the order shall not act as a stay of any act permitted by the decision appealed from, but the court may, on application, on notice to the board and on due cause shown, grant an order restraining any such act.

The board of appeals shall not be required to return the original papers acted upon by it, but it shall be sufficient to return certified or sworn copies thereof or of such portions thereof as may be called for by such order. The return shall concisely set forth such other facts as may be pertinent and material to show the grounds of the decision appealed from and shall be verified.

If upon the hearing it shall appear to the court that testimony is necessary for the proper disposition of the matter, it may take evidence which shall constitute a part of the proceedings upon which the determination of the court shall be made. The court may reverse or affirm, wholly or partly, or may modify the decision brought up for review.

Costs shall not be allowed against the board, unless the court finds that it acted with gross negligence or in bad faith, or with malice, in making the decision appealed from.

(5) No ordinance establishing any district, or any regulation or restriction governing the same, shall be adopted pursuant to the authority granted by this section until after a public hearing has been held in relation thereto, at which interested parties shall have an opportunity to be heard.

§ 2. Partial invalidity. If any clause, sentence, paragraph or part of this act shall for any reason be adjudged by any court of competent jurisdiction to be invalid, such judgment shall not affect, impair or invalidate the remainder thereof, but shall be confined in its operation to the clause, sentence, paragraph or part thereof, directly involved in the controversy in which such judgment shall have been rendered.

3. This local law shall take effect immediately.

LOCAL LAW No. 3*

A local law permitting publication in the city record of the annual notice of sale of real estate for the non-payment of taxes.

Became a law September 10, 1924, with the approval of the Council. Passed by the local legislative body of the city of Buffalo.

Be it enacted by the council of the city of Buffalo as follows:

Section 1. The assessor shall cause to be published once in the official paper, or in any daily newspaper published in the city of * Numbered 4 by city of Buffalo.

Buffalo, New York, or in the city record, as the council may in its discretion direct, a list or statement of the real estate charged with the payment of such taxes and assessments, with additions, fees, interest and expenses, and so liable to be sold, and also a notice that the said real estate will, on a day not less than three weeks from the date of such publication, which day shall be specified in such notice, and the succeeding days, be sold at public auction to the highest bidder, at the city and county hall in the said city of Buffalo to pay the taxes, additions, fees, interest and expenses thereon which may remain unpaid at the time of such sale. On the day named in said notice said assessor or one of said board of assessors, shall commence the sale of said real estate at auction to the highest bidder, and shall continue such sale from day to day until the whole thereof shall be sold; but the owner of any piece of land or his representative may redeem the same at any time before the actual sale thereof, by paying the tax or taxes for which it is to be sold, with all accrued interest, additions, fees and expenses of sale. It shall be the duty of said assessor, said member of said board of assessors to bid in for the city all parcels of real estate at such sale, which shall not be purchased by any other person at a rate sufficient to pay the taxes for which the land is to be sold, with all accrued interest, additions, fees and expenses of sale.

or

§ 2. Section one hundred and sixty-eight of chapter two hundred and seventeen of the laws of nineteen hundred and fourteen, entitled, "An act to provide a charter for the city of Buffalo," as last amended by chapter ninety-nine of the laws of nineteen hundred and twenty is hereby superseded.

§ 3. This local law shall take effect immediately.

LOCAL LAW No. 4*

A local law permitting publication by the city of various matters and advertisements in the city record and in the council proceedings and providing for the printing and distribution of the same.

Became a law September 10, 1924, with the approval of the Council. Passed by the local legislative body of the city of Buffalo.

Be it enacted by the council of the city of Buffalo as follows:

Section 1. The council may, at any time, in its discretion, provide by ordinance for the publication of a city record and of a council proceedings at such periods and with such provisions for their distribution as may be in such ordinance provided. The journal of the proceedings of the council may be published as provided by ordinance in the council proceedings instead of the official paper. The quarterly yearly report of the city's financial

* Numbered 5 by city of Buffalo.

operations required to be published in section fifty-one of this act, may be published in the city record, instead of the official paper, and it may also contain such advertisements by the city or any of its officers or departments for bids inviting sealed proposals for the performance of contracts, for the purchase of materials or the sale of property of the city, and the sale of city bonds, and such other matters as may be provided by ordinance. In the discretion of the council, the proposals under section twenty-five of the charter may be required to be submitted in separate form so that the proposal for publication shall be separated from proposals for printing; and the council may also receive bids from printers for such printing, and bids may be also received for all other city printing, including the publication of a city record and of a council proceedings. The city shall have power, in the discretion of the council, to do its own printing and provide for the distribution of the city record and of the council proceedings.

§ 2. Section twenty-six of chapter two hundred and seventeen of the laws of nineteen hundred and fourteen, entitled "An act to provide a charter for the city of Buffalo," is hereby superseded. § 3. This local law shall take effect immediately.

LOCAL LAW No. 5*

A local law in relation to special permission to erect, place or rebuild any building within the outer limits contrary to ordinance.

Became a law November 26, 1924, with the approval of the Council. Passed by the local legislative body of the city of Buffalo.

Be it enacted by the council of the city of Buffalo as follows:

Section 1. The council shall, in addition to the authority conferred under general laws, from time to time enact ordinances to prescribe general regulations for the erection of all buildings in the city; to define the limits within which wooden buildings shall not be erected, placed or rebuilt, and the manner in, and materials of which all buildings shall be constructed within such limits, also to define outer limits in which wooden buildings may be constructed, placed or rebuilt, under such regulations as may be imposed by ordinance, which ordinance may further provide that a special permit therefor shall be obtained from the head of the department having charge of the issuing of regular permits for the erection of buildings, with a right to appeal to the council where such permit is refused; every building erected or placed contrary to any ordinance passed under the above provisions shall be deemed a common nuisance, and may be abated as such. A resolution granting special permission to erect, place or rebuild any building within the outer limits contrary to such ordinances can only be passed at a regular meeting. To preNumbered 6 by city of Buffalo.

vent all unsafe construction or condition of chimneys, flues, stoves, pipes and other things used for fire or conducting smoke; to compel the cleaning of them, and to regulate their construction and condition; to prevent the deposit of ashes in unsafe places and receptacles; to regulate the use of lights in buildings in which combustible articles may be deposited; to regulate the carrying on of manufactories liable to cause fires, and to regulate and prevent the use of fireworks and firearms in the city; to prevent bonfires in the streets and public grounds; to compel the owners and occupants of buildings to have scuttles in the roofs, and stairs and ladders leading to the same, and to require fireescapes to be placed upon buildings when and as directed by the superintendent of the department of public safety; to punish the wilful making a false alarm of fire, or wilfully calling a police patrol wagon without cause; and to prohibit the formation of fire hose or hook and ladder companies.

§ 2. Subdivision three of section thirteen of chapter two hundred and seventeen of the laws of nineteen hundred and fourteen as last amended by chapter two hundred and sixty of the laws of nineteen hundred and sixteen, so far as same is in conflict herewith is hereby superseded.

§ 3. This local law shall take effect immediately.

LOCAL LAW No. 6*

A local law amending chapter two hundred seventeen of the laws of nineteen hundred fourteen, as amended, entitled "An act to provide a charter for the city of Buffalo," in relation to the power of the council to enact certain ordinances in relation to parks and park approaches.

Became a law December 3, 1924, with the approval of the Council. Passed by the local legislative body of the city of Buffalo.

Be it enacted by the council of the city of Buffalo as follows:

Section 1. Section three hundred thirty-eight of chapter two hundred seventeen of the laws of nineteen hundred fourteen, entitled "An act to provide a charter for the city of Buffalo" as amended by chapter three hundred fifty-one of the laws of nineteen hundred twenty-three, is hereby superseded and repealed. § 2. This local law shall take effect immediately.

Numbered 7 by city of Buffalo.