N.Y. General City Law § 20-f: Transfer of development rights; definitions; conditions; procedures

§ 20-f. Transfer of development rights; definitions; conditions;

procedures. 1. As used in this section:

a. "Development rights" shall mean the rights permitted to a lot,

parcel, or area of land under a zoning ordinance or local law respecting

permissible use, area, density, bulk or height of improvements executed

thereon. Development rights may be calculated and allocated in

accordance with such factors as area, floor area, floor area ratios,

density, height limitations, or any other criteria that will effectively

quantify a value for the development right in a reasonable and uniform

manner that will carry out the objectives of this section.

b. "Receiving district" shall mean one or more designated districts or

areas of land to which development rights generated from one or more

sending districts may be transferred and in which increased development

is permitted to occur by reason of such transfer.

c. "Sending district" shall mean one or more designated districts or

areas of land in which development rights may be designated for use in

one or more receiving districts.

d. "Transfer of development rights" shall mean the process by which

development rights are transferred from one lot, parcel, or area of land

in any sending district to another lot, parcel or area of land in one or

more receiving districts.

2. In addition to existing powers and authorities to regulate by

planning or zoning including authorization to provide for transfer of

development rights pursuant to other enabling law, the legislative body

of any city is hereby empowered to provide for transfer of development

rights subject to the conditions hereinafter set forth and such other

conditions as the city legislative body deems necessary and appropriate

that are consistent with the purposes of this section, except that in

cities of over one million any transfer of development rights shall be

provided in the zoning ordinance after adoption by the city planning

commission and board of estimate. The purpose of providing for transfer

of development rights shall be to protect the natural, scenic or

agricultural qualities of open lands, to enhance sites and areas of

special character or special historical, cultural, aesthetic or economic

interest or value, to protect lands at risk from sea level rise, storm

surge or flooding, and to enable and encourage flexibility of design and

careful management of land in recognition of land as a basic and

valuable natural resource. The conditions hereinabove referred to are as

follows:

a. That transfer of development rights, and the sending and receiving

districts, shall be established in accordance with a well-considered

plan within the meaning of subdivision twenty-five of section twenty of

this article. The sending district from which transfer of development

rights may be authorized shall consist of natural, scenic, recreational,

agricultural or open land or sites of special historical, cultural,

aesthetic or economic values sought to be protected or lands at risk

from sea level rise, storm surge or flooding. Every receiving district,

to which transfer of development rights may be authorized, shall have

been found by the legislative body of the city, after evaluating the

effects of potential increased development which is possible under the

transfer of development rights provisions, to contain adequate

resources, environmental quality and public facilities including

adequate transportation, water supply, waste disposal and fire

protection, and that there will be no significant environmentally

damaging consequences and such increased development is compatible with

the development otherwise permitted by the city and by the federal,

state, and county agencies having jurisdiction to approve permissible

development within the district. A generic environmental impact

statement pursuant to the provisions of article eight of the

environmental conservation law shall be prepared by the city for the

receiving district before any such district, or any sending district, is

designated, and such statement shall be amended from time to time by the

city if there are material changes in circumstances. Where a transfer of

development rights affects districts in two or more school, special

assessment or tax districts, it may not unreasonably transfer the tax

burden between the taxpayers of such districts. The receiving and

sending districts need not be coterminous with zoning districts.

b. That sending and receiving districts be designated and mapped with

specificity and the procedure for transfer of development rights be

specified. Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary,

environmental quality review pursuant to article eight of the

environmental conservation law for any action in a receiving district

that utilizes development rights shall only require information specific

to the project and site where the action will occur and shall be limited

to review of the environmental impacts of the action, if any, not

adequately reviewed in the generic environmental impact statement.

c. That the burden upon land within a sending district from which

development rights have been transferred shall be documented by an

instrument duly executed by the grantor in the form of a conservation

easement, as defined in title three of article forty-nine of the

environmental conservation law, which burden upon such land shall be

enforceable by the appropriate city in addition to any other person or

entity granted enforcement rights by the terms of the instrument. All

provisions of law applicable to such conservation easements pursuant to

such title shall apply with respect to conservation easements hereunder,

except that the city may adopt standards pertaining to the duration of

such easements that are more stringent than such standards promulgated

by the department of environmental conservation pursuant to such title.

Upon the designation of any sending district, the city shall adopt

regulations establishing uniform minimum standards for instruments

creating such easements within the district. No such modification or

extinguishment of an easement shall diminish or impair development

rights within any receiving district. Any development right which has

been transferred by a conservation easement shall be evidenced by a

certificate of development right which shall be issued by the city to

the transferee in a form suitable for recording in the registry of deeds

for the county where the receiving district is situated in the manner of

other conveyances of interests in land affecting its title.

d. That within one year after a development right is transferred, the

assessed valuation placed on the affected properties for real property

tax purposes shall be adjusted to reflect the transfer. A development

right which is transferred shall be deemed to be an interest in real

property and the rights evidenced thereby shall inure to the benefit of

the transferee, and his heirs, successors and assigns.

e. That development rights shall be transferred reflecting the normal

market in land, including sales between owners of property in sending

and receiving districts, a city may establish a development rights bank

or such other account in which development rights may be retained and

sold in the best interest of the city. Cities shall be authorized to

accept for deposit within the bank gifts, donations, bequests or other

development rights. All receipts and proceeds from sales of development

rights sold by the city shall be deposited in a special municipal

account to be applied against expenditures necessitated by the municipal

development rights program.

f. That prior to designation of sending or receiving districts, the

legislative body of the city shall evaluate the impact of transfer of

development rights upon the potential development of low or moderate

income housing lost in sending districts and gained in receiving

districts and shall find either there is approximate equivalence between

potential low and moderate housing units lost in the sending district

and gained in the receiving districts or that the city has or will take

reasonable action to compensate for any negative impact upon the

availability or potential development of low or moderate income housing

caused by the transfer of development rights.

3. A legislative body of a city modifying its zoning ordinance or

enacting a local law pursuant to this section shall follow the procedure

for adopting and amending its zoning ordinance or local laws, as the

case may be, including all provisions for notice applicable for changes

or amendments to a zoning ordinance, local law or regulation.

4. Nothing in this section shall be construed to invalidate any

provision for transfer of development rights heretofore or hereafter

adopted by any local legislative body, or, in the case of cities over

one million, by the board of estimate.