N.Y. General Municipal Law § 234: Creation, appointment and qualifications

§ 234. Creation, appointment and qualifications. Each city and

incorporated village is hereby authorized and empowered to create a

commission to be known as the city or village planning commission. Such

commission shall be so created in incorporated villages by resolution of

the trustees, in cities by ordinance of the common council, except that

in cities of the first class, having more than a million inhabitants, it

shall be by resolution of the board of estimate and apportionment or

other similar local authority. In cities of the first class such

commission shall consist of not more than eleven, in cities of the

second class of not more than nine, in cities of the third class and

incorporated villages of not more than seven members. Such ordinance or

resolution shall specify the public officer or body of said municipality

that shall appoint such commissioners, and shall provide that the

appointment of as nearly as possible one-third of them shall be for a

term of one year; one-third for a term of two years, and one-third for a

term of three years; and that at the expiration of such terms, the terms

of office of their successors shall be three years; so that the term of

office of one-third of such commissioners, as nearly as possible, shall

expire each year. All appointments to fill vacancies shall be for the

unexpired term. Not more than one-third of the members of said

commission shall hold any other public office in said city or village.

In a county containing a population of over three hundred thousand one

of the members of any such commission may reside outside of such village

or city as the case may be.