N.Y. General Municipal Law § 281: Procedure

§ 281. Procedure. 1. Petition. Such petition for the establishment of

a residential or a residential and recreational area for such purpose or

purposes shall be signed by at least twenty owners of taxable real

property situate within the proposed area owning in the aggregate at

least two-thirds of the assessed valuation of all the taxable real

property in the proposed area as shown on the last completed assessment

role of said village or town; provided, however, that if there be any

resident owners, the petition shall also include the signatures of

resident owners owning taxable real property aggregating at least

two-thirds of the assessed valuation of all taxable real property in the

proposed area owned by such resident owners, according to the last

completed assessment roll of the village or town. If a portion only of a

parcel of such real property appearing upon the assessment roll is

situate within the proposed area then the village board or the town

board may determine the relative value of the part thereof within the

proposed area based upon the valuation of the entire parcel as the same

appears upon such assessment roll.

A proposal to extend such an existing area may relate to any area of

land adjoining such an existing area and may be made by petition signed

by any number of owners of taxable real property situate within the area

of the proposed extension provided that such owners own in the aggregate

at least two-thirds of the assessed valuation of all the taxable real

property in the proposed extension as shown on the last completed

assessment roll of said village or town; and further provided, that if

there be any resident owners, the petition shall also include the

signatures of resident owners owning taxable real property aggregating

at least two-thirds of the assessed valuation of all taxable real

property in the proposed extension owned by such resident owners,

according to the last completed assessment roll of the village or town.

The petition requesting the extension of an existing area shall contain

a statement requesting that the village board or the town board adopt an

ordinance or local law containing the same terms and provisions as

contained in the ordinance or local law for the existing area. The

ordinance or local law adopted by the village board and the town board

effecting such extension shall contain the same terms and provisions as

the ordinance or local law which established the existing area and any

amendments thereof shall apply to both the existing area and to such

areas as are extended from time to time.

A petition shall describe the boundaries of the proposed area or

proposed extension of an existing area in a manner sufficient to

identify the lands included therein as in a deed of conveyance, and

shall be signed by the petitioners and acknowledged or proved in the

same manner as a deed to be recorded. Such petition shall contain a

statement of the uses of real property for industrial and commercial

purposes which petitioners seek to have prohibited, restricted,

regulated or controlled in the proposed area or proposed extension of an

existing area, or, in the alternative, a statement that petitioners seek

to limit the use of all real property within the proposed area or

proposed extension of an existing area to use for one or two family

residential purposes, or to use for one or two family residential and

non-profit recreational purposes.

2. Notice of hearing on petition. Whenever a petition shall be

presented to the village board or to the town board pursuant to this

article for the establishment or extension of a residential or

residential and recreational area, the board shall adopt a resolution

and enter the same in the minutes of its proceedings, reciting in

general terms the filing of such petition, the boundaries of the

proposed area or proposed extension, a statement of the uses of real

property for industrial and commercial purposes which are proposed to be

prohibited, restricted, regulated and controlled, or, a statement that

it is proposed to limit the use of all real property to use for one or

two family residential purposes, or to use for one or two family

residential and non-profit recreational purposes, within said proposed

area or proposed extension and specifying the time when and place where

said board will meet to consider the petition and to hear all persons

interested in the subject thereof. The board shall cause a copy of such

resolution, certified by the clerk, to be published at least once in the

official newspaper of the village or town, as the case may be, the first

publication thereof to be not less than ten nor more than twenty days

before the date set therein for the hearing as aforesaid, and shall also

cause a copy thereof to be posted conspicuously in the office of the

village clerk or on the signboard maintained by the town clerk pursuant

to subdivision six of section thirty of the town law, as the case may

be, not less than ten nor more than twenty days before the day

designated for the hearing as aforesaid. In the event that the village

or the town maintains a website, such information may also be provided

on the website. The board also shall cause a copy of such resolution to

be mailed by registered mail, return receipt requested, to each resident

owner of real property within the proposed area or extension who or

which has not signed the petition and to each non-resident owner of real

property therein who or which has not signed the petition and who or

which in the case of a town has filed with the town clerk a written

demand pursuant to section five hundred eight of the real property tax

law or a notice pursuant to section nine hundred eighty-two of the real

property tax law, or who or which in the case of a village has filed

with the village clerk a written demand pursuant to section fourteen

hundred four of the real property tax law. The copy of such resolution

shall be so mailed not less than ten nor more than twenty days before

the day designated for the hearing as aforesaid, to such resident and

non-resident owner at the address designated in such written demand or

in such notice.

3. Establishment or extension of areas. (a) After a hearing held upon

notice as hereinbefore provided, the board shall determine by

resolution:

(1) Whether the petition is signed and acknowledged or proved as

required by law and is otherwise sufficient.

(2) Whether any part or portion of the real property within the

proposed area or proposed extension should not be included therein.

(3) Whether it is in the overall public interest to grant the relief

sought.

(b) (1) If the board shall determine that the petition is not signed

and acknowledged or proved as required by law or that it is otherwise

insufficient, or if it is determined that it be not in the overall

public interest to grant the relief sought, the board shall deny the

petition.

(2) If the board shall determine that the petition is signed and

acknowledged or proved as required by law and is otherwise sufficient

and that it is in the overall public interest to grant the relief sought

but shall find that any part or portion of the real property within the

proposed area or proposed extension should not be included therein, the

board shall alter and revise the boundaries of the originally proposed

area or originally proposed extension of an existing area so as to

exclude therefrom any real property which it finds should not be

included in such proposed area or proposed extension.

(3) If and when the board shall make such an affirmative

determination, the board may adopt an ordinance or local law

establishing an area or extending an existing area as the boundaries

thereof shall have been finally determined by said board. Such ordinance

or local law may prohibit, restrict, regulate and control the use of all

buildings, structures and land within such area as established or

extended for any industrial or commercial purpose, or, in the

alternative, may limit the use of all buildings, structures and land

within such area as established or extended to use for one or two family

residential purposes, or to use for one or two family residential and

non-profit recreational purposes; provided, however, that no such

ordinance or local law shall be adopted unless the petition shall comply

with the requirements of this article as to the sufficiency of the area

proposed to be zoned and of signers within the boundaries of the

proposed area or proposed extension as finally determined by the board.

Such ordinance or local law shall not apply to a non-conforming use in

existence at the time of the effective date of such ordinance or local

law.