N.Y. General Municipal Law § 6-s: Community preservation funds

§ 6-s. Community preservation funds. 1. As used in this section, the

following words and terms shall have the following meanings:

(a) "Community preservation" shall mean and include any of the

purposes outlined in subdivision four of this section.

(b) "Board" means the advisory board required pursuant to subdivision

five of this section.

(c) "Fund" means the community preservation fund created pursuant to

subdivision two of this section.

(d) "Designated community" means any town or city within the Hudson

Valley counties of Putnam, Ulster, or Westchester.

(e) "Tax" means the real estate transfer tax payable on a real

property conveyance pursuant to section fifteen hundred sixty-one of the

tax law, but shall have a different meaning if the context clearly

indicates such as the real estate transfer tax imposed pursuant to

article thirty-one of the tax law.

2. The governing body of any designated community is authorized to

establish by local law a community preservation fund pursuant to the

provisions of this section. Deposits into the fund may include revenues

of the local government from whatever source and shall include, at a

minimum, all revenues from a tax imposed upon the transfer of real

property interests in such designated community pursuant to article

thirty-three-B of the tax law. The fund shall also be authorized to

accept gifts of any such interests in land or of funds. Interest accrued

by monies deposited into the fund shall be credited to the fund. In no

event shall monies deposited in the fund be transferred to any other

account. Nothing contained in this section shall be construed to prevent

the financing in whole or in part, pursuant to the local finance law, of

any acquisition authorized pursuant to this section. Monies from the

fund may be utilized to repay any indebtedness or obligations incurred

pursuant to the local finance law consistent with effectuating the

purposes of this section.

3. The purposes of the fund shall be exclusively, (a) to implement a

plan for the preservation of community character as required by this

section, (b) to acquire interests or rights in real property for the

preservation of community character within the designated community

including villages therein in accordance with such plan and in

cooperation with willing sellers, (c) to establish a bank pursuant to a

transfer of development rights program consistent with section two

hundred sixty-one-a of the town law and section twenty-f of the general

city law, (d) to provide a management and stewardship program for such

interests and rights consistent with subdivision nine of this section

and in accordance with such plan designed to preserve community

character; provided that not more than ten percent of the fund shall be

utilized for such management and stewardship program, and (e) to make

payments to school, fire, fire protection and ambulance districts in

connection with lands within the designated community that are owned by

the state or any municipal corporation. Such payments may only be made

to districts where more than twenty-five percent of the assessed value

of such district is wholly exempt from real property taxation pursuant

to the real property tax law because it is owned by the state or a

municipal corporation. Not more than ten percent of the fund may be used

for such purpose in any calendar year. Such payments from the fund shall

not exceed the actual tax liability that would have been due if such

lands of the state or of a municipal corporation had been subject to

real property taxation. Where more than one district is eligible for

such a payment under this paragraph, and such payment is less than the

actual tax liability that would have been due if such lands of the state

or a municipal corporation had been subject to real property taxation,

the designated community shall apportion such annual payment on the

basis of the total tax levied by each district within the designated

community for the year such payment is made. Such payment made by the

designated community shall be used solely to reduce the property tax

liability of the remaining taxpayers of the district within such

designated community. If the implementation of the community

preservation project plan, adopted by a governing body, as provided in

subdivision six of this section, has been completed, and funds are no

longer needed for the purposes outlined in this subdivision, then any

remaining monies in the fund shall be applied to reduce any bonded

indebtedness or obligations incurred to effectuate the purposes of this

section.

4. Preservation of community character shall involve one or more of

the following: (a) establishment of parks, nature preserves, or

recreation areas; (b) preservation of open space; (c) preservation of

lands of exceptional scenic value; (d) preservation of fresh and

saltwater marshes or other wetlands; (e) preservation of aquifer

recharge areas; (f) preservation of undeveloped beachlands or shoreline;

(g) establishment of wildlife refuges for the purpose of maintaining

native animal species diversity, including the protection of habitat

essential to the recovery of rare, threatened or endangered species; (h)

preservation of unique or threatened ecological areas; (i) preservation

of rivers and river areas in a natural, free-flowing condition; (j)

preservation of forested land; (k) preservation of public access to

lands for public use including stream rights and waterways; (l)

preservation of historic places and properties listed on the New York

state register of historic places and/or protected under a municipal

historic preservation ordinance or law; (m) undertaking any of the

paragraphs of this subdivision in furtherance of the establishment of a

greenbelt; and (n) preservation of land which is predominantly viable

agricultural land, as defined in subdivision seven of section three

hundred one of the agriculture and markets law, or unique and

irreplaceable agricultural land, as defined in subdivision six of

section three hundred one of the agriculture and markets law.

5. The governing body of any designated community which has

established a community preservation fund shall create an advisory board

to review and make recommendations on proposed acquisitions of interests

in real property using monies from the fund. Such board shall consist of

five or seven legal residents of the municipality who shall serve

without compensation. No member of the local legislative body shall

serve on the board. A majority of the members of the board shall have

demonstrated experience with conservation or land preservation

activities. The municipal legislative body shall make a reasonable

effort to appoint at least one active farmer to the board. In any county

that has a county agricultural and farmland protection board established

pursuant to section three hundred two of the agriculture and markets

law, the municipal legislative body shall make a reasonable effort to

appoint at least one member of the county agricultural and farmland

protection board to the advisory board. The terms of members of the

board first appointed shall be so fixed that the term of one member

shall expire at the end of the municipal official year in which such

members were initially appointed. The terms of the remaining members

first appointed shall be so fixed that the term shall expire at the end

of each official year thereafter. At the expiration of the term of each

member first appointed, his or her successor shall be appointed for a

term which shall be equal in years to the number of members of the

advisory board. The board shall act in an advisory capacity to the

governing body.

6. The governing body of any designated community which has

established a community preservation fund shall, by local law, adopt a

community preservation project plan. This plan shall list every project

which the designated community plans to undertake pursuant to the

community preservation fund. It shall include every parcel which is

necessary to be acquired in the designated community in order to protect

community character. Such plan shall provide for a detailed evaluation

of all available land use alternatives to protect community character,

including but not limited to: (a) fee simple acquisition, (b) zoning

regulations, including density reductions, cluster development, and site

plan and design requirements, (c) transfer of development rights, (d)

the purchase of development rights, and (e) scenic and conservation

easements. Such evaluation shall be as specific as practicable as to

each parcel selected for inclusion in the plan. The plan shall establish

the priorities for preservation. Funds from the community preservation

fund may only be expended for projects which have been included in said

plan. Such plan shall be updated not less than once every five years. A

copy of the plan shall be filed with the commissioner of environmental

conservation, the commissioner of agriculture and markets and the

commissioner of the office of parks, recreation and historic

preservation. Such plan shall be completed at least sixty days before

the submission of the mandatory referendum required by section fifteen

hundred sixty-one of the tax law and shall be made available for public

review at the designated community clerk's office, at any public

libraries within the designated community, and where practical posted on

the municipality's website.

7. The governing body of any designated community which has

established a community preservation fund pursuant to this section shall

study and consider establishing a transfer of development rights program

to protect community character as provided for by section two hundred

sixty-one-a of the town law. All provisions of such section two hundred

sixty-one-a shall be complied with. If at any time during the life of

the community preservation fund a transfer of development rights program

is established, the designated community may utilize monies from the

community preservation fund in order to create and fund a central bank

of the transfer of development rights program. If at any time during the

life of the community preservation fund, a transfer of development

rights program is repealed by the designated community, all monies from

the central bank shall be returned to the community preservation fund.

8. No interests or rights in real property shall be acquired pursuant

to this section until a public hearing is held as required by section

two hundred forty-seven of this chapter; provided, however, that nothing

in this section shall prevent the governing body from entering into a

conditional purchase agreement before a public hearing is held. Any

resolution of a governing body approving an acquisition of interests or

rights in real property pursuant to this section, shall find that

acquisition was the best alternative for the protection of community

character of all the reasonable alternatives available to the designated

community.

9. Rights or interests acquired pursuant to this section shall be

administered and managed in a manner which (a) allows public use and

enjoyment in a manner compatible with the natural, scenic, historic and

open space character of such lands; (b) preserves the native biological

diversity of such lands; (c) with regard to open spaces, limits

improvements to enhancing access for passive use of such lands such as

nature trails, boardwalks, bicycle paths, hiking trails, snowshoe

trails, cross country ski trails, and peripheral parking areas provided

that such improvements do not degrade the ecological value of the land

or threaten essential wildlife habitat; and (d) preserves cultural

property consistent with accepted standards for historic preservation.

In furthering the purposes of this section, the designated community may

enter into agreements with corporations organized under the

not-for-profit corporation law and engage in land trust activities to

manage lands including less than fee interests acquired pursuant to the

provisions of this section, provided that any such agreement shall

contain a provision that such corporation shall keep the lands

accessible to the public unless such corporation shall demonstrate to

the satisfaction of the designated community that public accessibility

would be detrimental to the lands or any natural resources associated

therewith.

10. Rights or interests in real property acquired with monies from

such fund shall not be sold, leased, exchanged, donated, or otherwise

disposed of or used for other than the purposes permitted by this

section without the express authority of an act of the legislature,

which shall provide for the substitution of other lands of equal

environmental value and fair market value and reasonably equivalent

usefulness and location to those to be discontinued, sold or disposed

of, and such other requirements as shall be approved by the state

legislature. Any conservation easements created under title three of

article forty-nine of the environmental conservation law, which are

acquired with monies from such fund, may only be modified or

extinguished as provided by section 49-0307 of the environmental

conservation law. Nothing in this section shall preclude a designated

community, by local law, from establishing additional restrictions to

the alienation of lands acquired pursuant to this section. This

subdivision shall not apply to the sale of development rights by a

designated community acquired pursuant to this section, where such sale

is made by a development rights bank created by a designated community,

pursuant to a transfer of development rights program established by a

designated community pursuant to section two hundred sixty-one-a of the

town law, provided, however (a) that the lands from which said

development rights were acquired shall remain preserved in perpetuity by

a permanent conservation easement or other instrument that similarly

preserves the community character referenced in subdivision four of this

section, and (b) the proceeds from such sale shall be deposited in the

community preservation fund. Notwithstanding any other provision of this

subdivision, there shall be no right to public use and enjoyment of land

used in conjunction with a farm operation as defined by subdivision

eleven of section three hundred one of the agriculture and markets law.

In furthering the purposes of this section, the municipality may enter

into agreements with corporations organized under the not-for-profit

corporation law that engage in land trust activities to manage lands

including less than fee interests acquired pursuant to the provisions of

this section, provided that any such agreement shall contain a provision

that such corporation shall keep and manage the lands consistent with

this section.