N.Y. Village Law § 7-701: Transfer of development rights; definitions; conditions; procedures

§ 7-701 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 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 are 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, a board of trustees

is hereby empowered to provide for transfer of development rights

subject to the conditions hereinafter set forth and such other

conditions as a village board of trustees deems necessary and

appropriate that are consistent with the purposes of this section. 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 the transfer of development rights, and the sending and

receiving districts, shall be established in accordance with a

comprehensive master plan within the meaning of section 7-722 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 board of trustees, 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 village 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 village 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 village, 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 village 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 board of trustees 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 board of

trustees shall adopt regulations establishing uniform minimum standards

for instruments creating such easements within the district. Any

development right which has been transferred by conservation easement

shall be evidenced by a certificate of development right which shall be

issued by the village 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, incuding sales between owners of property in sending and

receiving districts, a village 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 village. Villages 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 village 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 disticts, the

legislative body of the village 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 village 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. The board of trustees adopting or amending procedures for transfer

of development rights pursuant to this section shall follow the

procedure for adopting and amending a local law including all provisions

for notice applicable for changes or amendments to a zoning ordinance or

local law.

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.