2023 New York Laws › GCT - General City › Article 2-A - Powers of Cities › 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.