§ 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.