§ 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.