Section 261-A. 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 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 town board is
  hereby empowered to provide for transfer of development  rights  subject
  to the conditions hereinafter set forth and such other conditions as the
  town  board 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 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 comprehensive  plan
  within  the  meaning of section two hundred sixty-three of this article.
  The sending district from which transfer of development  rights  may  be
  authorized shall consist of natural, scenic, recreational, agricultural,
  forest, or open land or sites of special historical, cultural, aesthetic
  or  economic  values sought to be protected. Every receiving district to
  which transfer of development rights may be authorized, shall have  been
  found  by  the  town  board,  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 town 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 town board 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 town board 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 town 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  town  board  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 town board
  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 conservation easement shall  be  evidenced
  by  a certificate of development right which shall be issued by the town
  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 town 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 town. Towns 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 town  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 town 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 town 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  town  board  adopting  or amending procedures for transfer of
  development rights pursuant to this section shall follow  the  procedure
  for adopting and amending its zoning ordinance or local law, as the case
  may  be,  including  all provisions for notice applicable for changes or
  amendments to a zoning ordinance or local law.
    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.