§ 239-M — Referral of certain proposed city, town and village planning and zoning actions to the county planning agency or regional planning counci...

§ 239-m. Referral of certain proposed city, town and village planning\nand zoning actions to the county planning agency or regional planning\ncouncil; report thereon; final action. 1. Definitions. As used herein:\n (a) The term "proposed" as used in subparagraphs (ii) and (iii) of\nparagraph (b) of subdivision three of this section shall be deemed to\ninclude only those recreation areas, parkways, thruways, expressways,\nroads or highways which are shown on a county comprehensive plan adopted\npursuant to section two hundred thirty-nine-d of this article or adopted\non an official map pursuant to section two hundred thirty-nine-e of this\narticle.\n (b) The term "referring body" shall mean the city, town or village\nbody responsible for final action on proposed actions subject to this\nsection.\n (c) The term "full statement of such proposed action" shall mean all\nmaterials required by and submitted to the referring body as an\napplication on a proposed action, including a completed environmental\nassessment form and all other materials required by such referring body\nin order to make its determination of significance pursuant to the state\nenvironmental quality review act under article eight of the\nenvironmental conservation law and its implementing regulations. When\nthe proposed action referred is the adoption or amendment of a zoning\nordinance or local law, "full statement of such proposed action" shall\nalso include the complete text of the proposed ordinance or local law as\nwell as all existing provisions to be affected thereby, if any, if not\nalready in the possession of the county planning agency or regional\nplanning council. Notwithstanding the foregoing provisions of this\nparagraph, any referring body may agree with the county planning agency\nor regional planning council as to what shall constitute a "full\nstatement" for any or all of those proposed actions which said referring\nbody is authorized to act upon.\n (d) The term "receipt" shall mean delivery of a full statement of such\nproposed action, as defined in this section, in accordance with the\nrules and regulations of the county planning agency or regional planning\ncouncil with respect to person, place and period of time for submission.\nIn no event shall such rule or regulation define delivery so as to\nrequire in hand delivery or delivery more than twelve calendar days\nprior to the county planning agency's or regional planning council's\nmeeting date. In the absence of any such rules or regulations, "receipt"\nshall mean delivery in hand or by mail to the clerk of the county\nplanning agency or regional planning council. Where delivery is made in\nhand, the date of receipt shall be the date of delivery. Where delivery\nis made by mail, the date as postmarked shall be the date of delivery.\nThe provisions of this section shall not preclude the rules and\nregulations of the county planning agency or regional planning council\nfrom providing that the delivery may be a period greater than twelve\ndays provided the referring body and the county planning agency or\nregional planning council agree in writing to such longer period.\n 2. Referral of proposed planning and zoning actions. In any city, town\nor village which is located in a county which has a county planning\nagency, or, in the absence of a county planning agency, which is located\nwithin the jurisdiction of a regional planning council duly created\npursuant to the provisions of law, each referring body shall, before\ntaking final action on proposed actions included in subdivision three of\nthis section, refer the same to such county planning agency or regional\nplanning council.\n 3. Proposed actions subject to referral. (a) The following proposed\nactions shall be subject to the referral requirements of this section,\nif they apply to real property set forth in paragraph (b) of this\nsubdivision:\n (i) adoption or amendment of a comprehensive plan pursuant to section\ntwo hundred seventy-two-a of the town law, section 7-722 of the village\nlaw or section twenty-eight-a of the general city law;\n (ii) adoption or amendment of a zoning ordinance or local law;\n (iii) issuance of special use permits;\n (iv) approval of site plans;\n (v) granting of use or area variances;\n (vi) other authorizations which a referring body may issue under the\nprovisions of any zoning ordinance or local law.\n (b) The proposed actions set forth in paragraph (a) of this\nsubdivision shall be subject to the referral requirements of this\nsection if they apply to real property within five hundred feet of the\nfollowing:\n (i) the boundary of any city, village or town; or\n (ii) the boundary of any existing or proposed county or state park or\nany other recreation area; or\n (iii) the right-of-way of any existing or proposed county or state\nparkway, thruway, expressway, road or highway; or\n (iv) the existing or proposed right-of-way of any stream or drainage\nchannel owned by the county or for which the county has established\nchannel lines; or\n (v) the existing or proposed boundary of any county or state owned\nland on which a public building or institution is situated; or\n (vi) the boundary of a farm operation located in an agricultural\ndistrict, as defined by article twenty-five-AA of the agriculture and\nmarkets law, except this subparagraph shall not apply to the granting of\narea variances.\n (c) The county planning agency or regional planning council may enter\ninto an agreement with the referring body or other duly authorized body\nof a city, town or village to provide that certain proposed actions set\nforth in this subdivision are of local, rather than inter-community or\ncounty-wide concern, and are not subject to referral under this section.\n 4. County planning agency or regional planning council review of\nproposed actions; recommendation, report. (a) The county planning\nagency or regional planning council shall review any proposed action\nreferred for inter-community or county-wide considerations, including\nbut not limited to those considerations identified in section two\nhundred thirty-nine-l of this article. Such county planning agency or\nregional planning council shall recommend approval, modification, or\ndisapproval, of the proposed action, or report that the proposed action\nhas no significant county-wide or inter-community impact.\n (b) Such county planning agency or regional planning council, or an\nauthorized agent of said agency or council, shall have thirty days after\nreceipt of a full statement of such proposed action, or such longer\nperiod as may have been agreed upon by the county planning agency or\nregional planning council and the referring body, to report its\nrecommendations to the referring body, accompanied by a statement of the\nreasons for such recommendations. If such county planning agency or\nregional planning council fails to report within such period, the\nreferring body may take final action on the proposed action without such\nreport. However, any county planning agency or regional planning\ncouncil report received after thirty days or such longer period as may\nhave been agreed upon, but two or more days prior to final action by the\nreferring body, shall be subject to the provisions of subdivision five\nof this section.\n 5. Extraordinary vote upon recommendation of modification or\ndisapproval. If such county planning agency or regional planning council\nrecommends modification or disapproval of a proposed action, the\nreferring body shall not act contrary to such recommendation except by a\nvote of a majority plus one of all the members thereof.\n 6. Report of final action. Within thirty days after final action, the\nreferring body shall file a report of the final action it has taken with\nthe county planning agency or regional planning council. A referring\nbody which acts contrary to a recommendation of modification or\ndisapproval of a proposed action shall set forth the reasons for the\ncontrary action in such report.\n