§ 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 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. 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.