* 239-n. Referral of certain proposed subdivision plats to the county planning agency or regional planning council; report thereon; final action. 1. Definitions. As used herein:
(a) The term "proposed" as used in subparagraphs (ii) and (iii) of paragraph (a) of subdivision three of this section shall be deemed to include only those recreation areas, parkways, thruways, expressways, roads or highways which are shown on a county comprehensive plan, adopted pursuant to subdivision seven of section two hundred thirty-nine-d of this article, or shown on an official map adopted pursuant to section two hundred thirty-nine-e of this article.
(b) The term "undeveloped plat" shall mean those plats already filed in the office of the clerk of the county in which such plat is located where twenty percent or more of the lots within the plat are unimproved unless existing conditions, such as poor drainage, have prevented their development.
(c) The term "referring body" shall mean the city, town or village body authorized by a municipal legislative body to approve preliminary or final plats or to approve the development of undeveloped plats and/or plats already filed in the office of the county clerk.
2. Referral of proposed plats. In any city, town or village which is located in a county which has a county planning agency authorized by the county legislative body to review preliminary or final plats or to approve the development of undeveloped plats, the clerk of the municipal planning agency, upon receipt of application for preliminary and/or final approval of a subdivision plat or proposal to develop an undeveloped plat and/or plats already filed in the office of the county clerk, shall refer certain of such plats to the county planning agency. In the absence of a county planning agency, the county legislative body may authorize a regional planning council whose geographic area includes the county, to perform the review functions prescribed herein.
3. Plats subject to referral. (a) The following applications for approval of preliminary or final plats and undeveloped plats shall be subject to the referral requirements of this section, if the application applies to real property within five hundred feet of the following:
(i) the boundary of any city, village, or town; or
(ii) the boundary of any existing or proposed county or state park or other recreation area; or
(iii) the right-of-way of any existing or proposed county or state parkway, thruway, expressway, road or highway; or
(iv) the existing or proposed right-of-way of any stream or drainage channel owned by the county or for which the county has established channel lines; or
(v) the existing or proposed boundary of any county or state owned land on which a public building or institution is situated; or
(vi) the boundary of a farm operation located in an agricultural district, as defined by article twenty-five-AA of the agriculture and markets law.
(b) The county planning agency or regional planning council may enter into an agreement with the referring body or other duly authorized body of a city, town or village to provide that certain proposed plats are of local, rather than inter-community or county-wide concern, and are not subject to referral under this section.
4. County planning agency or regional planning council review of proposed plats; recommendation, report. (a) The county planning agency or regional planning council, when authorized by the county legislative body, shall review any referred plat for inter-community or county-wide considerations, including but not limited to those considerations identified in section two hundred thirty-nine-l of this article. The county planning agency or regional planning council may adopt such rules and regulations as are necessary to perform such function. Such county planning agency or regional planning council shall recommend approval, modification, or disapproval, of such plat, or report that such plat has no significant county-wide or inter-community impact.
(b) Such county planning agency or regional planning council, or an authorized agent of said agency or council, shall have thirty days after receipt of a preliminary or final plat or proposal to develop an undeveloped plat, or such longer period as may have been agreed upon by the county planning agency or regional planning council and the referring body, to report its recommendations to the referring body, accompanied by a statement of the reasons for such recommendations. If such county planning agency or regional planning council fails to report within such period, the referring body may take final action on the referred plat without such report. However, any county planning agency or regional planning council report received after thirty days or such longer period as may have been agreed upon, but two or more days prior to final action by the referring body, shall be subject to the provisions of subdivision five of this section.
5. Extraordinary vote upon recommendation of modification or disapproval. If such county planning agency or regional planning council recommends modification or disapproval of a referred plat, the referring body shall not act contrary to such recommendation except by a vote of a majority plus one of all the members thereof.
6. Report of final action. Within thirty days after final action, the referring body shall file a report of the final action it has taken with the county planning agency or regional planning council. A referring body which acts contrary to a recommendation of modification or disapproval of a proposed action shall set forth the reasons for the contrary action in such report.
* NB There are 2 239-n's
Last modified: February 3, 2019