There is hereby established a City Planning
Board pursuant to Article 3 of the General City Law of the State of
New York.
A. The City Planning Board shall consist of seven members
and shall be appointed by the Mayor, with approval of the Common Council,
and the Mayor shall have the authority to remove any member of the
Board for cause and after public hearing.
B. Not more than three members of the Board shall hold
any other public office or position in the City, and their terms shall
terminate with the term of the Mayor selecting them; however, members
of the Common Council are ineligible for appointment.
C. The terms of the members of the Planning Board first
appointed shall be so fixed that the term of one member shall expire
at the end of the official year in which such members were initially
appointed. The terms of the remaining members first appointed shall
be so fixed that one term shall expire at the end of each official
year thereafter. At the expiration of the term of each member first
appointed, his or her successor shall be appointed for a term which
shall be equal in years to the number of members of the Board.
D. If a vacancy shall occur otherwise than by expiration
of the term, it shall be filled by appointment of the Mayor for the
unexpired term, with approval of the Common Council.
E. The members of the Planning Board shall receive no
compensation for their services as members of the Board. The City
officials or employees on such Board, if any, shall not, by reason
of membership thereon, forfeit their right to exercise the powers,
perform the duties or receive the compensation of the City office
or position held by them during such membership.
The Common Council may, by resolution, provide
for the reference of any matter or class of matters to the Planning
Board before final action thereon by the Common Council and Mayor,
with or without the provision that final action thereon shall not
be taken until said Planning Board has submitted its report thereon
or has had a reasonable time, to be fixed in said resolution, to submit
its report.
The Planning Board shall have full power and
authority to make such investigations, maps and reports and recommendations
in connection therewith relating to the planning and development of
the City as to it seem desirable, provided that the total expenditures
of said Board shall not exceed the appropriation for its expenses.
[Amended 4-23-2007 by L.L. No. 1-2007]
No public municipal street utility or improvement shall be constructed by the City in any street or highway until it has become a public street or highway and is duly placed on the Official Map or plan. No permit for the erection of any building shall be issued unless a street or highway giving access to such proposed structure has been duly placed on the Official Map or plan, which street or highway shall have been suitably improved to the satisfaction of the Planning Board in accordance with standards and specifications approved by the appropriate City departments as adequate in respect to the public health, safety and general welfare for the special circumstances of the particular street or highway or, alternately, a performance bond sufficient to cover the full cost of such improvement as estimated by such Board shall be furnished to the City by the owner. Such performance bond shall be issued by a bonding or surety company approved by the Corporation Counsel of the City, or by the owner with security acceptable to the legislative body, and shall also be approved by such Corporation Counsel as to form, sufficiency and manner of execution. The term, manner of modification and method of enforcement of such bond shall be determined by the Planning Board in substantial conformity with §
97-7 of this chapter. Where the enforcement of the provisions of this section would entail practical difficulty or unnecessary hardship, and where the circumstances of the case do not require the structure to be related to existing or proposed streets or highways, the applicant for such a permit may appeal from the decision of the administrative officer having charge of the issue of permits to the City Zoning Board of Appeals, and the same provisions are hereby applied to such appeals and to such Board as are provided in cases of appeals on zoning regulations. The Board may, in passing on such appeal, make any reasonable exception and issue the permit subject to conditions that will protect any future street or highway layout.
[Amended 4-23-2007 by L.L. No. 1-2007]
The Planning Board is authorized simultaneously with the approval of any such plat either to confirm the zoning regulations of the land so platted as shown on the Official Zoning Map of the City or to make any reasonable change therein, and such Board is hereby empowered to make such change with approval of the Common Council. The owner of the land shown on the plat may submit with the plat a proposed building plan indicating lots where group houses for residences or apartment houses or local stores and shops are proposed to be built. Such building plan shall indicate for each lot or proposed building unit the maximum density of population that may exist thereon and the minimum yard requirements. Such plan, if approved by the Planning Board and Common Council, shall modify, change or supplement the zoning regulations of the land shown on the plat within the limitations prescribed by such bodies in said ordinance or resolution, provided that for such land so shown there shall not be a greater average density of population or cover of the land with buildings than is permitted in the district wherein such land lies as shown on the Official Zoning Map. Such building plan shall not be approved by the Planning Board unless in its judgment the appropriate use of adjoining land is reasonably safeguarded and such plan is consistent with the public welfare. Before the Board and Common Council shall make any change in the zoning regulations, there shall be a public hearing preceded by the same notice as in the case of the approval of the plat itself. A written notice of any proposed change or amendment affecting property within the protectively zoned area of a housing project authorized under the Public Housing Law, as such area is shown on an approved Zoning Map filed with the officer charged with enforcement of zoning regulations, shall be given to the housing authority erecting or owning the project and to the government providing financial aid or assistance thereto at least 10 days prior to the date of such public hearing. On the filing of the plat in the office of the County Clerk or Register, such changes, subject, however, to review by court as provided by §
38 of the General City Law, shall be and become part of the zoning regulations of the City, shall take the place of any regulations established by the Board of Estimate or other legislative authority of the City, shall be enforced in the same manner and shall be similarly subject to change.