The City Council may, from time to time on its own motion, on petition, or on recommendation of any board, agency, or official of the City, and after public notice and hearing as required by law, act to amend, supplement, repeal or change the regulations and districts established under this chapter.
A. 
Contents. Any petition for amendment of this chapter shall be made to the City Clerk and shall describe the proposed changes. For proposed amendments to the Zoning Map, a copy of the applicable portion of the official copy of the Zoning Map, as kept by the City Clerk, shall be included showing existing and proposed zoning. Also included for proposed map amendments shall be a map drawn to an appropriate scale showing all properties and the names of the owners of such properties located within 200 feet of any land which would be affected by such change, as shown on the tax assessment rolls.
B. 
Notice. The applicant shall be responsible for complying with the requirements as to notice in § 331-146 below.
C. 
Fee. Each petition for amendment of this Chapter and/or the Zoning Map shall be accompanied by the fee set forth in Chapter 133, Fees, of the City Code.
[Added 12-9-2008 by Ord. No. 239-2008]
Where petition is made by the owners of 50% or more of the frontage in any district or of the frontage of the several properties constituting a part thereof, as provided by § 83 of the General City Law, the City Council shall hear and vote upon said petition within 90 days of the filing of such petition, in proper form, with the City Clerk. In the case of all other applications and petitions submitted to the City requesting an amendment of this chapter, the City Council may, on its own motion, decide not to formally consider such amendment.
If any amendment is to be considered by the City Council, it shall be referred for review and report to the Planning Board, the Corporation Counsel, and any other board, agency or official of the City which the City Council deems appropriate. The Planning Board may confer with the petitioner and assist such petitioner, where appropriate, to place the amendment in its most suitable form. Such conference and assistance shall not be deemed to constitute any commitment by the Planning Board as to its position on the advisability of the proposed amendment nor to require the petitioner to make any modification to his application. After said conference, however, the petitioner shall be allowed to revise his petition and to provide copies of such revised petition to the City Council and to any board, agency or official to which the original proposed amendment was referred. The Corporation Counsel shall report to the City Council regarding the form of the proposed amendment. The Planning Board shall report to the City Council regarding the form and the advisability of the proposed amendment. Its report shall analyze the proposed amendment and shall state the Board's reasons for its recommendation, describing any conditions it believes make the amendment advisable or not, and specifically stating whether the amendment would be in accordance with the purposes of this chapter as set forth in Article I. All boards, agencies and officials to which such proposed amendments are referred shall have not less than 30 days from the date of forwarding, or from the date of revision by the petitioner, whichever is later, to submit their reports. In no case shall this article restrict the right of an applicant to come before the Planning Board for an informal discussion and review prior to formal submission of a petition for amendment of this chapter.
On receipt of the requested reports and any revised proposed amendment from an applicant or notification by the applicant that no revision will be made, the City Council may schedule and hold a public hearing on the proposed amendment.
A. 
Notice of the public hearing shall be published on at least three different dates in the City's official newspaper, the first insertion to be not less than 10 nor more than 30 days prior to the date of the hearing. For proposed amendments to the Zoning Map, at least one week prior to the public hearing, a notice of such hearing and a brief description of the proposed change shall be mailed to all owners of property, as shown by the tax assessment roll, within 250 feet of any land which would be affected by such change. A copy of such notice, with proof of such mailing, together with proof of notice in the official newspaper, shall be filed in the City Clerk's office on or before the date of the public hearing.
[Amended 12-11-2007 by Ord. No. 294-2007]
B. 
In addition, a petitioner other than the City Council, shall post a sign on the property proposed for rezoning on or before 15 days prior to the first date of public hearing and shall remove such sign within two days following such hearing. The sign shall be obtained from the Department of Development and shall be at least 30 inches by 20 inches, consist of sturdy and serviceable material containing a white background with black letters and shall be placed in a location plainly visible from the most commonly traveled street upon which the property fronts, but in no case more than 20 feet back from the front lot line. Such sign shall be not more than three feet above the ground and shall read as follows, in legible lettering at least two inches high:
[Amended 7-16-2002 by Ord. No. 139-2002]
"THIS SITE IS PROPOSED TO BE REZONED AS FOLLOWS: (DESCRIBE PROPOSED REZONING ACTION). THIS MATTER IS SUBJECT TO A PUBLIC HEARING AT CITY HALL ON (GIVE DATE AND TIME)."
C. 
Prior to the first public hearing on the petition, the petitioner shall submit a notarized statement to the City Clerk certifying full compliance with the requirements set forth above.
The City Clerk shall forward copies of the proposed amendment with the notice of public hearing to the Westchester County Planning Board and to the clerks of any abutting municipalities as required by law.
[Added 3-15-2005 by Ord. No. 60-2005]
A. 
Notwithstanding any other provisions of this chapter and the City Code to the contrary, no site plan, subdivision, special permit, variance, building permit, or other land use approval shall be granted and no use shall be established which would be in contravention of a proposed amendment to the textual or map provisions of this chapter for which a public hearing has been set or held by the City Council, until the earlier of the following dates: the effective date of such proposed amendment, as adopted by the City Council, and that date which is 90 days immediately following the date when such public hearing was set, except that a building permit may be granted for construction which did not require the issuance of site plan, subdivision, special permit, and/or variance approval prior to obtaining such building permit. In the event a proposed amendment to this chapter is substantially changed so as to require one or more additional public hearing(s), the latest date of setting a public hearing on such proposed amendment shall be deemed the date on which the afore-detailed ninety-day period commences.
B. 
The City Council shall have the power to vary or modify the application of any provisions of § 331-147.1A upon its determination, in its absolute legislative discretion, that such variance or modification is consistent with the spirit of the intended and general welfare of the City. Upon receiving any application for such variance or modification, the City Council shall refer such application to the Planning Board for a report of said Planning Board. To expedite appeal, the City Clerk shall forward, within 48 hours after receipt of same, such application for relief to the Planning Board for its report. Such report shall be returned to the City Council within 60 days of such reference and shall be placed on the next City Council agenda for determination after expiration of said sixty-day period or receipt of a report from the Planning Board, whichever is earlier. Failure of the City Council or Planning Board to act within the time limit set forth herein shall not be deemed an approval of the required variance or modification.
The action of the City Council to approve any proposed amendment to this chapter shall be by majority vote, except, however, if a protest is presented against such amendment, duly signed and acknowledged by the owners of 20% or more of the area of any land included in such proposed change, or by the owners of 20% or more of the area of the land immediately adjacent and extending 100 feet therefrom, or by the owners of 20% or more of the area of land directly opposite thereto extending 100 feet from the street frontage of such opposite land, such amendment shall not be passed except by a three-fourths-vote of the City Council.
The City Clerk shall keep the official record copy of the Zoning Map and text sections, and shall be responsible for the posting of all changes thereto. The City Clerk and the Commissioner of Development shall also maintain a file of all such zoning maps and text sections which have been superseded by amendment of this chapter.