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History
- Referred to local government
- Referred to local government
Companion bill
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Relates to the enforcement by governing boards of municipal corporations of interests in real property acquired for the purposes of open space or open areas
In Assembly Committee · Local Governments · Sponsor Fred Thiele
Full text
The text isn't available here yet. Check nysenate.gov.
Sponsor's memo
BILL NUMBER:S3810
Title of bill
An act to amend the general municipal law, in relation to the enforcement by governing boards of municipal corporations of interests in real property acquired for the purposes of open space or open areas
Purpose
Relates to the enforcement by governing boards of municipal corporations of interests in real property acquired for the purposes of open space or open areas.
Summary of provisions
Subdivision 4 of Section 247 of the General Municipal Law is amended to provide that governing boards of municipal corporations may enforce interests in real property acquired for the purposes of open space or open areas.
Justification
Section 247 of the State General Municipal Law grants municipalities authority to institute programs to preserve agricultural lands. In essence, the towns protect agricultural lands by purchasing "development rights" from the landowner that prohibits the land from being developed for residential purposes, while permitting the land to continue to be used for agricultural purposes, as defined in Section 301 of the State Agriculture and Markets Law. The towns either hold such development rights or extinguish those rights. Fee title to land remains in private ownership to be used for agriculture. However, such programs to preserve agricultural lands do not actually require the owner to farm the land. It may remain fallow.
Over the past 40 years, there have been dramatic changes in agricultural practices and land values in New York State. Especially on the East End of Long Island, there has been a substantial use of land for luxury, second homes. As a result, agricultural lands, which were preserved for the purpose of use in the agricultural industry, are frequently being diverted for use as part of large estates where such lands are lying fallow or are being used for personal use to board horses, or other accessory uses that meet the definition of agriculture, but are not commercial in nature.
As a result, agricultural lands are being diverted from the agriculture industry. Exacerbating this trend, is the fact that land values of protected agricultural lands as an accessory use for luxury residential development have driven the value of protected farmland to levels that make it unaffordable for farmers. As a result, one of the original purposes of the farm preservation program, to make land available for agriculture, is being thwarted.
This legislation would allow municipalities to have enforcement authority to ensure that the land preserved for agricultural purposes is used for agricultural purposes.
Legislative history
2015: New Legislation
Fiscal implications
None.
Effective date
This act shall take effect immediately.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.