What's happening
This bill requires that any sale, lease, or transfer of New York City school property must comply with the city's uniform land use review procedure.
Why it matters
Increases Local Oversight and Transparency. By requiring all sales, leases, or transfers of NYC school property to go through the city’s Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP), the bill ensures these decisions are subject to public review, hearings, and City Council approval, rather than being handled solely by the school board or city agencies.
Limits Fast-Tracking and Private Deals. The amendment removes exceptions that previously allowed school property to be transferred to private entities without public auction or bidding, making it harder for deals to happen without public scrutiny or competitive processes.
Protects Community and Parental Involvement. The bill explicitly states that requirements for parental involvement and the powers of community education councils cannot be bypassed, especially in cases involving significant changes to school utilization or temporary relocations due to redevelopment.
Potential Impact on School Redevelopment and Co-Location. By tightening procedural requirements, the bill could slow down or complicate efforts to repurpose or redevelop school property, particularly in cases where schools are combined with other types of development (like residential or commercial projects), ensuring community concerns are addressed before changes are made.
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Who cares
Headline styles
Review School Land Sales
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
1 Co-sponsor
History
- Referred to education
- Referred to education
Full text
2 pagesUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
18
2017-2018 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE (Prefiled)
January 4, 2017
Introduced by Sens. HOYLMAN, PERKINS, SERRANO -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Education
AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to requiring compliance with the uniform land use review procedure for the disposition of school property in New York city
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. Subdivisions 11 and 20 of section 454 of the education law, subdivision 11 as added by chapter 999 of the laws of 1966 and subdivision 20 as amended by chapter 1036 of the laws of 1971, are amended to read as follows:
11. Subject to the terms and conditions of any lease, sublease or other agreement with third parties and to the determination of the board of education that such real property is unnecessary for the present or foreseeable future school building needs of the city of New York, to surrender to the appropriate city official, for other public use or for sale, lease or other disposition in accordance with law, real property held by the fund for its corporate purposes; provided, however, that prior to any such sale, lease or other disposition there shall be full compliance with the provisions of section one hundred ninety-seven-c of the New York city charter, relating to uniform land use review procedure, or the provisions of any other local law of the city of New York relating thereto;
20. At the request or with the approval of the board of education, to grant, sell, license, lease or otherwise transfer without public auction or bidding any real property or any rights or interests therein or thereto, including fee interests, easements, space rights or air rights, held by it and occupied or reserved for school purposes and needed therefor, to a private individual or private or public corporation sole-
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD05009-01-7
S. 18 2
ly and exclusively for the purpose of developing and constructing therein or thereon a combined occupancy structure, or a part or portion thereof, or for the purpose of rehabilitating or improving an existing school to become part of a combined occupancy structure within the meaning of this article subject to a prior and enforceable agreement approved by the board of education for the reconveyance, retransfer or leaseback of the school portion thereof, upon completion, for use and occupancy by the said board of education in those instances where a grant, sale or lease has been made to such private individual or private or public corporation; provided, however, that no such sale, lease or transfer of lands or rights therein or thereto is authorized where the development of a combined occupancy structure contemplates the erection of nonschool facilities or improvements over an existing playground unless such combined occupancy structure to be constructed over such playground shall provide playground area at least equal in size to the then existing playground area; provided further, however, that prior to any grant, sale, license, lease or other transfer there shall be full compliance with the provisions of section one hundred ninety-seven-c of the New York city charter, relating to uniform land use review procedure, or the provisions of any other local law of the city of New York relating thereto;
§ 2. Section 471 of the education law, as added by chapter 999 of the laws of 1966, is amended to read as follows:
§ 471. Inconsistent provisions of other laws superseded. Insofar as the provisions of this article are inconsistent with the provisions of any other general, special or local law, or with the provisions of any charter or ordinance, the provisions of this article shall be controlling; provided, however, that the provisions of section one hundred ninety-seven-c of the New York city charter shall apply as specified in subdivisions eleven and twenty of section four hundred fifty-four of this article; and further provided, however, that nothing contained in article ten of the education law shall in any way supersede the requirements regarding parental involvement and the powers and duties of the community district education council with respect to proposed significant changes in school utilization, including but not limited to phaseout, grade reconfiguration, re-siting or co-location of schools, and which shall also be deemed to include the temporary relocation of students that will result from any transfer of an existing school site to a developer for construction of a combined occupancy structure. The provisions of this article shall not be deemed to prevent the city of New York from financing the cost of acquiring, constructing, reconstructing, rehabilitating or improving one or more school buildings by the issuance of bonds or capital notes pursuant to the local finance law.
§ 3. This act shall take effect immediately.
Reflowed for reading: line numbers and page breaks removed. Cite the official text.
Sponsor's memo
Title of bill
An act to amend the education law, in relation to requiring compliance with the uniform land use review procedure for the disposition of school property in New York city
Purpose or general idea of bill
This bill would explicitly require the sale of NYC public school buildings to comply with the uniform land use review procedure (ULURP) as well as the community education councils' public hearing requirements related to any significant change in school utilization.
Summary of specific provisions
The bill would amend several provisions of Article 10 of the Education Law (the NYC Educational Construction Fund Act), which was enacted in 1966 to create that fund as a public benefit corporation in which title to NYC public school sites and facilities would be vested. Now, almost 50 years later, it is important to clarify that certain later-enacted provisions of the Education Law apply to sales or other dispositions of NYC public schools, and also to provide that the ULURP process will apply to such sales.
Section one of the bill amends sections 11 and 20 of section 454 of the Education Law to require full compliance with the uniform land use review procedure (ULURP). Section 2 of the bill amends section 471 of the Education Law to do two things: 1) to require full compliance with the uniform land use review procedure (ULURP), consistent with the amendments made in section one of the bill, and 2) to explicitly state that Article 10 does not supersede any of the later enacted requirements regarding parental involvement and the duties of the community district education councils with respect to proposed significant changes in school utilization. Section 3 of the bill provides for an immediate effective date.
Justification
Recent proposals to sell New York City school buildings to developers have taken parents and communities by surprise, and appear not to have considered the impact on students, families and the surrounding communities. Certainly there has not yet been any opportunity for students, their families, and community members to have input in the process. While it is to be hoped that the parental involvement provisions of Education Law Article 52-A will be complied with, the intent of this legislation is two-fold: first, to require ULURP compliance with any sale, lease or disposition of NYC public school buildings and sites, and second, to explicitly provide that Article 10 of the Education Law, enacted in 1966, does not in any way supersede the provisions of Education Law section 2590-e, enacted many years later. See McKinney's Statutes § 393, text accompanying note 56 (later act to prevail in case of inconsistency).
Prior legislative history
S.120 of 2015-2016 (Hoylman): Died in Education S.4643 of 2013-2014 (Hoylman): Died in Education
Fiscal implications
None to the state.
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.