County Referral of Zoning Actions (§239-m)

N.Y. General Municipal Law § 239-m

Requires every city, town, and village referring body in a county that has a county planning agency (or, absent one, within a regional planning council's jurisdiction) to refer certain proposed planning and zoning actions — adoption or amendment of a comprehensive plan, adoption or amendment of a zoning ordinance or local law, issuance of special use permits, approval of site plans, granting of use or area variances, and other authorizations under a zoning ordinance — to that county planning agency or regional planning council for review when the affected real property lies within 500 feet of a municipal boundary, a state or county park or recreation area, a state or county road or highway, a county-owned drainage channel or stream, a state- or county-owned building or institution, or a farm operation in an agricultural district. The county agency has 30 days (or a longer mutually agreed period) to report its recommendation; if it recommends modification or disapproval, the referring body may act contrary to that recommendation only by a vote of a majority plus one of all its members and after adopting a resolution stating the reasons.