Uniform land use review procedure.
NYC Charter § 197-c
in effectSection 197-c. Uniform land use review procedure.
a. Except as otherwise provided in this charter, applications by any person or agency for changes, approvals, contracts, consents, permits or authorization thereof, respecting the use, development or improvement of real property subject to city regulation shall be reviewed pursuant to a uniform review procedure in the following categories:
(1) Changes in the city map pursuant to section one hundred ninety-eight and section one hundred ninety-nine;
(2) Maps of subdivisions or plattings of land into streets, avenues or public places pursuant to section two hundred two;
(3) Designations of zoning districts under the zoning resolution, including conversion from one land use to another land use, pursuant to sections two hundred and two hundred one;
(4) Special permits within the jurisdiction of the city planning commission under the zoning resolution, pursuant to sections two hundred and two hundred one;
(5) Site selection for capital projects pursuant to section two hundred eighteen;
(6) Revocable consents pursuant to section three hundred sixty-four, requests for proposals and other solicitations for franchises pursuant to section three hundred sixty-three, and major concessions as defined pursuant to section three hundred seventy-four;
(7) Improvements in real property the costs of which are payable other than by the city pursuant to section two hundred twenty;
(8) Housing and urban renewal plans and projects pursuant to city, state and federal housing laws;
(9) Sanitary or waterfront land-fills pursuant to applicable charter provisions or other provisions of law;
(10) Sale, lease (other than the lease of office space), exchange, or other disposition of the real property of the city, including the sale or lease of land under water pursuant to section sixteen hundred two, chapter fifteen, and other applicable provisions of law;
(11) Acquisition by the city of real property (other than the acquisition of office space for office use or a building for office use), including acquisition by purchase, condemnation, exchange or lease and including the acquisition of land under water pursuant to section sixteen hundred two, chapter fifteen, and other applicable provisions of law; and
(12) Such other matters involving the use, development or improvement of property as are proposed by the city planning commission and enacted by the council pursuant to local law.
b. The following documents shall be filed with the department of city planning: (1) applications under this section, (2) any amendments thereto that are made prior to approval of such applications pursuant to this chapter, (3) any written information submitted by an applicant for purposes of determining whether an environmental impact statement will be required by law, and (4) documents or records intended to define or substantially redefine the overall scope of issues to be addressed in any draft environmental impact statement required by law. The department of city planning shall forward a copy of any materials it receives pursuant to this subdivision (whether or not such materials have been certified as complete) within five days to each affected borough president, community board or borough board.
c. The department of city planning shall be responsible for certifying that applications pursuant to subdivision a of this section are complete and ready to proceed through the uniform land use review procedure provided for in this section. The department shall not certify an application unless (1) each affected borough board, borough president and community board has received from the department, at least thirty days before certification, a pre-certification notice containing information specified by the city planning commission, which shall include the project location, the purpose of the proposed actions, and a description of the proposed actions, sufficient to put such borough board, borough president and community board on notice of the substance of the application, and (2) the application is substantially consistent with such notice. The department shall publish such notice on the department's website within five days of the transmission of such notice to the affected borough board, borough president and community board. Upon certification of an application, the department shall give notice of such certification to the council. If an application under this section has not been certified within six months after filing, both the applicant and, if the land use proposed in an application is consistent with the land use policy or strategic policy statement of the affected borough president, the affected borough president shall have the right at any time thereafter to appeal to the city planning commission for certification. The commission shall promptly, but in any event within sixty days of the filing of such an appeal, either certify the application or state in writing what further information is necessary to complete the application. If such an appeal is brought by an affected borough president, the affirmative vote of five members of the commission shall be sufficient to certify the application.
d. If a meeting involving a city agency and an applicant is convened to define or substantially redefine the overall scope of issues to be addressed in any draft environmental impact statement required by law for an application subject to review under this section, each affected community board and each affected borough president shall receive advance notice of such meeting, and each shall have the right to send one representative to the meeting.
e. (1) Except as otherwise provided in paragraph two of this subdivision each affected community board shall, not later than sixty days after receipt of an application that has been certified pursuant to subdivision c of this section,
(a) notify the public of the application in a manner specified by the city planning commission pursuant to subdivision i of this section, and
(b) either (i) conduct a public hearing thereon and prepare and submit a written recommendation directly to the city planning commission and to the affected borough president or (ii) where authorized by this charter, submit a written waiver of the right to conduct a public hearing and to submit such written recommendations to the commission and the affected borough president.
(2) Where an application has been certified during the month of June, the affected community board shall provide notification pursuant to subparagraph (a) of paragraph 1 of this subdivision and conduct a hearing or, where authorized, submit a waiver of the right to conduct a public hearing pursuant to subparagraph (b) of paragraph 1 of this subdivision not later than ninety days after receipt of such application or, where such application is certified during the period of time from and including July 1 to and including July 15, not later than seventy-five days after receipt of such application.
f. A copy of a recommendation or waiver by a community board pursuant to subdivision e of this section that involves land located within two or more community districts in a borough shall also be filed with the affected borough board within the same time period as specified in subdivision e. Not later than thirty days after the filing of a recommendation or waiver with the borough board by all affected community boards, or, if any affected community board shall fail to act, thirty days after the expiration of the time allowed for such community board to act, the borough board may hold a public hearing on the application and any such recommendations and submit a written recommendation or waiver thereof to the city planning commission.
g. Not later than thirty days after the filing of a recommendation or waiver with the borough president by all affected community boards, or, if any affected community board shall fail to act, thirty days after the expiration of the time allowed for such community board to act, the borough president shall submit a written recommendation or waiver thereof to the city planning commission.
h. Not later than sixty days after expiration of time allowed for the filing of a recommendation or waiver with the city planning commission by a borough president, the commission shall approve, approve with modifications, or disapprove the application. Any such approval or approval with modifications of the commission shall require the affirmative vote of at least seven of the members, except that the affirmative vote of nine members shall be required to approve or approve with modifications an application pursuant to paragraph five, ten or eleven of subdivision a of this section relating to a new city facility if the affected borough president recommends against approval of such application pursuant to subdivision g of this section and has proposed an alternative location in the same borough for such new city facility pursuant to subdivision f or g of section two hundred four. The commission shall conduct a public hearing on all applications that are subject to review and approval by the commission pursuant to this section. Prior to taking any action pursuant to this subdivision on a matter involving the siting of a capital project, the sale, lease, exchange or other disposition or acquisition of real property, a request for a proposal or other solicitation for a franchise or a revocable consent, the city planning commission may obtain a report from the office of management and budget or the department of citywide administrative services, as appropriate. Any action of the city planning commission which modifies or disapproves a written recommendation of the community board, borough president or borough board shall be accompanied by a written explanation of its reason for such action.
i. The city planning commission shall establish rules providing (1) guidelines, minimum standards, and procedural requirements for community boards, borough presidents, borough boards and the commission in the exercise of their duties and responsibilities pursuant to this section, (2) minimum standards for certification of applications pursuant to subdivision c of this section, and (3) specific time periods for review of applications pursuant to this section prior to certification.
j. If a community board, borough president or borough board fails or waives its right to act within the time limits for review pursuant to subdivisions e, f and g of this section, the application shall be referred to the next level of review. If the city planning commission fails to act on an application within the time limit specified in subdivision h of this section, the application shall be deemed to have been denied unless the application (i) is pursuant to paragraph three or four of subdivision a of this section, in which case the application may be forwarded to the council for review pursuant to the provisions of subdivision b of section two hundred, if applicable, or (ii) is pursuant to paragraph eight of subdivision a of this section, in which case the application shall be referred to the council for review and action as provided by state law.
k. Notice of any hearing on an application by the city planning commission shall be published in the City Record at least ten days immediately prior to the date of the hearing, and a copy of the notice shall be mailed to all community boards or borough boards affected by the application.
l. The commission shall establish by rule procedures for advance posting of notices of commission hearings on applications. Such notices shall be posted at the location of the land involved in such manner and with respect to such types of applications as the commission deems appropriate. Failure to post any such notice shall not affect or impair the validity of any decision of the city planning commission, the council or other agency or official pursuant to this chapter.
m. A community or borough board may review an application which is subject to the uniform land use review procedure pursuant to this section but does not involve land so located as to require reference to such board for review, if in the board's judgment the application might significantly affect the welfare of the community district or borough served by such board. In such a case the application and the related materials submitted to the affected board or boards by the city planning department shall be submitted also to such board upon the request of such board, and such board may hold its own public hearing thereon if it so desires and may submit its own written recommendations in regard thereto to the city planning commission for consideration at any time before the city planning commission takes action thereon.
(Am. L.L. 2019/215, 12/11/2019, eff. 12/11/2019 and 8/31/2020)
Editor's note: For related unconsolidated provisions, see Administrative Code Appendix A at L.L. 1996/059.
Source: City of New York, Charter, Administrative Code and Rules (American Legal Publishing XML export, codelibrary.amlegal.com)URL: https://codelibrary.amlegal.com/codes/newyorkcity/latest/NYCcharter/0-0-0-834Fetched: 10/24/2026