When the Government Transfers Property to a Private Owner

There are three types of government owners that might be selling a property: the city, the state and the federal government. 

Transfers of City Properties

When the City plans to transfer its property to a private owner, it usually has to go through a public review process called the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP). Transfers for significant sums of money or $1. Some transfers go through a process with much less public participation, called UDAAP [MORE ON THAT SOON].

Part of the ULURP process is a review of all the ways the transfer might impact the neighborhood — from traffic, to building shadows, to affordability. This review is required by the New York State Environmental Quality Review Act. The City wrote a set of its own rules to help make sure that proposals to change things in New York City follow state law. The City's rules are called the City Environmental Quality Review (CEQR); the full rules are here

ULURP is the process New York City uses to make sure elected officials and the public review big land-use decisions. This process is most often used when a developer or the City wants to change the zoning rules to build something more or different that what is currently allowed or when the City is selling public land. There are other times when this process is used, too. Read about them here on the NYC Department of City Planning website.

A key step in ULURP is a Public Scoping Hearing. This Hearing is an opportunity for you and your neighbors to tell the people who are investigating impacts what matters to you. Click here for more information about the Scoping Hearing.

If the property is on the National Register of Historic Places and/or a NYC Landmark, the City would also have to follow the Section 106 rules. This is an opportunity to comment....[MORE]

 

These illustrations are from projects created by our friends at the Center for Urban Pedagogy.

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