Zoning and land use
ULURP, the uniform land use review procedure
ULURP is the public review process for rezonings and other listed land use actions, on a fixed clock that starts only after certification. Here is the sequence.
What is ULURP and how long does it take?
Quick Answer
Discretionary approvals
Who does this land on?
Developers seeking a map change or a City Planning special permit, owners affected by someone else’s application, and anyone whose schedule assumes a discretionary approval.
What governs it?
- The City Charter provisions establishing the uniform land use review procedure and listing the actions subject to it
- The Department of City Planning, which reviews the application before certification and starts the clock
- The community board and the borough president, whose reviews are advisory but public
- The City Planning Commission, which holds a hearing and votes
- The City Council, which acts on the Commission approval, and the Mayor, who may veto within the Charter period
- Environmental review, which must reach a negative declaration or a draft impact statement before certification, with the final statement completed during the clock
How does the process run?
- Pre-certification: prepare the application, complete environmental review, and work through the Department of City Planning comments, which is the open-ended part
- Certification: the Department certifies the application as complete and the Charter clock begins
- Community board review, on the Charter period, with a public hearing and an advisory recommendation
- Borough president review, on the Charter period, with a written recommendation
- City Planning Commission review, with a public hearing and a vote to approve, approve with modifications, or disapprove
- City Council review, with a subcommittee hearing and a vote, followed by the Mayor’s brief veto window
- Implementation: the approval is only useful once it is reduced to a filing the Department of Buildings will permit
Where does it bite in a transaction?
- A closing is scheduled against a rezoning that has not certified
- A pro forma treats the Charter clock as the total timeline and omits pre-certification entirely
- A Council modification changes the approved program after the design is complete
- A neighboring application changes the context a project was underwritten in
What actions are subject to ULURP?
The Charter lists them. Zoning map amendments, City Planning special permits, dispositions of city property, site selection for city facilities and several other categories are in; a zoning text amendment follows a different Charter section, and an as-of-right filing is subject to none of it.
Why is the clock misleading?
Because it starts at certification. Everything that makes an application certifiable, the environmental review, the studies and the Department of City Planning comments, happens before the clock and takes as long as it takes. Applicants who plan only to the Charter periods are planning to a fraction of the schedule.
Is the community board vote binding?
No, and neither is the borough president recommendation. Both are advisory. Both are also public, and both frame the questions the City Planning Commission and the City Council will ask, so an application that arrives with local support is a materially shorter application.
What else should you read before you file or sign?
In the glossary
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Zoning and land use
- Rezonings and zoning text amendmentsA rezoning changes the map for specific lots. A text amendment changes the rulebook citywide or by district type. They follow different Charter paths.
- Environmental review of a land use applicationDiscretionary approvals trigger environmental review in New York City. As-of-right filings do not. Here is what the assessment covers and where it ...
- Special permitsA special permit is relief the Zoning Resolution already contemplates, granted on stated findings. Here is who grants which one and how the two pat...
- Landmarks Preservation Commission approvalIf a building is a landmark or sits in a historic district, LPC approval comes before any DOB permit. Here are the three permit types and what each...
- R, C and M zoning districts in New York CityEvery NYC lot sits in a residential, commercial or manufacturing district, often with an overlay or a special district on top of it. Here is how to...
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Legal Disclaimer: This page is general information about New York practice. It is not legal advice, it does not account for the terms of any particular contract, building or transaction, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. This is attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee similar outcomes.