[HISTORY: Adopted by the Town Board of the
Town of New Castle 7-28-1981 by L.L. No. 8-1981. Amendments noted where
applicable.]
The purpose of this chapter is to provide control and administration of occupancy of density bonus apartments created under the multifamily portion of Chapter 60, Zoning, for special population categories.
The Town Board hereby establishes a Town Housing
Agency, which shall be responsible for the administration of the requirements
in the Town Code with regard to those apartments designated or restricted
in a multifamily development as a result of granting of density incentives
for low or moderate income occupancy, senior citizen occupancy, handicapped
occupancy or rental occupancy, as well as for the promulgation of
such rules and regulations as may be necessary to implement such requirements.
Until the establishment of such an agency, the Housing Advisory Committee
appointed by the Town Board shall be considered empowered to exercise
all the functions of such agency.
A.
The Agency shall consist of five members, who shall
be residents of the Town of New Castle. They shall serve without compensation
and shall be appointed by the Town Board of the Town of New Castle
to serve for a term of five years or until their successors are appointed,
with no more than two terms expiring in any one year.
B.
Vacancies in such Agency shall be filled by appointment
by the Town Board in the same manner as original appointments and,
where occurring otherwise than by expiration of term, shall be for
the unexpired term of office.
C.
Chairman.
(1)
The Town Board shall appoint one of the members of
said Agency as its Chairman, who shall serve for a term of one year
from his appointment or until his successor is appointed, whichever
is later.
(2)
The Chairman shall be the executive officer of the
Agency. He shall preside at meetings of the Agency. He may appoint
committees, with Agency approval, with such duties as he may lawfully
prescribe.
D.
The Agency shall hold at least three regular meetings
each year and at such other times as the Chairman may deem necessary,
which meetings shall be open to the public.
E.
The Agency shall take and keep in a proper book true
and correct minutes of all meetings, and copies shall be filed with
the Town Clerk. Each member shall be notified of the time and place
of all meetings at least five days in advance, whenever reasonably
practical.
A.
Upon receipt of an application for the issuance of
a certificate of occupancy for any apartment which is located in a
development for which density incentives have been granted for low-
or moderate-income housing apartments or at such earlier time as may
be requested by the developer, but not prior to the issuance of a
building permit, the Building Inspector shall send a copy of such
application to the Town Housing Agency, which shall then inform the
owner, within 30 days, of the maximum rental or sales charge which
may be established for any low- or moderate-income apartment designated
in the development and the maximum annual gross family income for
eligibility for occupancy of said apartment.
B.
No certificate of occupancy may be issued by the Building
Inspector on such a development until the Agency has notified the
owner of such maximum rental or sales charges.
C.
The Agency shall certify as to the eligibility of
all applicants for rental or sales of low- or moderate-income apartments
and shall annually reexamine or cause to be reexamined each occupant
family's eligibility. An owner shall lease or sell apartment
only to a person who has received a certificate of eligibility issued
by the Agency. Violations of this provision shall constitute grounds
for revocation of a certificate of occupancy.
D.
On or before March 31 of each year thereafter, the
Town Housing Agency shall notify the owner or manager of each multifamily
development containing low- or moderate-income density incentive apartments
and the owner of all such apartments of the rent, sales and income
eligibility requirements for such apartments based upon figures derived
from the preceding calendar year.
E.
The owner or manager of such multifamily development
and owner of each such apartment shall certify to the Town Housing
Agency on or before May 31 of each year that the current occupancy
of all density incentive apartments complies in all respects with
the terms of this chapter.
F.
Continued eligibility. Applicants for low- or moderate-income
rental apartments referred to in this section shall, if eligible and
if selected for occupancy by the owner or manager of the development,
sign leases for a term of not more than two years.
G.
As long as a resident remains eligible and has complied with the terms of the lease, said resident shall be offered a two-year renewal of the lease. If a resident's annual gross income should subsequently exceed by more than 20% the maximum then allowable, as defined in § 60-210 of Chapter 60, Zoning, and if there is at that time an otherwise eligible applicant within one of the categories, said resident may complete his current lease term and shall be offered a non-low- or moderate-rental apartment available in the development at the termination of such lease, if available. If no such apartment shall be available at said time, the resident may be allowed to sign one additional year lease for the low- or moderate-income apartment he occupies, but shall not be offered a renewal of the lease beyond the expiration of said additional year.
H.
In the case of owner-occupied low- or moderate-income apartments, the title to said property shall be restricted so that in the event of any resale by the home buyer or any successor, the resale price shall not exceed the then maximum sales price for said apartment, as determined in accordance with Subsection F, Continued eligibility, above or the sum of the following, whichever is greater:
A.
The developer or owner of a project for which senior
citizens or handicapped density incentive apartments have been granted
shall transmit to the town (before issuance of a certificate of occupancy)
the following data with reference to all such density incentive dwelling
apartments in a development in sufficient detail for identification
of each apartment: building number; apartment designation; tax lot
number; approximate square foot area; location; number of rooms; the
portions of the common elements to which the apartment has immediate
access or the right to exclusive use; and the percentage of interest
in the common elements.
B.
Each of the senior citizen or handicapped apartments
shall be offered for sale or lease to qualified senior citizens or
handicapped persons, as the case may be, for a period of 60 days from
the date that the developer files in the office of the Town Clerk
of the Town of New Castle a certificate or letter informing the town
that the Attorney General of the State of New York has authorized
the sponsor to offer the apartments for sale or that they are ready
to be offered for rent, except, if the developer lowers the offering
price or rental amount of any of the senior citizen or handicapped
apartments, then, with respect to those apartments only, the developer
shall file a second certificate in the office of the Town Clerk setting
forth such lower price or rental, and the new starting date shall
be the date of this second filing. Upon the expiration of the sixty-day
period, any unsold or unrented senior citizen or handicapped apartment
may be offered for sale or lease by the developer to any person, whether
or not he or she is a qualified senior citizen or handicapped person,
and the Town Clerk shall, at the request of the developer, issue a
certificate stating that the developer had complied with these provisions
by setting forth the applicable offering date and terms with respect
to any or all of the senior citizen and handicapped apartments. The
same procedure is to be followed thereafter if the developer or subsequent
owner desires to further lower the selling price of the apartment
or offer more favorable terms.
C.
Each apartment described herein as a "senior citizen
apartment" or "handicapped person apartment," whether or not initially
or hereafter sold or leased to a qualified senior citizen or handicapped
person, shall be and and remain a senior citizen or handicapped person
apartment as the case may be and shall be subject to the following
restrictions upon its resale or rental.
(1)
At such time as the owner of a senior citizen or handicapped
apartment desires to sell or lease his or her apartment, the owner
shall file a written notice in the office of the Town Clerk. The notice
shall state the name of the apartment owner, a description of the
apartment, the selling price of the apartment, the terms of sale,
the proposed closing date or the lease terms, in the case of a rental,
and the name, the telephone number and the address of the person prospective
purchasers or tenants should contact.
(2)
The owner of a senior citizen or handicapped apartment
may sell or lease such apartment only to a qualified senior citizen
or handicapped person for a period of 30 days after the filing of
the notice in the office of the Town Clerk. After the expiration of
the thirty-day period, the owner may sell or lease his or her apartment
to any purchaser or tenant at a price and on terms or at a rental
no less favorable than those contained in the notice, and the Town
Clerk shall, at the request of the owner, issue a certificate stating
that the owner had complied with these provisions by setting forth
the applicable offering date and terms with respect to any or all
of the senior citizen and handicapped apartments.
(3)
If the owner desires to lower the selling price or
rent of the apartment or offer more favorable terms than those set
forth in the notice, he or she shall file a second notice in the office
of the Town Clerk stating the new, more favorable price and terms
of sale or rental, as the case may be. For a period of 30 days after
the filing of the second notice, the apartment owner may sell or lease
such apartment only to a qualified senior citizen or handicapped person
at a price or rent and on terms no less favorable than those contained
in the second notice. After the expiration of the thirty-day period,
the owner may sell or lease his or her apartment to any purchaser
or tenant at a price and on terms, or at a rental no less favorable
than those contained in the notice, and the Town Clerk shall, at the
request of the owner, issue a certificate stating that the owner has
complied with these provisions by setting forth the applicable offering
date and terms with respect to any or all of the senior citizen apartments
and handicapped apartments. The same procedure is to be followed thereafter
if the owner desires to further lower the selling price or rent of
the apartment or offer more favorable terms.
(4)
The senior citizen and handicapped apartments shall
be encumbered by the foregoing restrictions upon the initial sale
of each such apartment and upon the resale or rental of each such
apartment whether or not such apartments are sold or leased to qualified
senior citizens or handicapped persons unless such restrictions are
removed by a resolution of the Town Board of the Town of New Castle
and a declaration is filed in the office of the County Clerk of Westchester
County, Division of Land Records.
D.
Nothing contained in this § 10-5 shall be deemed to supersede the power of attorney granted by each apartment owner to the Board of Managers of any condominium. If the Board of Managers acquires title to or leases any senior citizen or handicapped apartment, it shall be bound by this restriction in the further resale or rental of any such apartment.
E.
The provisions of this § 10-5 to the contrary notwithstanding:
(1)
An apartment owner may transfer his or her apartment
to his or her spouse without having to follow the notice procedure
set forth above.
(2)
An apartment owner may transfer his or her apartment to his or her children or to any one or more of them without having to follow the notice procedures set forth above, provided that the apartment continues to be occupied by a qualified senior citizen or handicapped person, as the case may be, and provided that within 30 days after the apartment is no longer occupied by a qualified senior citizen or handicapped person it shall be offered in the manner described in § 10-5C(3).
(3)
An apartment owner may devise his or her apartment by will or have it pass by intestacy, but, unless the apartment continues to be occupied by the apartment owner's spouse or by a qualified senior citizen or handicapped person, it shall be offered for sale in the manner described in § 10-5C(3) within three months after the date of the appointment of a personal representative of the deceased apartment owner.
(4)
The notice procedures set forth above shall not apply
if an apartment becomes the subject of a foreclosure, judgment or
lien sale.
The density incentive apartments shall be physically
integrated into the design of the development in a manner satisfactory
to the Planning Board and shall be distributed among efficiency, one-,
two-, three- or four-bedroom apartments in the same proportion as
all other apartments in the development, unless a different proportion
is approved by the Planning Board as being better related to the housing
needs, current or projected, of the Town of New Castle. The Planning
Board shall refer all development proposals which include proposed
density incentive apartments to the Town Housing Agency for report
at least 30 days prior to taking any formal action with respect to
the approval or disapproval of such density incentive apartments.
The encumbrance on the density incentive apartments
shall be taken into consideration by the Town Assessor in determining
the full value basis for assessments on such units.
All certificates of occupancy issued for apartments which have been designated as density incentive apartments for low- or moderate-income families, senior citizens or handicapped persons shall be endorsed with a notation that occupancy of such apartments is conditioned upon continued compliance with the provisions of this chapter, Chapter 60, Zoning, and all regulations issued thereunder.
