Provides that the use or storage of manure may not be deemed a public nuisance under local laws restricting farming operations within an agricultural district.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
656
2023-2024 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
January 5, 2023
___________
Introduced by Sen. ORTT -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
printed to be committed to the Committee on Agriculture
AN ACT to amend the agriculture and markets law, in relation to local
laws restricting farming operations within an agricultural district
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Subdivision 1 of section 303 of the agriculture and markets
2 law, as amended by chapter 35 of the laws of 2016, is amended to read as
3 follows:
4 1. Any owner or owners of land may submit a proposal to the county
5 legislative body for the creation of an agricultural district within
6 such county[, provided that such owner or owners own at least two
7 hundred fifty acres of the land proposed to be included in the
8 district]. Such proposal shall be submitted in such manner and form as
9 may be prescribed by the commissioner, shall include a description of
10 the proposed district, including a map delineating the exterior bounda-
11 ries of the district which shall conform to tax parcel boundaries, and
12 the tax map identification numbers for every parcel in the proposed
13 district. The proposal shall include a review period of eight years.
14 § 2. Paragraph a of subdivision 1 of section 305-a of the agriculture
15 and markets law, as amended by chapter 357 of the laws of 1997, is
16 amended to read as follows:
17 a. Local governments, when exercising their powers to enact and admin-
18 ister comprehensive plans and local laws, ordinances, rules or regu-
19 lations, shall exercise these powers in such manner as may realize the
20 policy and goals set forth in this article, and shall not unreasonably
21 restrict or regulate farm operations within agricultural districts in
22 contravention of the purposes of this article unless it can be shown
23 that the public health or safety is threatened. For purposes of this
24 section, the collection, use or storage of manure shall not be
25 restricted or regulated by local law, ordinance or resolution in an
26 agricultural district on the basis that such activities pose a threat to
27 public health or safety as either a nuisance or a pollutant.
28 § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD03440-01-3
