Community facilities zoning scrutinized - includes hospitals, nursing homes, medical offices, health centers, welfare centers, schools, libraries, philanthropic institutions and houses of worship

Real Estate Weekly, July 22, 1992 by Steven D. Kowaloff

The development of new community facilities is coming under more intensive public scrutiny, as evidenced by recently proposed New York City and State land use regulations and legislation.

Community facilities are essentially those facilities that provide health, educational, social or religious services to residents. Community facilities include: hospitals, nursing homes, medical offices, health centers, welfare centers, schools, libraries,philanthropic or not-for-profit institutions, and houses of worship.

In order to provide services to residents effectively and efficiently, community facilities must generally locate directly within the residential neighborhood being served. Nevertheless, such location might conflict with the residential quality of the neighborhood, especially if the community facility creates or attracts excessive traffic, crowds of employees, clients or patients, noise, concentrations of persons with drug or alcohol problems, or concentrations of disabled or incapacitated senior citizens.

Currently, most of the mentioned community facilities may be located as-of-right within all residential zoning districts. Some notable exceptions areas follows: (1) Within R1 and R2 single-family detached residence zones, proprietary hospitals and proprietary nursing, homes are prohibited, and welfare centers are required to have a special permit from the Board of Standards and Appeals; and (2) Within areas having an over-concentration of nursing homes, a special permit from the City Planning Commission is required for a new nursing home.

Separate and apart from these zoning controls, a City site selection approval is also generally required in order to provide a City-owned and operated community facility (such as a library, school, welfare center or health center). A State certificate of need approval is also generally required in order to provide a privately-owned and operated hospital or nursing home. Consistency with the City's "fair share" location guidelines might also be required for the provision of a community facility operated by a not-for-profit organization on behalf of the City (such as a health center or welfare center).

Recently, neighborhood opposition to certain types of community facilities has induced certain public officials to sponsor new regulations or legislation aimed at controlling the provision of new community facilities. A zoning text amendment proposed by one Borough President would subject the provision of all community facilities to a City Planning commission authorization incorporating the finding that the community facility would not create "significant objectionable influences in residential areas". The City Planning Commission's 1992 Planning and Zoning Report will propose certain changes to the community facility bulk and use regulations. A State bill applying to certain community facilities that provide municipal services and are operated by a not-for-profit corporation, would subject the provision of such community facilities to the site selection procedure now required only for city-owned and operated community facilities.

Homebuilders should recognize that community facilities can enhance or reduce property values, depending on the circumstances of each case. Builders should also recognize that there may be profit in constructing and then selling or leasing out certain types of community facility buildings at certain locations. The key to proper treatment of community facilities is a legal and regulatory framework that permits the development of community facilities primarily on an as-of-right basis, in appropriate locations, and under. clear and reasonable performance standards.