What is the Special Natural Area District (SNAD)?

The SNAD is a set of zoning regulations that protect natural features on private property. The SNAD regulations work with the residential or commercial zoning of a property, they do not replace it.

2016-19 Text Amendment

In January 2015, the Preservancy asked the Community Board, "what is the value of a SNAD if a property can be stripped of its glorious trees...it is time to review the SNAD regulations and modify and strengthen them were appropriate. "

The Department of City Planning (DCP) listened. We are participating on a task force advising DCP on revisions to SNAD zoning. We are optimistic about the direction and intent of the changes.

Since 2015 -

• We attended six task force meetings
• We submitted to DCP our comments on important considerations
• DCP presented its draft regulations to our board in May 2016 and again in Sept. 2017
• DCP presented its draft regulations to the Community Board Land Use Committee in July 2016

What's next?

• An Open House sponsored by DCP in October 2018
• Public review, beginning late in spring 2019

With your help, the Preservancy is working with the DCP on two fronts:

• We continue to recommend to DCP and the NYC Department of Buildings (DOB) ways to ensure that natural features have strong protections under the new regulations and ways to improve the track record of tree removal so that healthy trees are not improperly removed and to improve the survival rate of new plantings. and,
• We will distribute information about the new SNAD regulations widely, to make sure that everyone who lives in and cares for natural features in the SNAD understands their obligations under what, when it was new in 1974, the community proudly called our Greenbelt law.

Find out the details from City Planning's Website by clicking here.