Key Considerations for Zoning Lot Mergers & Development Rights in New York City (Including 1 hour of Ethics)

Sheila Pozon | Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLP

Sheila M. Pozon is Special Counsel at Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLP. She advises developers, property owners, governmental authorities, not-for-profit, cultural, religious, healthcare, and educational institutions, lenders, and investors on New York City real estate development issues including municipal law issues, private/public partnerships, the development potential of sites, and land use and environmental review processes. She has expertise in structuring and negotiating complex transactions and has extensive experience representing clients in zoning lot mergers for the purchase and sale of development rights. Her work includes negotiating purchase and sale agreements, zoning lot development agreements, complex easement agreements, and license and access agreements. Sheila has appeared on NY1 and WNYC and been quoted in the Commercial Observer, the Wall Street Journal, Slate and the Real Deal on hotel and office conversions and the state’s housing policies. Sheila is a graduate of the Boston University School of Law and of Columbia College, Columbia University.

Eugene Travers | Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLP

Eugene C. Travers is Special Counsel at Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLP. He represents real estate developers, lenders, and nonprofit institutions in land use, zoning, and historic preservation matters. Gene negotiates complicated zoning lot mergers and transfers of development rights to enhance the development potential of his client’s projects, secures discretionary land use approvals through New York City’s Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP) and the Board of Standards and Appeals, and conducts land use due diligence for the purchase and financing of new development and conversion projects. He particularly enjoys collaborating as co-counsel with leading transactional real estate attorneys and law firms that do not have their own zoning practices, many of whom frequently rely on Gene for his knowledge and experience. Gene was profiled by Crain’s New York as a Rising Star in Real Estate (2019), and has been recognized by Thomson Reuter’s New York Super Lawyers (2015 2023). The Center for New York City Law awarded Gene the CityLand Fellowship in 2010. Gene is a graduate of New York Law School and of Fairfield University.

Steven Leventhal | Leventhal Mullaney & Blinkoff LLP

Steve is an attorney and CPA (ret.) and managing member of the Roslyn general practice firm of Leventhal, Mullaney & Blinkoff, LLP. He is a graduate of the New York University School of Law, and serves as ethics counsel to two counties, four towns, and two villages. Steve is an elected Village Justice, an arbitration chairperson for the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), and a hearing officer for the New York State Commission on Ethics and Lobbying in Government.

Steve is Chair-Elect of the NYSBA Local and State Government Law Section, Cochair of the section’s Ethics Committee, and Co-Chair of the Task Force on the Ethics of Local Public Sector Lawyering. He is Past-President of the Nassau County Bar Association, a director of the Nassau Suffolk Legal Services Corporation, and Associate Dean for Continuing Judicial Education of the Nassau County Magistrates Association. Steve served as Chair of the Nassau County Board of Ethics, as a member of the Grievance Committee for the Tenth Judicial District, and as a consultant to the United Nations Ethics Office.

Steve has lectured and written extensively about government, legal, corporate, and medical ethics. He is co-author and editor of Municipal Ethics in New York: A Primer for Attorneys and Public Officials, published by the NYS Bar Association. He is frequently engaged to provide ethics advice, training and continuing professional education programs to municipal officers and employees throughout the state, municipal associations, bar associations, law firms and universities.

Session I – Key Considerations for Zoning Lot Mergers & Development Rights in New York City | 12:00pm – 1:00pm

• Floor Area as the basic unit of development in NYC | 12:00pm – 12:15pm
• Basic explanation of zoning lot mergers and required documentation | 12:15pm – 12:30pm
• Concept of “parties in interest” and title company’s role in identifying parties in interest | 12:30pm – 12:45pm
• Due diligence considerations | 12:45pm – 1:00pm

Break | 1:00pm – 1:10pm

Session II – A Practical Guide to Local Government Ethics | 1:10pm – 2:10pm

• Prohibited Contracts | 1:10pm – 1:25pm
• Compatibility of Secondary Employment | 1:25pm – 1:40pm
• Gifts and Favors | 1:40pm – 1:55pm
• Common Law Conflicts of Interest | 1:55pm – 2:10pm