421a

The Bloomberg Administration has another favor to ask of the state Legislature, along with passing congestion pricing: change a law you just passed on the 421a property tax abatement.

The Mayor was none too pleased with the Legislature’s revision of the program and even asked Governor Spitzer to veto it. But it turns out Mr. Spitzer might not have to, because the bill, passed in different versions by the Senate and the Assembly, has not even made it to the Governor’s desk.

“The position is still that we are negotiating to try to get a better bill before it goes to the Governor’s desk,” said Neill Coleman, spokesman for the city Department of Housing Preservation and Development. “Then we are looking for a veto. Right now there isn’t a bill before the Governor to veto.”

Mr. Coleman said that housing officials were talking with legislators, including Vito Lopez, the chairman of the Assembly’s housing committee. If the Assembly returns along with the Senate on Monday to vote on congestion pricing, an amendment could be introduced Friday night to give it enough time to mature to be eligible for a vote the following week.

The city wants the Legislature to make three changes: extend the abatement to government-supported middle-income housing, such as that planned for Queens West; shrink the so-called exclusion zone; and retract the $300 million additional tax break that Atlantic Yards, alone among new developments in Brownstone Brooklyn, would qualify for.  read more »

Here is the five-color version of last week’s controversial state legislation that revised the 421a housing tax break (and fashioned a special one for Atlantic Yards), courtesy of the Pratt Center for Community Development.

In short, the areas in maroon, rust and mustard (what a palette, lads!) will force residential developers to incorporate low-income housing into new buildings if they want to qualify for the popular tax-abatement program.  read more »