The brownfield reform legislation agreed to by the Governor and leaders of
the legislature at 2 am Monday is a TERRIBLE compromise. The reform was
intended to limit the alleged abuses by a handful of expensive condo
development projects but the irony is that these kind of projects will be
the ones that benefit the most from the reform.
The new tax credit caps will have adversely impact affordable
housing/workforce housing projects and small sites where the cleanup
costs are disproportionate to the site value/project. The result of
this legislation is that we will see more abandoned gas stations in New York and
the regionally significant projects will be incentivized to develop
greenfields because of other state incentives.
This was a last-minute, minimalist deal that failed to deal with the other
important issues associated with the NY brownfield program such as eligibility,
fill material sites, etc. This compromise is worse than the program that was in
existence prior to the moratorium. But I guess this is what happens when you
have three men in a room making decisions at 2 am on the last day of the
legislative session.
Larry
Lawrence
Schnapf
Adjunct Professor-New York Law School
55 E.87th Street
#8B/8C
New York, NY 10128
212-876-3189 (h)
212-756-2205
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212-593-5955 (f)
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www.environmental-law.net