Keeping you updated on federal, state, and local advocacy issues important to our mission
The I-81 Viaduct project in Syracuse will address the aging infrastructure and need for transportation improvements.
As a stakeholder in how this project could impact historic resources in the project area, the Preservation League submitted a comment letter on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) prepared for the project.
Click here to read the Preservation League’s letter.
For further information, visit the NYS Department of Transportation website.
The Rapp Road Community Historic District, one of our 2016-17 Seven to Save sites, is in a precarious location because of its close proximity to big, commercially developed roads like Washington Avenue Extension and Western Avenue – and also Crossgates Mall. The Town of Guilderland is proposing to allow a developer to build a very large apartment/townhome complex (including commercial space) right next to the historic district. Traffic is already an issue in the quiet, residential historic district and this project will likely exacerbate that problem.
The project has been declared a SEQR Type I action, which means a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) will be prepared. The League has submitted this letter on the draft scope for the DEIS.
Visit the Town of Guilderland website for more information about the project.
Thank you to Assemblywoman Carrie Woerner for amending and introducing the following bills, which improve our NYS Historic Tax Credit:
• A5760B- NYS Historic Tax Credit increase from 20% to 30% for projects under $5 million.
• A8491- Ability to complete a single transfer of the NYS Historic Tax Credit.
These bills will provide further opportunities for economic development, particularly for main street communities and smaller projects which often have a hard time filling the funding gaps for small projects.
Our team recently submitted a letter to the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation with comments about proposed changes to the New York Central Railroad Adirondack Division Historic District. We have advocated on behalf of this historic site in the past, including listing it as a 2016-17 Seven to Save. The League believes the corridor should remain an active railroad. If that is not possible, we believe the rails and ties should be preserved in place.
DEC has been aiming for years to remove 34 miles of railroad tracks and ties from Tupper Lake to Lake Placid to create a multi-modal use trail. Creating this trail (for snowmobilers, cross-country skiers and hikers) will involve destroying historic features. As part of the SEQR process, DEC released a scoping document that discusses the impacts of the project and how they will mitigate this – and we don’t find the mitigation measures for adverse impacts to historic features to be entirely satisfactory.
Click here to read our full letter to the DEC.
Click here for the DEC scoping document and request for comments.
On June 19, supporters of improvements to the Federal Historic Tax Credit took part in Lobby Day on Capitol Hill hosted by the Historic Tax Credit Coalition, to encourage support for the HTC-GO legislation. Preservation League staff met with several New York representatives to express the importance of H.R. 2825, and how it would bring more value to historic tax credits and improve access to the credit and investment for smaller rehabilitation projects across New York State.
Don't for forget to contact your New York Congressional Representative and encourage them to co-sponsor the Historic Tax Credit Growth and Opportunity Act in the House, and ask Senators to support the introduction of similar legislation. Please join us in thanking representative Brian Higgins (D-NY) for being an early co-sponsors of this legislation!
Update: Many thanks to local representatives Anthony Brindisi (D-NY), Antonio Delgado (D-NY), Paul Tonko (D-NY), Chris Collins (R-NY), Joseph Morelle (D-NY), and John Katko (R-NY) for joining Brian Higgins in co-sponsoring this legislation!
An important bill passed in the Senate this session: S3645A. We appreciate the Senate's support and recognition of the importance of the NYS Historic Tax Credit and how these improvements will make the credit more functional and valuable for smaller, Main Street, and nonprofit projects. We would like to thank Senator Kennedy (D- 63rd District) for introducing this bill and to the following Senate co-sponsors: Metzger (D- 42nd District), Serrano (D- 29th District), and Kaplan (D- 7th District).
Thank you again to Governor Andrew M. Cuomo, the Assembly and Senate, especially Assembly Speaker Carl E. Heastie and Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, Assembly Ways and Means Chair Helene E. Weinstein and Senate Finance Chair Liz Krueger for including improvements to the Historic Tax Credit in the budget bill earlier this session, so that both State Historic Sites and cities with a poverty rate over 15% can take advantage of the Historic Tax Credit.
Bills A.1261/S.1947, as written, would impede community development, revitalization, and endanger historic buildings and landscapes. Specifically, projects utilizing Environmental Protection Fund grants and New York State Historic Tax Credits would be negatively affected, as this legislation would significantly increase the cost of completing such projects. This will lead to a dramatic reduction in the historic preservation projects that revitalize our communities and stimulate our economy.
Read more in our memo.
Updated memo regarding Prevailing Wage | March 2020
At the conclusion of the 2019 legislative session, the NYS Senate and Assembly passed legislation which adds Ulster county to the list of counties in the Hudson Valley eligible to raise funding for preservation through a Community Preservation Fund. The legislation will be delivered to the Governor.
This legislation (A4403/S1864) will help small and mid-sized cities in New York State mitigate the blight caused by vacant and abandoned buildings, while providing them with a more expedient mechanism to place the buildings with owners who can rehabilitate them.
Thank you to Assemblymember John McDonald (D-Cohoes), for introducing A4403, and to Assemblymembers Fahy, Gottfried, Otis, Raia, DiPietro, Peoples-Stokes, Woerner, Gunther, Palmesano, Steck, Friend, Morinello, Wallace, Hawley, Taylor, Arroyo, Cook, Crouch, Giglio, Griffin, Ramos, Sayegh, Schimminger, and Tague for co-sponsoring in the Assembly.
Thank you to Senator Gaughran for introducing S1864, and to co-sponsors Senators Helming and Parker.
On Tuesday, June 4th, the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission will consider six NYC sites for designation as individual landmarks on the basis of their cultural significance, specifically the connection of these sites to New York City LGBT history. We produced this letter for our recent award-winner, the NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project, to express support for affording these important properties the full protection of the NYC Landmarks Preservation Law.
From the NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project:
Following the 2015 designation of the Stonewall Inn, the upcoming June 4 hearing and subsequent vote are an opportunity for the LPC to further recognize our City’s important LGBT heritage. As the LGBT community in New York City, across the country and around the world come together to honor the legacy of the 1969 Stonewall uprising this June, the importance of these designations cannot be overstated.
The six LGBT historic sites to be heard on June 4th are a small sampling of the 200 researched and featured on our website, nyclgbtsites.org. We drew from this database when recommending to the LPC a list of approximately one dozen sites of significance to LGBT history and culture. We are proud that the six sites now under review are borne from the Project’s research and championing of LGBT historic sites worthy of designation.
Click here to learn more about the six sites up for consideration and how you can get involved.
