Keeping you updated on federal, state, and local advocacy issues important to our mission
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 T. McDonald III for introducing this legislation in the Assembly and to James Gaughran for introducing in the Senate.
In October 2019, U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy [R-LA] introduced S. 2615, the Senate version of H.R. 2825, the Historic Tax Credit Growth and Opportunity Act (HTC-GO), introduced by the House earlier this year.
This legislation will bring more value to historic tax credits and improve access to the credit and investment for smaller rehabilitation projects across New York State.
Contact New York Senators Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand and ask them to support this legislation!
In June 2019, Governor Cuomo announced the Reimagine the Canals initiative of the New York Power Authority and New York State Canal Corporation, with the goal “to boost local economies, inspire new opportunities for tourism and recreation, and strengthen environmental resiliency along the historic waterway.” The Preservation League believes that the power of our New York State Canal System, a National Historic Landmark, is rooted in its history, authenticity as a continuously operating end-to-end canal system, vibrancy, and ability to leverage tourism now and in the future.
In the midst of the Erie Canal’s bicentennial celebration (built 1817-1825) and on the heels of the centennial of the National Historic Landmark Barge Canal System, the League has released a public statement on the Reimagine initiative. “The Preservation League believes that the best future for our NYS Canal System lies in capitalizing on its past, marketing itself as a historic transportation corridor, improving amenities for canal users, and strengthening local, regional, and international partnerships to promote tourism, as well as recreational and commercial use.”
The Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor also released a statement in response to this initiative. You can read it here.
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This issue was covered in the Friday, October 18 edition of the Buffalo News. Our Vice President for Policy & Preservation Erin Tobin was quoted: "The canal is such a vibrant, rich part of our state. Anybody who spends time in upstate New York, including our governor, knows and loves and understands that the canal is a huge part of the communities all along its corridor."
The creation of Community Preservation Funds can provide for the safeguarding of historic buildings and landscapes. This modest real estate tax (paid by buyers), helps to further preservation goals and protect important sites that communities treasure.
The Preservation League prepared a letter to Governor Cuomo expressing support for this legislation (The Ulster County Community Preservation Act A0129/S6235 & Town of Chester Community Preservation Act A7592/S5640) and requesting it be signed into law.
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.
