A key to revitalizing upstates’ depressed cities, and at the same time avoiding sprawl in surrounding areas, is cleaning up their many brownfields (abandoned, often polluted sites) and reusing them. This was the worthy intent of the 2003 brownfields law, which, due to problems with the way incentives were structured, hasn’t worked out as planned. Reform is necessary, and after an earlier proposal that was problematic – it would have discouraged development projects upstate, where they are desperately needed – the Spitzer administration has come up with a much better one.
Under the current law tax credits of up to 22 percent are available for both cleanups and redevelopment projects, regardless of total cost or the degree of cleanup. But few cleanups have been done so far. That’s not only due to bureaucracy, but because most of the tax credits have gone for megamillion –dollar projects in New York City that, given the city’s hot real estate market and abundance of wealthy developers, would have happened anyway.
Gov. Spitzer’s original reform proposal would have capped development tax credits at $5 million, leaving more for cleanups. However, he would have done it not just in New York City but statewide, where the scale of development projects is much smaller but the need is much greater. The prospect of that big tax credit is what helped lure a developer who wants to do a $50 million (at least) project at the former Alco plant in Schenectady. And it is necessary to get developers interested in vacant, crumbling sites like the old Chalmers and Mohasco mills in Amsterdam, as well as similar sites in cities all across upstate New York.
In fact, under one version of Spitzer’s proposed reform, the Alco developer could even make out better. The base tax credit of 15 percent could go as high as 50 percent if the site is in a poor community, developed according to smart-growth principles, and done after a planning process that involves the community. There would also be more money available for cleanups, especially thorough ones.
Spitzer listened to the complaints of upstate politicians and economic developers, including those in Schenectady, and got it right. Good for him… and us.