By Rob South, WKAR News
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wkar/local-wkar-956868.mp3
LANSING, MI –
Among the many recommendations in Governor Snyder's budget plan, the move to eliminate tax incentives for brownfield re-development and historic preservation has local officials and investors concerned. The governor's office says the current system isn't transparent and needs to be replaced. Critics worry that changes may stall decades of progress in revitalizing urban areas.
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Alan Hooper is an entrepreneur with big dreams for his small community. Hooper owns Tri-Terra, an environmental remediation business headquartered in Lansing's Old Town. Several years ago, Hooper redeveloped several historic buildings and cleaned up a vacant lot that had once been home to a dry cleaner.
"We took nine underground tanks out of the ground over here," he says, pointing to a crowded parking lot. "And regraded the whole site so the storm water runs off to a rain garden."
Hooper's real estate holdings also include a former metal fabricating shop, which has been transformed into a very comfortable office space.
"This is the Michigan fitness foundation that's in here," Hooper explains. "Before we started this was an old tin shop. And all these windows were blocked in and the floor was kind of soaked in stains of many, many years. This building was built in 1913. We had to put the accessibility ramps in and we actually had to take the entire floor out and put a new floor in. We sand blasted the ceiling..."
He is also co-owner of the Masonic Temple. The historic church has been vacant for several years and Hooper and his partners hope to get tax credits to help pay for its renovation.
Old Town is undoubtedly Lansing's showcase of how urban revitalization efforts can pay off. Less than 20 years ago it was renowned for its drug houses, prostitution and sex shops. Today it thrives with art-houses, restaurants, and gift and antique stores.
Nearly every business in the neighborhood has benefited from tax incentives designed to encourage the type of adaptive re-use that gives Old Town its character.
Michigan Historic Preservation Network director Nancy Finegood says brownfield credits and historic preservation credits go hand in glove to restoring these older neighborhoods.
"It's not just about the individual buildings or the individual projects like the Board of Water and Light or the Mutual Building or the Broderick in Detroit," she says, "it's the communities. You see one building being rehabbed and it's almost a ricochet effect. You see entire communities being revitalized."
Finegood says Governor Snyder's plan to change how those projects would get public funding puts communities like Old Town at risk.
The Governor is proposing a system of appropriations, or direct cash payments to developers who take on expensive environmental remediation or renovation projects. The plan would eliminate the current tax credits.
Lieutenant Governor Brian Calley says putting credits into the tax code is too confusing for residents to grasp and therefore too difficult to understand how much it costs taxpayers.
"The legislature should say 'here's a block of money.' And they could do however much they want to do, only everybody would know how much it is," he says. "It wouldn't be hidden in the tax code anymore."
But Finegood wonders how much money would be available for appropriations, especially in tight budget times when communities are looking for ways to attract residents and businesses. She says it's already given some developers cold feet. She and she fears that places like Old Town could suffer.
"Now we're hearing people are stopping dead in their tracks," she says. "Because they just don't know how they're going to make it work. And I'm afraid those folks are just going to walk away from those buildings. They're going to go into foreclosure and the projects will stop. And the ones that have been rehabilitated will be affected as well."
Alan Hooper says he and his partners are keeping a close eye on the changes, but he remains a stalwart proponent of his community and is committed to making the Temple renovation work.
"I guess out of stubbornness it's not going to stop any of our plans," says Hooper. "We are going to find a way no matter what. It's certainly going to make it more challenging."
Details of the governor's budget plan are still being worked out. Lieutenant Governor Calley says any changes wouldn't take effect until 2012 and all tax incentives approved before then would still be valid.
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