Warm Reception for Stuy Heights Extension
Last night’s meeting for homeowners in the Stuyvesant Heights Extension, already calendared since 1993, was well attended, so much so that extra chairs had to be opened to accommodate everyone. Answering questions were representatives of the Landmarks Preservation Commission, the Historic Districts Council, the Landmarks Conservancy and the NY State Preservation League. The usual questions…
Last night’s meeting for homeowners in the Stuyvesant Heights Extension, already calendared since 1993, was well attended, so much so that extra chairs had to be opened to accommodate everyone. Answering questions were representatives of the Landmarks Preservation Commission, the Historic Districts Council, the Landmarks Conservancy and the NY State Preservation League. The usual questions about what a homeowner needs to do to comply with LPC regulations were explained, as well as information about state and federal tax credits for work done on landmarked properties, as per programs administered through the NYS Preservation League, a very limited number of grants from both the LPC and Landmarks Conservancy, and the low interest loans also administrated through the Conservancy. From the turnout and opinions expressed by the people at the meeting, it seemed clear that the Stuyvesant Heights community is very anxious to be further landmarked; the survey that ran on Brownstoner yesterday confirmed this fact, with 54 out of 59 respondents voting in support of the landmark extension. Even with this positive response, the designation process will still take at least one or two more years, as the report detailing over 800 buildings has yet to be written, every homeowner in the new district contacted by LPC, and informed of what is happening, a formal hearing held at LPC, at vote by the Commission, plus votes from the Planning Board, and the full City Council. The journey has just begun.
Feeling a little cynical about landmarking over here in Prospect Heights right now. A neighbor of mine just got retroactive approval from LPC after ripping up his bluestone sidewalk and painting the front of his building. The guy works in commercial RE so maybe he has an “in”. But it’s not good news for those of us trying to discourage scofflaws.
MM – National and local districts can (and do) have different boundaries. There is a National Register district for Stuyvesant Heights, and it is slightly different than the existing NYC district. My map is not very good, and I can’t get at a better one now, but it looks at the NR district includes the area west of Lewis to either side of Decatur. So those buildings currently DO qualify for tax credits but are NOT regulated by the City LPC.
When the LPC district is expanded, there would still need to be a boundary extension for the NR district to qualify those new landmarks for the National Register.
The last “OR” in your quote above refers to buildings that are eligible individually for listing on the NR. And technically, even that is not correct – you can apply for the credit if you are eligible but not listed, but you have to be listed within a short time after the credit is actually claimed (otherwise you lost the credit and have to pay the IRS fines).
BTW – buildings in the NR district can qualify for the State’s new homeowner tax credit, which is worth up to $50,000 in tax credits (there is no Federal credit for homeowners, only for income-producing (rental) properties). So if DIBS is on Decatur west of Lewis, he might have qualified!
That may be doable, Pete. We’ll discuss.
Boerum Hill, that is correct. Please drop me a line with your email address, so you’ll be sure to be notified.
I think the walking tours should be during weekday evenings instead of weekends. Monday, Tues, Wednesday best for me.
MM — It was sarcasm. 🙂
My thinly veiled point is that the Landmarking will really have no impact on 90% of the homes. It just adds this artificial layer on top.
BUT, you do make a very valid point about the other 10% and those buildings just outside the ‘landmarked district.’ It could spur some improvements. Though this is similarly frustrating like the church post… a little sad that OVERT action from the outside is required for anything to be “spurred” along.
MM – what was your faux email addy again? montrosemorris@yahoo.com?
Want to shoot you a note so I make the blast list for any walking tours.
I would love to do the walking tours again, MM. I’ll be around most weekends in July & August. Had a great time in both BedStuy and CHN last year.
Very SOON!