We will ask the State to redistribute BCP tax credits to relieve budgetary pressures, and begin covering New York City-specific contamination
Currently, many sites are ineligible due to definitions and rules that restrict the BCP's value to New York City; in addition, an overly generous set of tax credits continually exhausts State brownfield funds, creating a winner-take-all situation where the lucky few landowners in the program make attractive profits, while other eligible projects are kept out, to a large extent for budgetary reasons.

The BCP should include as many sites as possible: all eligible sites should be virtually guaranteed enrollment, and the eligibility definitions should be broad enough to include all sites that require financial incentives for redevelopment. As a result, we will ask the State to:

• Amend the brownfields tax credit program to provide less-rich credits, but to more sites. The BCP currently provides tax credits to developers based not just on cleanup costs but on the cost of the new building construction. Due to their high density, New York City projects can create nearly unlimited exposure for the State, limiting the number of projects that can be accepted into the program statewide. This incentive may not need to be so generous. We will ask the State to restructure the credits, directing a higher percentage toward remediation and placing caps on the redevelopment credits. As a result, more sites can be enrolled in the program without exceeding its budget.
• Return Class II inactive hazardous waste sites to eligibility. Class II sites mainly include former industrial or manufacturing facilities-such as a former metal-plating factory-that have been contaminated for years, often for decades. There are 28 of these sites in New York City, covering 345 acres. With very high clean-up costs due to serious contamination, these sites are often the ones least likely ever to be remediated without public incentives. They were eligible for the BCP for a brief period-from 2003 to 2005-and should be given permanent eligibility.
• Include moderately contaminated sites. The way the BCP is structured, some sites fall into a middle-ground trap: they are contaminated enough to require a clean up, but may not be contaminated enough to qualify for the BCP. Included in this category are the historic fill sites that are most common in New York City. We will work with the State to include such sites, because it is still a public priority to get these sites back into productive use.

Progress (as of 4/22/08):
In May 2007, the Administration proposed legislation to redistribute tax credits in the State's Brownfields Cleanup Program (BCP) and expand eligibility for more NYC sites. These changes would direct more of the tax credit towards remediation, while still encouraging redevelopment. In September, the City discussed this proposal in testimony at a Senate/Assembly brownfields hearing. Provisions in the Governor's January budget bill would make historic fill sites eligible for the BCP and create a non-tax credit path for BCP sites. In April, a 90-day moratorium on new BCP projects was enacted to encourage the parties in Albany to agree upon BCP reform in the current legislative session. The City will work with the new Governor and the Legislature to promote appropriate brownfields reforms that encourage remediation and redevelopment in New York City.