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Board approves Bigelow construction tax abatement; denies Westcott renovation request
Summary
The Austin school board approved a tax-abatement request for a new Bigelow Online Construction LLC project at 1801 Mount Avenue NE and denied a separate abatement request for a renovation at Westcott Apartments after no member moved to approve it.
The Austin Public School District board voted to approve a tax abatement for a new-construction project by Bigelow Online Construction LLC at 1801 Mount Avenue Northeast and denied a separate abatement request for Westcott Apartments LLC after no board member made a motion to approve it.
At the board meeting, Thomas Greenberg, identified as the district’s executive director of finance and operations, presented the Bigelow request and said the estimated project valuation is $300,000. Board member Dunne moved to approve the Bigelow abatement and Carol seconded the motion; the board chair then announced the motion passed.
The second item was a request from Westcott Apartments LLC for a renovation at 101 Fourteenth Street Northwest. Greenberg described the Westcott project as a renovation of 10 one-bedroom and 13 two-bedroom units with an estimated project valuation of $3,200,000 and explained the district’s tax-abatement policy distinguishes new construction from renovation. After staff stated the applicants had requested a hearing but did not attend, the board chair asked three times for a motion to approve. Hearing none, the chair announced the request was denied due to lack of a motion.
Board members asked questions about whether the district’s tax-abatement policy applies differently to renovations than to new construction, and staff answered that the policy’s standard incentives are for new construction and that the Westcott request was being considered under the policy’s renovation provisions. Board members also noted that applicants commonly do not attend the hearings.
The board did not record a roll-call vote tally for the Bigelow abatement in the meeting minutes provided; the meeting transcript records only the mover (Dunne), seconder (Carol), and the chair’s statement that the motion passed. The Westcott request was denied administratively at the meeting because no board member moved to approve it.
The board moved on to other business after the rulings on both requests.
