Zoning subcommittee forwards HDIP zones for Suffolk Downs and Shirley/Green Street; HYM updates Portico and hotel timeline

The Revere City Zoning Subcommittee on Feb. 3 voted 4–1 to forward two Housing Development Incentive Program (HDIP) districts — one for Suffolk Downs and another covering Shirley Avenue/Green Street — with a favorable recommendation to the full City Council and authorization to submit the plans to the state’s Office of Housing and Livable Communities (HLC). The action authorizes the mayor’s office to begin negotiations on tax-exemption agreements if the state approves the HDIP plans.

Tom Skrowski, Revere’s chief of planning and community development, described HDIP as a two-part state tool available to the state’s 26 “gateway cities.” Locally, an HDIP can pair a tax-exemption (a local tax increment exemption on value created by a project) that can run for 5–20 years with a state tax credit capped at $2.5 million or 25% of qualified project expenditures. Skrowski said the city would submit both HDIP plans to the state; if the state approves, that authorization would allow the mayor’s office and planning staff to negotiate tax agreements with developers and return any proposed agreement to the City Council for final approval.

Why it matters: The HDIP is intended to make large, transformative projects more financially feasible in a higher-rate interest environment by reducing near-term tax burdens for a limited period and by unlocking state tax credits that require a local tax…