Committee delays vote on Canal Village 3 PILOT after residents raise quality and tree-canopy concerns

The Metropolitan and Economic Development Committee postponed action on a request for a payment-in-lieu-of-taxes (PILOT) agreement for Canal Village 3 after hours of public comment and councilor questions about building quality, enforcement and tree canopy.

The PILOT request (proposal 184) would have granted a 15-year tax-exemption schedule for Canal Village 3, a BWI Development project aimed at producing three- and four-bedroom affordable homes targeted to single parents and families. Gary Hobbs, president and CEO of BWI, told the committee the first-year PILOT payment would be $6,608 with a 3% annual escalator and a projected total tax contribution of roughly $122,000 over the term; the financing package relies in part on low-income housing tax credits under Section 42 of the Internal Revenue Code. Hobbs said the project includes large-family units (he described 29 four-bedroom…