Council reviews multiple tax abatements, developer support letters and land-sale procedures

City officials reviewed a bundle of development-related items at the Newark Municipal Council pre-meeting on Feb. 19, including proposed tax abatements for two redevelopment projects, several private-sale redevelopment resolutions, and a request for a council resolution supporting a proposed cannabis retail microbusiness.

Councilmembers asked for clarification about what the city considers a community benefit in tax-abatement deals and pressed staff for more transparency about how private-sale proposals are evaluated and selected.

The most-discussed tax item was ordinance 6PSFA, a proposed 30-year tax abatement for 20 Brantford Urban Renewal LLC to redevelop a site into an 81-unit, five-story residential building with 11 units restricted at 80% of area median income (AMI), three at 60% AMI and two at 40% AMI in the Central Ward. Councilman Gonzales asked whether the city's practice of taking reduced tax payments over 30 years effectively finances the developer's provision of rent-free first-floor space to a community entity, and whether the city had considered "imputing" the value of that rent so the developer would pay taxes on it.

Lisonbee Ladd, director of economic and housing development, said the terms were negotiated with the developer and that the decision not to impute rent was reached because the developer was considered to be providing a community benefit; "the developer was providing a community benefit and that was where the, annual gross revenue number was reduced," Ladd said.

Council members also reviewed Ordinance 6FA, a first-reading ordinance to grant a 20-year tax abatement to PGH and Associates Urban Renewal LLC for a five-story mixed-use building with 20 rental units in the South Ward (16 market-rate and four income-restricted units including one at 40% AMI). These items were presented together on the agenda as ordinances on first reading and for public hearing/second reading where noted.

On private-sale redevelopment agreements (7R2A through 7R2C), the administration said it has posted property listings and application materials online and updates the list every 90 days. Council members requested the rubric and the record of letters of interest (LOIs) and asked that the administration provide, for each property coming before the council, the list of LOIs and the evaluation used to select a recommended buyer. Deputy Mayor Allison Ladd and Director Lisonbee Ladd said the administration would follow up with the requested materials.

A representative for Concrete Properties, Walter Berg, appeared to introduce himself when his company's proposed transaction (7R2B) was on the agenda. Council members asked for a clarifying amendment after an apparent misstatement about which units were being offered as affordable in the relevant resolution; staff agreed to correct the record.

Councilman Josh (motion) moved to defer 7R2C; the motion was seconded by Councilman Kelly and the item was deferred on the floor during the meeting.

The council also considered a resolution of support (7R1J) for Budd E's New Jersey LLC to operate a Class 5 cannabis retail microbusiness. Jocelyn Wingfield, who identified herself as the city's cannabis point person, said the administration had shared a list with the council that included each applicant's proposed location and that applicants cannot open at random locations: "there is a location that is a part of their proposal when it's submitted," Wingfield said, and the administration verifies zoning compatibility.

Council members asked staff to provide follow-up materials requested at the meeting, including LOI lists and the scoring rubric for property selections, itemized affordability clarifications for specific resolutions and confirmation of which applicants were present for the items that required their attendance.

Ending: Several development items were informational or at first reading; where an item required action the council requested follow-up materials from the administration and deferred at least one private-sale item for later consideration.