Easthampton City Council approves tax agreement for One Industrial Lofts

Jan. 12, 2021 | Angelica J. Core
angelica@thereminder.com

The Easthampton City Council met remotely on Jan. 6.
Screen capture by Angelica J. Core

EASTHAMPTON – A public hearing took place during the Easthampton City Council’s meeting on Jan. 6 to continue the conversation on an alternative tax payment, called a 121A agreement.

The council voted to approve the 121A application, accept the 6A agreement, and further recommend to the mayor that she also accept and execute the 6A agreement. Councilor Daniel Rist noted the agreement had previously been approved, 3-0, by the Finance Committee and Mayor Nicole LaChapelle.

Two amendments were requested by One Industrial Lofts. The first was to add five years to the length the tax exemption would be in place, from 25 to 30 years. The second amendment is to the workforce housing and affordable housing commitment language which ties to the federal and or state subsidies.

Rist announced that the amendments were also approved by the Finance Committee and LaChapelle.

Michael Michon, the developer of the 1 Ferry St. housing project, explained the reasoning behind the two amendments. He said he requested an additional five years to the tax exemption because he is not sure when they will be able to start the construction on building 5 due to the pandemic.

Michon said their plans were to start building 5 this past fall and that did not happen.

“As far as the housing goes, this is a moving target. We started this in 2017 with Mass housing, their program has changed multiple times. I have been in touch with the mayor on this, she is aware of it and we will diligently together, pursue a subsidy of some sort whether it is from the state or the feds to get some sort of affordability, veteran housing, or any type of program that we can get for this project,” Michon said.

“I do heartily promise and already started the conversations with members of the federal deligations as well as HUD around programs that might be coming out of D.C., in the next couple of months and how we can tie that to the timeline,” LaChapelle said.

After the motion to approve the application, Councilor Lindsey Rothschild said, “I just want to thank you, Mr. Michon, for believing in Easthampton and I trust that you and the mayor will diligently pursue channels of funding for affordable housing and workforce housing, and we will hold you to that and we trust that you will do that.”

The council also voted to approve five supplemental budget appropriations at the meeting.

The first was a $112,193.67 appropriation to cover the police department shortfalls. Rist explained that the shortfalls were because of the budget uncertainties when the budget was passed in June.

Police Chief Robert Alberti explained that the shortfalls came from their education incentive and the buyout of retired Capt. Chris Patnode. Alberti explained that the buyout is not something they cannot budget for because an officer can change his mind on whether or not he or she wants to retire so it is difficult to budget it.

The second appropriation was transferring $8,000 from free cash to the election and registration account to purchase ranked choice voting tally reporting software. Councilor Thomas Peake said it is a software called Democracy Suite and is designed by the same company that provides the voting equipment.

City Clerk Barbara LaBombard shared that she trusts that it will be a good software for ranked choice voting.

The third transfer was transferring $35,400 into the Conservation Preservation Act (CPA) account, this transfer will leverage a $144,000 grant. The money will repair storm damaged trails off of Hendrick Street that happened during the microburst in 2014.

Resident Hans Dalhaus, who has also been apart of the repair project, expressed the importance of fixing this trail and not only having Mount Tom so people can mountain bike, jog, and hike.

The fourth appropriation was transferring $19,000 to the Department of Public Works (DPW) for a new asphalt roller for the Highway Division. DPW director Greg Nuttelman said their current roller is passed its service life and is a crucial tool to keep the roads passable in the winter.

The fifth transfer was $30,000 to the DPW for repairs on the Nonotuck Well pump motor. Rist shared that in 2019, the inspection showed vibration which means the pump needs to be rebuilt. Nuttelman shared that the repair is important because the source provides 60 to 70 percent of the water to the city on any given day.

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