BAYONNE -- Developer Mitchell Burakovsky said he'll try to work in more parking in his site plan for a six-story apartment building on Avenue E after the City Council last week rejected a tax abatement for the project.
On Dec. 16, the City Council voted 3-2 to reject a 25-year tax abatement for the project planned for 230-250 Ave. E near the 22nd Street Light Rail station. The 90-unit project, which was approved by the city planning board roughly a year ago, is currently slated to come with 45 parking spaces.
Tax abatements, which are designed to incentivize development that wouldn't occur otherwise, benefit developers by allowing them to pay less than they would under conventional taxes for a certain period of time.
Instead of paying property tax -- which would be divvied up among the local school district, the municipality and the county -- the developer makes payments in lieu of taxes that go almost exclusively to the municipality. By excluding schools and the county, an abatement allows a developer to pay less money and a municipality to get more money.
Developers such as Burakovsky have argued that abatements, which shield developments from fluctuating property taxes, help them get needed financing for their projects.
But First Ward Councilman Tommy Cotter and Councilman-at-large Juan Perez last week opposed the abatement for 230-250 Ave. E, saying they don't want to help the project move forward because they don't think it provides enough parking.
"I know there's a light rail station (near the project) but there's nothing more sacred to day-to-day life in Bayonne than parking spaces," Perez said.
Cotter shared that sentiment, saying that while the project meets the minimum requirement of a 0.5 parking-to-unit ratio, that ratio is too small for Bayonne, which already suffers from insufficient parking spaces. The ratio should be at least 1.25, he said.
"We will try to rework the plan to add additional parking to satisfy the councilmen's concerns," Burakovsky said, adding that he will have to go before the city's Planning Board with an amended site plan.
Third Ward Councilman Gary La Pelusa Sr. opposed the abatement on different grounds, saying he doesn't like how taxpayers would have to make up the difference for whatever the developer doesn't pay in county and school taxes.
He said "nobody mentions" how much developers profit from their developments, and that he is "offended" by taxpayers needing to pay to incentivize developers to build in the city.
With only Council President Sharon Nadrowski and Second Ward Councilman Sal Gullace supporting the proposal, the abatement failed to pass.
The 90-unit project would consist of 21 one-bedrooms and 69 two-bedrooms, but there are no starting prices yet for those units, Burakovsky said.
He said he is also planning to build a six-story, 100-unit building at 252-268 Ave. E, which is separated from 230-250 Ave. E by East 22nd Street. That property, whose site plan was also approved roughly a year ago, does not have a tax abatement, he said.
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