Claremont
The 2016 adoption of RSA 79E, the Community Incentive Tax Relief program, allows owners of qualifying structures to apply for tax relief from the council by freezing the pre-renovation assessment of the building for an agreed period of five years or more. Since its approval, two property owners have taken advantage of the program, the most recent one is the Goddard Block apartment building on Pleasant Street that is undergoing a $7 million renovation.
“I’m certainly in favor of expanding 79E,” Assistant Mayor Allen Damren said. “In the one instance we have it has come to fruition and proven its worth.”
Damren was referring to 13 Water St., where Jeff and Sarah Barrette renovated the building to historic standards for their business, The Ink Factory.
Another councilor, Nick Koloski, also saw only the potential for growth by expanding beyond the city’s 79E boundaries.
“I don’t see any negative to casting as large a net as possible,” Koloski said, adding that he would like to see the area include Sullivan Street and the former Homestead building and south on Pleasant Street to where LaValley Building Supply is located.
Planning and Development Director Nancy Merrill said there are about 200 qualifying structures in the current 79E zone and the proposed expansion would bring that number to around 1,100.
The same rules and requirements would apply to the larger area, including investing at least 25 percent or a minimum of $75,000 of the pre-rehabilitation assessment in the structure.
“If you have the incentive, you may get more buyers who would be willing to rehab buildings and avail themselves of the tax incentive,” City Manager Ryan McNutt said.
At the next council meeting on Sept. 12, a resolution will be presented with the language on the expanded district and will include a map that clearly defines the new area as well as shows the existing 79E district.
Also Wednesday night, the council met in executive session with its attorney to discuss joining a lawsuit against the makers of prescription painkillers that have caused an opioid epidemic in New Hampshire and elsewhere in the United States.
Lovett made the announcement in the nonpublic session when the regular council meeting started.
The Sullivan County Commissioners voted in support of the suit in June while commissioners in Grafton County voted on June 5. Other plaintiffs include Merrimack, Cheshire, Belknap and Strafford counties and the cities of Manchester, Keene, Concord and Nashua.
Patrick O’Grady can be reached at pogclmt@gmail.com.
