The undersigned organizations write in support of A.1808 (Zinerman) / S.224 (Myrie), which proposes to improve access to the NYS Historic Homeowner Rehabilitation Tax Credit for longterm homeowners in historic neighborhoods in New York City. Currently, the credit is only available in Qualified Census Tracts (QCTs), which are tracts at or below 100% of the state median family income in the most recent federal census. As numerous neighborhoods in New York City experience economic changes, some former QCTs no longer qualify due to rising income levels. This bill would allow homeowners in NYC who have owned their houses since at least January 1, 2010, and live in a census tract that was a QCT as of January 1, 2017, to use the Historic Homeowner Rehabilitation Tax Credit to offset part of the cost of rehabilitating their houses, even if the tract now exceeds the income limit for QCTs.

When neighborhoods experience rapid increases in income levels and housing costs, long-time homeowners who have contributed to the stability and appeal of their neighborhoods are often at risk of being displaced. Expanding Historic Homeowner Rehabilitation Tax Credit eligibility to longterm owners in gentrifying areas will make the program more equitable and help these owners defray the cost of maintaining and improving their homes.

The Historic Homeowner Rehabilitation Tax Credit is an important tool for owners of historic houses listed in the State and/or National Registers of Historic Places. When they undertake a rehabilitation project costing at least $5,000, they can qualify to claim a tax credit equal to 20% of the project cost. Rehabilitation work can include both interior and exterior projects, when at least 5% of the work is on the exterior of the building. Typical projects include roof, window, and facade repairs, and energy upgrades such as storm window installation and weatherstripping. The tax credits help to defray the cost of caring for these buildings, which require regular maintenance and repair.

Our organizations support this bill, as well as its broader goal of supporting owners who have invested many years in their neighborhoods and wish to continue maintaining their homes. We thank Senator Myrie and Assemblymember Zinerman for their leadership, and urge the Assembly to pass A.1808 in the remaining days of the 2023 legislative session.

Click here for a PDF of this support memo.

This week, the extended state budget process is coming to an end, following several extra weeks of negotiations between the Governor and Legislature. Several budget bills have already been passed by the Senate and Assembly, and more are expected imminently, as is the Governor’s signature.

The League is thrilled that a five-year extension of the NYS Historic Commercial and Homeowner Tax Credit Programs is included in the budget agreement. The tax-credit programs were due to expire in 2024, so an extension was necessary to ensure these programs did not sunset. We thank Assemblymember Carrie Woerner and Senator Timothy Kennedy for championing this extension, and thank the Governor, Senate, and Assembly for all including the extension in their budget proposals and ensuring its inclusion in the final agreement.

The “White Elephant Program,” also proposed by Assemblymember Carrie Woerner and Senator Ted Kennedy, did not make it into the final budget. This program aims to facilitate the rehabilitation of large, vacant buildings that often languish due to their high rehab costs and scarcity of investors. We understand our legislative sponsors intend to work toward passage of the white elephant program as a standalone bill in the remainder of this session, and we will continue advocacy efforts toward that goal.

We are pleased that the budget bills now in the process of being passed by the Legislature and signed by the Governor include provisions to protect remains in unmarked burial sites that are discovered on private property. The League has advocated for the establishment of such a process for the last several years, inspired in part by our Seven to Save listing of Elmhurst African American Burial Ground in Queens in 2020.

A similar bill that passed the Legislature last year was vetoed by the Governor, citing what she saw as inadequate protections for private property owners. The bill establishes a process and timeline for the remains to be protected, the appropriate descendants or culturally affiliated groups notified, and a resolution to be worked out between the descendants and the property owner as to keeping the remains in place or moving them to a different location. New in this bill is that if the culturally affiliated group and property owner cannot come to an agreement – if the descendants want the remains to stay in place and the property owner wants to remove them, for example – the property owner can, after 90 days, pay to have them removed in a respectful manner, with the culturally affiliated group having the right to monitor the removal. We are grateful for the efforts of former Assemblymember Steve Englebright, who had championed this issue for many years, and Assemblymember Fred Thiele, who sponsored the revised bill that was incorporated into the budget. We also acknowledge the efforts of Indigenous activists who have worked tirelessly in support of this long overdue legislation.

The New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA), an important partner to the League, has announced that their FY 2024 budget allocation is $110 million; their available funding for FY24 grants is $127 million ($90 million for organizations and artists, plus $37 million in capital project funding). NYSCA’s funding has seen significant bumps the last few years in recognition of the need to invest in the recovery of the arts sector; while this year’s funding is not as high as last year’s historic peak of $140 million, it does recognize the state’s ongoing commitment to the arts, and improves significantly on the original executive budget proposal. We join NYSCA in thanking the Governor and Legislature for their leadership in investing in New York’s important arts sector.

The budget also includes $400 million for the Environmental Protection Fund (EPF), plus $200 million in capital funding the Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation to invest in enhancing state parks. We will share details of funding for historic preservation as those become available.

Click here for a PDF of this support letter.

April 3, 2023

Supervisor Peter Van Scoyoc and Members of the Town Board
Town of East Hampton
159 Pantigo Road
East Hampton, New York 11937

Dear Supervisor Van Scoyoc and Members of the East Hampton Town Board,

The National Trust for Historic Preservation and the Preservation League of New York State were pleased to learn that Michael Devonshire of Jan Hird Pokorny Associates presented a Building Conditions Report of the James Brooks and Charlotte Park Studios and Residence to the East Hampton Town Board on March 21, 2023.

We understand that the Town Council was supportive of the Building Conditions Report, expressing a desire to stabilize and restore the property. Our organizations, along with local, statewide, and national advocates, are requesting clarity on next steps and a timeline to preserve this collection of historically significant structures where Charlotte Park and James Brooks, two very important Abstract Expressionist artists, lived and worked.

The report notes that “the rich cultural importance of the Brooks Park association with the site renders it deserving [of] a restorative approach, emphasizing a period of interpretation of the 1970s-1990s be taken, in order to retain as much as possible of the artifactual remains of the buildings in which these two immensely gifted artists performed their acts of creation.” We could not agree more and urge the Town to take meaningful steps to ensure the long-term preservation and re-use of this property.

We continue to have serious concern for the buildings’ condition if they remain poorly maintained, and urge, in the strongest possible terms, the Town of East Hampton to take swift and significant steps to stabilize and protect the Brooks-Park Studios and Residence, while determining a restoration plan. The Town has the authority as well as the funding necessary to stabilize the buildings, through the Peconic Bay Region Community Preservation Fund.

We thank you for your ongoing attention to the future of the Brooks Park Home and Studios and we look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

Seri Worden
Senior Field Director, National Trust for Historic Preservation

Katie Eggers Comeau
VP for Policy and Preservation, Preservation League of NYS

The New York State Assembly and Senate released their budget proposals on March 14, following the release of the Executive budget proposal in January.

• The Preservation League is pleased that the Senate and Assembly budget proposals both include a five-year extension of the NYS Historic Tax Credit programs, as does the Executive budget proposal released in January. Securing an extension is our top priority for the current legislative session, as these programs are due to expire at the end of 2024. We thank the Governor, Senate, and Assembly for recognizing the importance of the Historic Tax Credits in supporting the reuse of existing buildings as a sustainable form of economic development. 

• We are also pleased that the Assembly budget proposal includes most of the provisions of the proposed “White Elephant” tax-credit program introduced by Assemblymember Carrie Woerner and Senator Tim Kennedy. This program is designed to facilitate the rehabilitation of large, vacant buildings, such as the Central Warehouse in Albany and Central Terminal in Buffalo, by introducing a higher credit cap and other enhancements for challenging projects meeting specific size and vacancy criteria. We are working with the legislative sponsors and allies, including the New York State Alliance for Affordable Housing (NYSAFAH), to support this program and to encourage the adoption of additional provisions to strengthen the HTC’s effectiveness as a tool for the creation of affordable housing. 

• Arts organizations are essential to the economic health of communities throughout New York; the League is among the many arts and cultural organizations statewide that benefit from partnership with the New York State Council on the Arts. We are pleased that both the Senate and Assembly proposals reverse drastic cuts to NYSCA outlined in the Governor’s budget, and hope the three parties will adopt the Assembly’s proposal of $129 million in total funding to NYSCA.

• We were disappointed to learn that the Governor’s budget proposal includes a $1 million reduction in funding for parks, historic sites, and the Historic Preservation Grant Program in the Environmental Protection Fund (EPF). We are cautiously optimistic that this funding will be restored, and are awaiting news on how these programs fared in the Senate and Assembly budget proposals. 

With all three budget proposals complete, the parties will now work toward enactment of a final budget. We thank Governor Hochul, Senate Leader Stewart-Cousins, and Assembly Speaker Heastie for leading this process and hope for continued good news for historic preservation in the final budget.

We have two important opportunities this week to make your voice heard in support of historic preservation in New York State!

1. Speak out against proposed cuts to Historic Preservation funding in the Environmental Protection Fund

While the Governor’s budget proposal includes robust funding for the Environmental Protection Fund overall, a closer look at the numbers reveals a proposed $1 million cut to the Historic Preservation Grant Program within the EPF. This program is one of the few sources of bricks-and-mortar funding for preservation projects in our state, and the need is much greater than the available funding every year. To see a list of preservation projects funded through the this grant program last year, click here, scroll to page 15, and look at the projects under "OPRHP EPF HP."

We’re asking all preservation advocates to reach out to their state legislators this week; please ask Assemblymembers to contact Assemblymember Daniel O’Donnell, Chair of the Committee on Tourism, Parks, Arts & Sports Development, and Senators to contact Senator José Serrano, Chair of the Committee on Cultural Affairs, Tourism, Parks & Recreation, with the following simple request: "Please do not allow cuts to the Historic Preservation Grant Program in the Environmental Protection Fund."  If you know of a project in your area that received this funding in recent years, or found one on the list in the link above, please use it as an example of the great work being supported by this grant program.

2. Call in support of the HTC Extension and “White Elephant” Bill (A.2889 / S.4174)

Assemblymember Carrie Woerner and Senator Tim Kennedy have proposed a 10-year extension to the NYS Historic Tax Credits and additional provisions to facilitate the use of the commercial credit for the rehabilitation of large, vacant buildings (“white elephants”). We want to line up as many co-sponsors for the legislation as possible, to demonstrate broad support for including this language in the state budget. While you are reaching out to legislators regarding the Historic Preservation grant funding cut, please also ask if they would be willing to co-sponsor A.2889 / S.4174 to support the extension and enhancement of the NYS Historic Tax Credits.

Calls and emails on both of these issues will be most helpful before March 13. Thank you for your advocacy!

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The Postmodern interior of 60 Wall Street, a well used privately owned public space (POPS). Docomomo US staff photo.

On Monday, March 6, Docomomo US and a coalition of advocates for the designation of 60 Wall Street (including the League) will release a letter urging the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission to designate 60 Wall Street as an individual and interior landmark. This comes on the heals of the January 2023 vote by the Commission to allow the developer to make only modest changes to the exterior, essentially preserving the iconic colonnade and the essential nature of the building. The LPC previously noted "the building and interior POPS merit further study within the context of Postmodern commercial architecture and interiors."

Docomomo US and the coalition of advocates will meet in the POPS space at 60 Wall Street at 11:00 a.m. on Monday, March 6 to announce the letter and rally support for the designation. Please join us at the rally on Monday and urge the LPC to move forward now on the designation of 60 Wall Street before this outstanding example of architecture and history is lost.

Click here to read the letter to the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission.

Advocates for the designation of 60 Wall Street:

• Docomomo US

• Historic Districts Council

• Manhattan Community Board 1

• New York City Council Member Christopher Marte (District 1)

• New York State Assemblymember Grace Lee (District 65)

• Municipal Art Society

• New York Landmarks Conservancy

• Preservation League of New York State

• Human Scale NYC

• Tribeca Trust

• Deborah Berke

• Alice Blank 

• Adam Nathaniel Furman 

• Paul Goldberger

• Rock Herzog (Cocaine Decor) 

• Alexandra Lange

• Eeva-Liisa Pelkonen

• Robert A.M. Stern

Related press coverage:

• "A Win for Activists Fighting to Save 'Wonderful and Weird' Wall St. Atrium," Tribeca Trib, September 27, 2022.

• "60 Wall Street’s Lobby Is Weird and Ridiculous and Deserves to Be Saved," Curbed, September 19, 2022.

• "The Fight to Save New York’s Extravagantly ’80s Subway Entrance," The New York Times, July 29, 2022.

• "An Iconic Postmodern New York Lobby Is Slated for Destruction—Can It Be Saved?" Cultured, January 12, 2022.

Memorandum of Support
A.2816 (Jones), S.3030 (Stec)
Click here to download a PDF of the support memo.

The Preservation League of New York State is the statewide historic preservation nonprofit. We lead advocacy, economic development and education programs across the state. We write in support of Bill A.2816 (Jones) / S.3030 (Stec), which propose amending the New York State Constitution to convey land to Debar Pond Institute in order to save the historic Debar Pond Lodge.

A.2816 / S.3030 propose a land exchange in the Adirondack Park between New York State and Debar Pond Institute (“The Institute”), a private, non-for-profit educational organization. The Institute will operate Debar Pond Lodge and the six-acre parcel on which it sits for educational and recreational purposes. In exchange for the six-acre parcel, The Institute will donate over 400 acres of land to expand the Adirondack Forest Preserve. This land exchange will be accomplished at no cost to New York State taxpayers, and will save the state the cost of demolishing the lodge and redeveloping the property.

A.2816 / S.3030 will allow the historic lodge to be retained and used for public education and recreation. It will also increase the acreage of the Adirondack Forest Preserve by over 400 acres.

Debar Pond Lodge is an outstanding example of traditional Adirondack architecture, designed by noted local architect William Distin. It was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 2014. This legislation will ensure that the historic Lodge and the property on which it sits will be available to the public in perpetuity. As a condition of the land exchange, a conservation easement will be attached to the property which will require that the Lodge and other buildings be well preserved, used in the public interest, and available for public access. Among the public activities the Debar Pond Institute plans to implement are public tours, programming on Adirondack history, culture, and the environment, as well as programs that advance diversity in the Adirondacks. The boundaries of the Debar parcel have been drawn to guarantee continued public access to the shoreline of Debar Pond as well as the hiking trail around Debar Pond and on to Debar Mountain.

We urge the NYS Assembly and Senate to adopt A.2816/S/3030. This bill will help preserve a magnificent example of Adirondack architecture, increase the Adirondack Forest Preserve by over 400 acres, and create an outstanding new opportunity for public use that will provide valuable new opportunities to Adirondack residents and visitors. Thank you to Assemblymember Jones and Senator Stec for their leadership.

Memorandum of Support
A.4030 (Barrett), S.3582 (Hinchey)
Click here for a PDF of this letter.

The Preservation League of New York State is New York’s statewide historic preservation nonprofit organization. We lead advocacy, economic development and education programs across the state and partner with local preservation organizations throughout New York. Together with our local and regional partners listed below, we strongly support of Bill A.4030 (Barrett) / S.3582 (Hinchey), which propose adding a refundability provision to the state’s Historic Barn Rehabilitation Tax Credit program, providing New Yorkers with an income below $60,000 with a refund for excess tax credits from the rehabilitation of historic barns.

The 25% Historic Barn Rehabilitation Tax Credit, launched in 2022, promotes barn rehabilitation, vital in retaining remaining historic barns in every corner of the state. Not only does the existence of this program pay homage to New York’s agricultural history and architecture, it also supports thoughtful reuse, community enjoyment, and the elimination of landscape decay, while avoiding the negative environmental impacts of demolition.

From the launch of the program in the spring of 2022 through the end of the calendar year, the NYS Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation received over 60 applications from owners wishing to take advantage of the credits to either retain their barns in agricultural use, or adaptively reuse them for other commercial (non-housing) purposes.

While the program is seeing robust use by those with sufficient income to take advantage of the 25% credit, some barn owners do not have sufficient income to allow them to take advantage of the credit. Bill A.4030/S. 3582, modeled after a similar provision in the state’s Homeowner Rehabilitation Tax Credit program, offers a rebate to those whose incomes are below $60,000. We strongly support these bills that make the credit more equitable by making it available to small farmers and other barn owners who are investing in the repair and rehabilitation of their barns but cannot now use the credit.

We thank Assemblymember Barrett and Senator Hinchey for their leadership in sponsoring the bills that created the current Historic Barn Rehabilitation Tax Credit, and for sponsoring the current bills to make this important adjustment to the program.

Supporting Organizations

Memorandum of Support A.2889 (Woerner) and S.4174 (Kennedy)
Click here to download this document as a PDF

The Preservation League of New York State is New York State’s statewide historic preservation nonprofit. We lead advocacy, economic development and education programs across the state and partner with local preservation organizations throughout New York. We write in support of Bill A.2889 (Woerner) and S.4174 (Kennedy) relating to extending the NYS Historic Rehabilitation Tax Credit programs and improving their functionality for the rehabilitation of large, long-vacant buildings. We urge the Assembly and Senate to include these provisions in their budget bills this March. These improvements will facilitate the return of large vacant buildings such as warehouses, rail terminals, and mill complexes to productive use. The bills provide additional enhancements to prioritize rehabilitation projects incorporating affordable housing.

The State Historic Tax Credit program is a critical tool for sustainable, environmentally friendly development that keeps valuable building materials out of landfills, strengthens existing walkable communities, reduces greenfield development, and recaptures embodied energy. It is also a highly effective tool for housing creation: since 2010, the state tax credits have been responsible for the creation of 21,929 housing units, 8,542 of which are low/moderate income units.

The NYS Historic Tax Credit programs are currently set to sunset on December 31, 2024. The improvements outlined in A.2889 and S.4174 include a 10-year extension of the program, until December 31, 2034. Since their inception, the credits have been extended in five-year increments; given the current construction climate, and in particular the lead time inherent in affordable-housing rehabilitation projects, a ten-year extension would help give building owners the confidence that the program will still be available when they are ready to move forward. We strongly support this longer extension.

The bills also propose enhancements aimed at facilitating reuse of large, long-vacant buildings. “White Elephants” are defined in the bill as buildings that have been vacant for at least 10 of the last 15 years, with rehab costs of $50 million or more. For all projects meeting these “white elephant” criteria, the proposed enhancements are: 1) raise the commercial credit cap from $5 million to $15 million, and 2) bifurcate the state and federal credits to allow them to be used by separate entities. For “white elephant” projects incorporating affordable housing, the bill proposes two additional enhancements: 1) make the credits transferable to investors outside the development partnership, and 2) make them available statewide, facilitating the creation of affordable housing outside qualifying census tracts, which would help create affordable housing in low poverty areas. Bifurcation and transferability are important enhancements that would expand the pool of investors and bring more equity into these projects at no additional cost to the state.

The League strongly supports the two bills, and we urge the Senate and Assembly to include them in the FY 2024 NYS budget to support sustainable economic development and affordable housing using our existing building stock.

Testimony of the Preservation League of New York State, Submitted by Katie Eggers Comeau, Vice President for Policy and Preservation Preservation League of New York State, to the Joint Legislative Budget Hearing of the Environmental Conservation Committees on Tuesday, February 14, 2023. Click here to download a PDF of this testimony.

Chairwoman Krueger, Chairwoman Weinstein, and distinguished members of the Senate and Assembly, thank you for the opportunity to provide testimony on the topic of historic preservation and the New York State FY 2024 Budget.

As New York State’s only statewide historic preservation nonprofit organization, the Preservation League of New York State invests in people and projects that champion the essential role of preservation in community revitalization, sustainable economic growth, and the protection of our historic buildings and landscapes. We lead advocacy, economic development, and education programs across the state and partner with local preservation organizations throughout New York.

Our testimony includes comments on the reuse of existing buildings as an essential tool in addressing both climate change and the housing shortage, support for the legislatively proposed extension and enhancement of the New York State Historic Tax Credit, and support for the Governor’s proposed budgets for the New York State Council on the Arts, New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, and the Environmental Protection Fund.

Existing Building Reuse: A Smart Approach to Housing and Climate Goals
We applaud Governor Hochul and the Legislature for setting ambitious goals to address both the climate crisis and the statewide housing shortage. Reusing existing buildings is a smart, sustainable strategy and an essential component of both efforts.

Building reuse is a climate-friendly practice with multiple environmental benefits: it keeps valuable, irreplaceable building materials out of landfills, reduces the expenditure of operational energy and waste of embodied energy associated with demolition and new construction, reuses existing infrastructure, enhances walkable communities, and reduces the need for greenfield development.

These benefits of building reuse are multiplied when existing buildings are repurposed to create housing, particularly affordable housing. Throughout New York State, particularly in Upstate cities and villages, historic buildings including rowhouses, schools, and warehouses have been rehabilitated to create affordable housing, often using a combination of historic rehabilitation tax credits and lowincome housing tax credits, among other incentives. These projects provide affordable housing options that are also unique, desirable living spaces, and prevent demolitions that can destabilize and devalue neighborhoods.

Extending and Enhancing the New York State Tax Credits
The most important tools available in New York State to promote the reuse of historic buildings are the state and federal rehabilitation tax credit programs. Since the New York State Commercial and Homeowner Historic Tax Credit (HTC) programs were put in place in 2007, they have developed a proven track record of revitalizing historic buildings and neighborhoods, particularly in upstate communities where their use leverages significant federal funding in economically challenged neighborhoods. The commercial and homeowner HTC programs are currently authorized until December 31, 2024. It is essential that these valuable programs be renewed in the current legislative session.

The commercial Historic Tax Credit program is an important tool for meeting the Governor’s housing goals, particularly when used in combination with Low Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC) and other incentives for the creation of affordable housing. Since 2010, rehabilitation projects utilizing State Historic Tax Credits have produced 27,500 housing units in New York State, of which 12,587 (45%) were classified as low-moderate income units. In light of the current housing shortage, we support several legislatively proposed changes to the commercial and residential credits, reflected in bills A. 2889 / S. 4174, that will encourage the creation and retention of affordable housing units in existing buildings:

• Extend both the commercial and residential HTC programs for 10 years rather than five. While in the past the programs have been renewed in five-year increments, now that they have been in existence in their current form for well over a decade, we support a 10-year extension. Rehabilitation projects, particularly those involving incentives for affordable housing production, can require several years’ lead time in the current construction climate; a longer extension will provide greater certainty to building owners wishing to make use of the credits.

• Improve the commercial tax credit’s ability to support the rehabilitation of a limited number of large, vacant buildings that are languishing due to the high cost of rehabilitation. Reactivating these “white elephant” buildings, like the Central Terminal in Buffalo, Victory Mills near Saratoga Springs, and Central Warehouse in Albany, would be transformational for their communities, but the projects are too costly to take full advantage of the state HTC in its current form. Two proposed improvements would address these limitations: first, raising the credit cap from $5 million to $15 million for large projects (over $50 million in rehab costs) involving long-vacant buildings; second, adding the ability to bifurcate and transfer the credits, as was done with the State Low-Income Housing Tax Credits. Bifurcation would allow different parties to invest in the state and federal credits, while transferability (proposed in the bill for “white elephant” projects that incorporate affordable housing) would allow the credits to be transferred to investors rather than used only within the development partnership. These two changes would bring more equity to these projects at no additional cost to the state. While all HTC projects would benefit from these adjustments, they would be particularly beneficial to projects that combine the HTC and the Low-Income Housing Tax Credits, since the inability to bifurcate and transfer the HTC is now limiting the pool of investors, thereby accidentally depressing the value of all tax credits in these projects including the LIHTC, and ultimately resulting in a need for more subsidies.

Last year saw the creation of a new HTC program for owners of historic barns; this program has already facilitated the rehabilitation of dozens of barns statewide since the program was rolled out in the spring of 2022. Some barn owners, including some small farmers, do not have sufficient taxable income to take advantage of the credit, however. We support the refund provision, reflected in bills A. 4030 / S. 3582, that will allow property owners with incomes under $60,000 to take the credit in the form of a rebate. This improvement, modeled on a provision in the Homeowner HTC program, would allow for more equitable use of the credit.

Preservation of Debar Pond Lodge
The Preservation League is partnering with colleagues at Adirondack Architectural Heritage and the Debar Pond Institute in support of a land exchange amendment that will safeguard the future of Debar Pond Lodge, a historic Adirondack lodge built around 1940 and set on the shore of Debar Pond in the town of Duane, Franklin County. Designed by notable Adirondack architect William Distin, Debar Pond Lodge is one of the largest log buildings in the Adirondacks, and is listed in the National Register of Historic Places in recognition of its architectural significance. The nonprofit Debar Pond Institute proposes to donate over 400 acres of wild forest land to the State, to be added to the Adirondack Forest Preserve, in exchange for the State transferring a six-acre parcel, encompassing the lodge and outbuildings, to the Institute. The Debar Pond Institute will use the property for a variety of public environmental and cultural programming. The public will retain access to the shoreline of Debar Pond, which will retain its wild character. We consider this a win-win that retains a magnificent piece of Adirondack architecture, enhances the Forest Preserve, and offers new recreational and cultural opportunities.

Capital Investment at OPRHP and DEC
We greatly appreciate the Governor’s proposal to continue significant investments in capital projects at both OPRHP and DEC. We support the proposed funding for infrastructure improvements and particularly look forward to seeing the results of additional investment in New York State Historic Sites, as well as historic buildings and structures located within our NYS Parks.

Environmental Protection Fund
The Preservation League strongly supports the Governor’s proposed continuation of funding for the Environmental Protection Fund at $400 million, matching last year’s funding. We particularly note the significance of the historic preservation grants, which in recent years have funded projects including municipal and nonprofit restoration of courthouses, town halls, libraries, historic houses of worship that frequently serve multiple functions, and nonprofit arts and cultural centers. These grants then leverage private fundraising to preserve community anchors and centers of cultural tourism, and often have a catalytic impact on their communities.

We thank the Legislature for including $500,000 in EPF funding in the FY 2023 budget to support the work of our colleagues at Adirondack Architectural Heritage (AARCH) maintaining, restoring, and interpreting Camp Santanoni, the only publicly owned Adirondack Great Camp and a National Historic Landmark. This funding has enabled AARCH to significantly expand its capacity to manage and maintain the site, investing in workforce development and safeguarding the future of this important site. We support AARCH’s request for an additional $500,000 in the FY 2024 budget, which will allow them to implement Phase 2 of their fire protection plan and maintain the enhanced level of service they are currently providing.

NYSCA Funding
The Preservation League enjoys a longstanding partnership with the New York State Council on the Arts, and knows the importance of their work to promote and sustain arts and cultural programming and facilities, particularly given the ongoing challenges arts institutions face due to COVID-19. We support the Governor’s proposal to provide $40 million to NYSCA for its core grantmaking programming as well as $100 million for capital grants to nonprofit arts facilities.

Thank you for the opportunity to provide comments as part of the state budget process. We are happy to provide additional information about the above testimony or any other historic preservation issue at the Committee’s request.