THE QUEENS
Photo courtesy of John Liu’s offi ce
Flushing rally heralds new green roof law in NYS
BY JENNA BAGCAL
jbagcal@qns.com
@jenna_bagcal
Lawmakers celebrated in Flushing on
July 8 newly signed legislation that
aims to increase green roof installation
across the city.
Th e new law would reform and modernize
the city’s green roof tax abatement
by dramatically increasing a tax
break for property owners choosing to
install a green roof in neighborhoods
that lack green space and struggle with
regular sewer overfl ow.
In 2018, City Comptroller Scott
Stringer issued recommendations concerning
green roofs, which served as
the basis for the new legislation. State
Senator John Liu and Assemblywoman
Nily Rozic sponsored the bill and
Governor Andrew Cuomo signed it
into law.
“New York City should be at the
forefront of urban sustainability and
green innovation, and our barren roofs
off er an ideal opportunity to improve
air quality, reduce energy use, ease
storm-related fl ooding, and increase the
amount of green spaces in communities
that need it the most,” said Stringer.
“Th is bill is just the start. It’s time we
used the 62 square miles of available
space on top of our buildings to truly
create a green oasis in the skies in every
corner of the city.”
Stringer and Danielle Spiegel-Field, a
professor at New York University Law
School, issued a proposal in 2018 that
would reauthorize the citywide green
roof tax credit and provide an extra
$15 per square foot credit to are lacking
green space.
Currently, green roofs cover only one
in 1,000 buildings across the fi ve boroughs
and it is estimated that every dollar
invested in green roofs generates $2
in benefi ts by mitigating stormwater
runoff and providing green spaces.
“Th e aggressive measures contained
in the climate protection law we passed
last month ensures that New York leads
the way in keeping our planet inhabitable,”
said Liu. “Th is green roof bill
incentivizes individual homeowners to
contribute meaningfully to that global
eff ort and signifi cantly reduce our local
emissions. We are grateful to Assembly
member Rozic and Comptroller
Stringer for their leadership in this critical
matter.”
Only seven roofs received an abatement
during the decade-long run of the
existing tax abatement program from
2009. Property owners saw little incentive
to installing green roofs due to
the dismal tax abatement and “broadly
unrealistic regulatory standards.”
According to Adaptation
Clearinghouse, property owners
received a one-year tax abatement
of $4.50 per square foot or “up to
$100,000 or the building’s tax liability.”
In 2013, the state amended the law
so that the abatement equaled $5.23
per square foot of green roof and doubled
the per-project cap from $100,000
to $200,000.
Buildings eligible for the tax credit
under the current law require a green
roof that covers “at least 50 percent of
a building’s useable rooft op space, with
vegetation on at least 80 percent of that
covered roof space.”
Th e new bill reforms the 2009 program
by scaling up the tax abatement
and incentivizing the construction of
green roofs in areas most in need of
green spaces.
Under the new law, the city will select
priority areas for the newly enhanced
credit on a rolling basis.
“Renewing the City’s Green Roof Tax
Abatement Program was integral to
investing in green infrastructure programs
and addressing the realities of
climate change in our communities
– particularly in our most vulnerable
neighborhoods,” said Rozic. “I thank
Governor Cuomo for signing this legislation
into law and will continue
working with Senator Liu and environmental
advocates to expand this
benefit even further.”
Assemblywoman Nily Rozic, Senator John Liu, City Comptroller Scott Stringer with green roof bill advocates
JULY 2019
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