EMMAUS, Pa. — East Penn School Board on Monday narrowly approved a shrunken property tax break for a brownfield in Emmaus set to become apartments.
The board voted 5-4 to create a Local Economic Revitalization Tax Assistance incentive for an 8.5-acre brownfield, once a foundry, at 300 Furnace St. near downtown Emmaus.
Fort Washington, Montgomery County-based builder Westrum Development plans to turn the site into 144 apartments spread across four buildings.
After weeks of revisions sparked by members looking to shrink the rebate, the school board settled on a three-year partial property tax exemption for new construction on the site.
In the first year after construction is complete, the school district will collect only 25% of the tax levied on the completed buildings.
The property owner will owe 50% of the exempted taxes in the following year and 75% in year three. After three years, the incentive expires.
For the duration of the LERTA, the property owner will continue to pay taxes on the full value of the 8.5 acres.
East Penn’s LERTA incentive is less generous than the version Emmaus approved in November, which phased in property taxes over five years and wiped out all property taxes on the new construction in its first year.
In all, East Penn’s LERTA amounts to an estimated $400,000 tax break, school board President Joshua Levinson said.
A five-year version tabled earlier in February would have eliminated about $800,000 in property taxes.
The Lehigh County Board of Commissioners has yet to consider a LERTA tax abatement for the county's property taxes on the site.
