Warner has joined Groveton, Rochester, Concord, Manchester, Hooksett, Berlin, Lisbon, and Pittsfield as the first municipalities to adopt a tax incentive established last year that encourages downtown investment. RSA79E gives the owners of qualifying buildings temporary relief from increased taxes due to rehabilitation efforts.

Any city or town may adopt the incentive program with a majority vote of its legislative body. Once it is adopted, a property owner who wants to substantially rehabilitate a building located downtown, or in a village center, may apply to the local governing body for a period of temporary tax relief. The law is structured to encourage not only rehabilitation of downtown structures, but housing in the downtown area.

The temporary tax relief consists of a finite period during which the property tax on the structure will not increase as a result of its substantial rehabilitation. In exchange for the relief, the property owner grants a covenant ensuring the continuation of the public benefit during the period of the tax relief. Once the tax relief period expires, the structure is taxed at its full market value, taking the rehabilitation into account. Proponents of the measure believe that the design provides a strong public process with local discretion, and gives communities the benefit of increased tax revenues from rehabilitation efforts that otherwise would have been delayed indefinitely or never initiated at all.

Legislative sponsors of this law included Judith Spang (Durham), Robert Theberge (Berlin), Eric Stohl (Colebrook), Peter Schmidt (Dover), and Senators Bob Odell (District 8), Sylvia Larson (District 15), and Martha Fuller Clark (District 24). Governor John Lynch signed the bill into law in June 2006. Representatives of the New Hampshire Preservation Alliance, N.H. Main Street Center, N.H. Housing Finance Authority, Conservation Law Foundation helped craft this program that advances smart-growth, historic preservation, and housing goals.

"This new program is designed to encourage investment in our downtowns and village centers, and to discourage sprawl that robs communities of their vitality," said Rep. Judith Spang. "It complements existing municipal planning tools that reinvigorate our towns and cities by promoting economic development, encouraging residential use of downtowns, and meeting historic preservation goals."

More information here. Email jg@nhpreservation.org for a flow chart.