HAMBURG, N.Y. — Thanks to online sales, 2018 was a tough year for a lot of stores. Now the Town of Hamburg wants to stop developers from building new spaces before the old, empty storefronts are filled.
Monday night, the Hamburg Town Board unanimously approved holding a public hearing on a proposal to put a moratorium on approving new shopping centers or expanding existing ones.
"With the changing times, and the decline of big box stores and retail shopping in general in this digital age, we are winding up with a significant number of vacancies," Hamburg Town Supervisor Jim Shaw said. "Vacancies mean reduced assessed valuation, which means reduced tax revenue."
Shaw wants to try to stop the problem from getting worse by pausing construction.
"No new retail or strip plazas built on speculation. If you're a developer and you have signed leases, people are ready to come in, that's fine," Shaw says. "However, if you're building on spec on the notion that if you build it, they will come, they're not coming."
If the moratorium passes, it will be in effect for six months, and the board would have the option of extending it for another six months.
Shaw also says the town could potentially do things to encourage development in empty spaces.
"With tax incentives for fixing up their properties, facade grants for the State of New York, if we can secure them, and a promise that if you do fix up your property, we will not reassess you at a higher value, we'll hold the line for a certain period of time so that you can recoup some of the expenditures that you've made in the hopes of getting new tenants," Shaw said.
The public hearing on this proposal is April 15 at 7 p.m. at Hamburg Town Hall.
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