Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero kept his word to veto a moratorium on Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILOT) agreements.
On Monday, Lansing City Council passed the moratorium by a 5-3 vote. Mayor Bernero says the agreements are essential to encouraging developers to build affordable housing for low-income residents. Bernero called Council's moratorium discriminatory.
Prior to Council's vote, Bernero called on U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to investigate the City Council action to deny a PILOT to local developer Sam Saboury.
Saboury proposed a $5.9 million mixed-use development that would have included 23 affordable housing units on Washington Avenue in the Old Town neighborhood.
Council's Monday vote was a broader moratorium.
"I am stunned by the regressive and discriminatory attitude of certain council members toward affordable housing in our community," Bernero said in a written statement to the media. "Even after they voted against a project that would have brought quality, affordable housing to Old Town, and even after a federal fair housing complaint was filed with HUD based on that vote, they have now doubled down on their opposition to affordable housing by approving a moratorium on the PILOT agreements that make affordable housing possible."
In April, Council Member Judi Brown told FOX 47 News the Mayor is trying to draw attention away from the controversy surrounding the separation agreement with former City Attorney Janene McIntyre.
