Zoning Out: It’s Time to Get Creative | SBA settles confusion over PPP forgiveness application due date

I recently paid a visit to some friends in the Poconos. During our little sightseeing jaunt, we visited The Shops at Hawley Silk Mill, a jaw-dropping venue where our friends held their wedding reception. A former silk mill, the building was converted, no, transformed, into a beautiful high end restaurant and catering facility. Adding to that, the spacious property featured a brewery and beer garden, as well as residential and commercial office space on the upper levels.

The most fascinating part of this place was the main floor. The owners converted the space into a combination of retail, food and office suites. It was spectacular. The place was oozing good vibes. We had coffee and I shopped at the kids’ boutique for my granddaughter — I was in heaven. The creativity used to transform an old factory into a self-contained mini city was remarkable. Of course, that led me to my next thought:THIS is what Putnam needs!

With unbridled enthusiasm and inspiration, I presented the idea to a client who recently purchased a large commercial building, formerly a bank, on Route Six. Today, I will be meeting with a contractor and the owner of the building to explore the conversion of the first floor into a micro version of the Pennsylvania factory retail set-up. The vision includes exposed ceilings, hardwood floors, tons of open space, and glass walls. The potential for housing multiple small and talented local businesses under one roof is tremendous for both shoppers and retailers!

Hold on. The proverbial shoe is about to drop on our dream. We haven’t talked about zoning yet. What is this property zoned for? Will the town allow this mixed use concept? These questions and, more importantly, their answers are most often the cause of great projects going off the rails. So, what does one do when they have a big exciting project to bring to Putnam County? Well, it starts with the Building department in the town or village that the property is located. If the use is located in a zone that works, you start applying for permits and a certificate of occupancy will be issued upon final inspection. This is an over simplified version of the best case scenario.

The real trouble begins when the desired use or even a “special use” is not allowable in that zone. At that point, you have to go to the Zoning board. If you are lucky enough for the Zoning board to give you the variance for your use (which can take months to a year), you move on to the Planning board for a site plan change. You would have to hire an engineer to do a new site plan and submit it to Planning — This can also take months and add costs. Meanwhile, you must defend against the vocal minority who do not want to see any development or changes to their town. All the while, you have expended time, energy, and effort with no guarantee of approvals.

As a number of our towns and villages are in the process of updating their Master Plans, there is no time like the present to streamline our zoning and permitting processes to make it easier to do business and innovate in Putnam County. We understand the potential environmental and community impacts, such as traffic and parking, which should be taken into consideration, but so should the impact of high vacancy rates and a dearth of projects bringing in sales and property tax revenues. If we do not get innovative with the properties that exist, we may have a bigger problem post-COVID. The time is now to get creative and make big bold moves.

The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) released guidance Tuesday confirming that Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan forgiveness applications are not due on Oct. 31.

Fears of a late-October PPP surprise came to the SBA’s attention because the program’s loan forgiveness application forms (3508, 3508EZ, and 3508S) display an expiration date of “10/31/2020” in the upper-right corner. This prompted the SBA to release a new entry in its loan forgiveness frequently asked questions document answering the query, “Is October 31, 2020, the deadline for borrowers to apply for forgiveness?”

In its answer, found in Q&A No. 4 in the General Loan Forgiveness FAQs section, the SBA explains that borrowers may submit a loan forgiveness application any time before the maturity date of the loan, which is either two or five years from the loan’s origination, depending on the borrower’s agreement. But the SBA also reminds borrowers that loan payments are deferred only until 10 months after the last day of each borrower’s loan forgiveness covered period.

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New York is one of a handful of states that broadly applies its false claims act (State Finance Law Article 13) to tax issues. There are two current legislative proposals, summarized here. S.8852 (Krueger) / A.11061 (Weinstein) would make the False Claims Act applicable to knowing acts related to “obligations” under the Tax Law (e.g., failure to file returns or report income), and S.8872 (Hoylman) / A.11066 (Weinstein) creates a separate mechanism in the False Claims Act to allow for the recovery of “damages, including consequential damages” against any person who uses a false record related to their tax, regardless of intent to defraud. Both bills represent a significant expansion of the state’s False Claims Act’s applicability to tax issues. The bills are also being reviewed by members of our Tax Committee. We welcome any additional comments.

Staff Contact: Ken Pokalsky

We wanted to provide a reminder regarding the state’s Time Off to Vote law, as it was subject to multiple amendments over the past several sessions, including reforms advocated for by The Business Council that were approved in this year’s state budget. New York State election law (§ 3-110) imposes several requirements on employers. All employers, regardless of size, must allow an employee up to two hours, with pay, to vote if such employee is a registered voter and “does not have sufficient time outside of his or her scheduled working hours, within which to vote on any day at which he or she may vote.” The law provides that if an four consecutive hours either between the opening of the polls and the beginning of his or her working shift, or between the end of his or her working shift and the closing of the polls, he or she is deemed to have sufficient time to vote and is not eligible for paid time off. An employee who requires time off to vote is required to notify their employer at least two days prior to election day. An employer may designate that time off must be taken either at the beginning or end of an employee’s work shift, unless otherwise mutually agreed. Given that the state has gone to ten-day advanced voting, it is unlikely that many employees will still qualify for additional paid time off to vote. Finally, not less than 10 days before election day, all employers are required to conspicuously post a notice regarding these time off provisions. (Note – many employers already satisfy this requirement as part of their general labor law postings.) The state Board of Elections has a summary of the law and a sample poster available here.

Staff Contact: Frank Kerbein

As you are aware, New York State’s new Paid Sick Leave law became effective September 30, 2020. Employees of private sector employers begin accruing leave at the rate of one hour for each 30 hours worked up to the statutory maximums for use beginning January 1, 2021. To date, the Department of Labor has yet to provide any regulations or guidance for employers as indicated in the statute. Pending that guidance, employers should be thinking about revisions to their time off policies and how this new law will impact them. As guidance becomes available, we will make that information available to employers as soon as possible. Regardless, The Business Council will be hosting a webinar on the state’s paid sick leave law on November 19, which will discuss best practices and compliance strategies. Registration information can be found here.

Staff Contact: Frank Kerbein

The statewide positivity rate excluding the focus areas was 1.14 percent. There were 918 total hospitalizations. Of the 132,106 tests reported yesterday, 1,707, or 1.25 percent, were positive. Sadly, we lost 10 New Yorkers to the virus.

If you have concerns about COVID, you may request an online ballot now — don’t wait until the last minute. New Yorkers have several options to vote in this year’s election: Early voting, absentee voting and in-person voting on Election Day. Learn more. 

In New York City, the positivity rate yesterday was 1.2 percent. In Long Island, it was 1.1 percent. In the Capital Region, 0.7 percent. In Central New York, 1.2 percent. In the Finger Lakes, 1.5 percent. In the Mid-Hudson Region, 1.8 percent. In Mohawk Valley, 0.3 percent. In the North Country, 0.5 percent. And finally, in the Southern Tier, it was 1.6 percent. You can check updated data for your region anytime online.

For the seventh annual celebration, organizers have arranged a 1.2 mile drive-thru route for families to safely drive through. The planned route will feature lights, holiday decorations and even holiday music. The celebration will begin November 27th and run until January 3rd.

Amazon’s annual Prime Day sales event is slated for Tuesday and Wednesday and millions of shoppers will certainly flock to the site looking for deals. This year, the company is attempting to promote small business as a means to coax even more Americans to shop on its site. But Amazon doesn’t need your patronage, the small business down the street does.

Amazon has steadily gobbled up market share even as small businesses around the country have struggled to survive the Covid-19 pandemic. Amazon’s stock is up 77% over last year and it has already hired 175,000 people during the pandemic.

Meanwhile, according to Yelp, as of August 31, 163,735 US businesses have been forced to close, and some estimate that 60% will not reopen. The loss of a small business is never merely economic; it is a loss for the community. A thriving local community is inseparable from a thriving local economy.

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