ALBANY — Developers will no longer be able to add an extra story to their construction projects should they choose to install stormwater management systems on roofs while Albany focuses on other incentives, like affordable housing.

The city Common Council on Monday halted an incentive for developers that allowed projects to add an extra story on a building should a developer install blue or green roofs.

Council members Monday voted 11-0 to nix the ability for developers to add an extra story by installing a water-retaining roof and have suspended the benefit to developers should they install vegetative roofs until June 30, 2020. Four council members were absent Monday night.

The ordinance received a positive recommendation from the city Planning Board as well as the council’s Planning, Economic Development and Land Use Committee.

Since the city enacted the new zoning in 2017, city officials said seven developers have utilized this incentive, while other means to get an extra story haven’t been used. The other ways a developer can add an extra story, or decrease setbacks, are if a portion of the units are affordable housing or the project is Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design-certified.

Councilwoman Judy Doesschate, who sponsored the ordinance, said the blue roof mechanism was removed completely because it does not provide an added benefit to the city, while the suspension of the green roof incentive will allow the administration to develop standards that can quantify the benefits.

“I think it was a mistake that we put that incentive in without creating clear standards that are going to ensure there is some clear benefit to the city environment and its residents,” Doesschate said.

While the Albany Planning Department is supportive of the pause on these mechanisms, city officials said they are not taking a position on whether the blue or green roofs provide additional benefit to the city.

Planning director Brad Glass said officials plan to “study and refine these incentives over the coming year.”

Doesschate said the pause will give renewed focus on encouraging developers to pursue other ways to add an extra story, like affordable housing.

“The planning department says the affordable housing incentive that we added has not been utilized, and they want to encourage developers who are looking for an extra story to use that, and I’m very supportive,” she said. “There really is a direct correlation in terms of a benefit there.”

The amendment to the city’s Unified Sustainable Development Ordinance, commonly known as ReZone Albany, is one that was pulled from several amendments proposed by the administration to address unintended consequences of the new zoning as well as provide more detail and revise definitions.

Doesschate said the comprehensive amendment document still is going through the process, and so she pulled out the incentive provision to have it addressed immediately because it has “long-term, lasting consequences.”

The amendment is one of several proposed among council members who say constituents have expressed concern over projects approved through the new zoning that could negatively impact the character of their neighborhoods.

Other resolutions and legislation include the council calling for the Planning Board to do a full environmental study on the proposed multi-building, mixed-use complex at 563 New Scotland Ave.