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The project will target "income qualifying residents with incomes at or below 60 percent of the area median income as well as allow for the integration of market rate units," according to a letter to Councilman John Rhodes from Denise Ogan, development manager with DKO Consulting, Springfield.
Mayor Dick Stratman and Ward 2 Councilman Jeff Mohesky met recently with Mark Gardner of Gardner Development to discuss the proposed project and application. Rhodes, the other Ward 2 councilman, was invited to the meeting but was out of town.
Rhodes brought the issue up at Monday's council meeting. He noted that Gardner was asking for the city to endorse the application to the MHDC. He said he didn't know at this time if he could endorse the concept.
"I'd like to see a presentation to the whole council," Rhodes said.
The deadline for the company to apply for the tax credit with the MHDC is this Friday, Nov. 6, the letter notes.
Mohesky said after meeting with representatives, he does endorse the project. He said the company will be held to "high standards" and won't receive the tax credit upfront but over a 15-year period, "so they're required to keep the property up."
"You should see the presentation," Mohesky told other members.
The development plan calls for 48 residential apartment units and would include a swimming pool and playground area. Also on-site would be a management office with a recreation room.
The letter from Ogan notes that the monthly rents for the affordable units would be $475, $525 and $575, depending on the number of bedrooms. The market rate units would have comparable rents of $550, $595 and $650. The rents include water, sewer and trash fees.
Councilman Tim Overschmidt asked if it would be like subsidized housing in New Haven and Union.
City Administrator Jim Briggs said there are several developments and a number of rental homes in Washington that offer rent subsidies including senior citizen housing units and single-family and two-family homes.
"I've been told that there are 80 units in Ward 4 alone," said Stratman, who said he did send a letter endorsing the project.
"We approved the R-4 plan," Stratman said. "They're going to follow that and agreed to do exactly what we approved. I don't know if we can say they can't do it."
"They can do it as long as they follow all the criteria approved in the development plan," said Darren Lamb, director of planning and engineering.
Stratman noted that for some time the city has been looking for ways to develop affordable, workforce housing "for people like police officers and teachers." He said there is a lot of rental property in the city but it takes a big effort to see that it is maintained.
"It's not a done deal," Mohesky said of the rental subsidies. "They still have to apply for it and be approved."
Overschmidt questioned if this would result in an unfair advantage over other landlords who own and rent property in Washington.
"If a person can't rent property, should Uncle Sam be shelling out money to make ends meet?" Overschmidt said. "I don't like subsidized housing."
Midkiff, who said he owns rental property in the city, said this amounts to giving a unfair advantage to a company to build almost 50 apartments. There currently are a lot of vacant apartments available in the city, he said.
There was some discussion about the zoning that was approved. Unnerstall initially requested R-3, multifamily zoning but the council rejected that and asked him to change his application to R-4 which he did.
Lamb noted that zoning is not the issue. "You can get housing assistance for any type of zoning. You can't ask who is going to occupy the units."
"We can ask anything," Rhodes commented. "Would the vote have been different if we knew it would be subsidized housing?"
