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Tuesday, 12 December 2006 19:05 |
By DAVID FORBES
The City of Asheville may purchase the McCormick Heights subsidized housing development ÇƒÓ in the process evicting 41 families ÇƒÓ for $2.3 million, including costs for relocating the current residents.
The plan calls for the city to demolish the 100-unit complex located east of Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive and combine it with adjacent city-owned sites. The resulting 20-acre development is planned for 200-350 units of affordable and workforce housing.
Asheville City Council was scheduled to vote on the matter this past Tuesday night after the Daily Planetës press deadline.
In a press
briefing last Friday, Planning Director Scott Shuford said the purchase
is needed because the problems facing McCormick Heights ÇƒÓ most of the
units are vacant ÇƒÓ have caused its owner, a subsidiary of Progress
Energy, to put it on the market.
"It seemed to us
that we had a potential loss of this affordable housing resource in an
area where thatës important for us to have," Shuford said. "Weëre
looking at a site that is close to our downtown, close to a hospital,
close to services. When we found out about it, we felt that we should
at least ask City Council about purchasing it, as it threatens the
affordable-housing supply."
But Councilman
Carl Mumpower has criticized the proposal, asserting that the city does
not have a good track record acting as a developer, in particular
citing the experiences with the oft-delayed Brotherton Commons project
in West Asheville.
"The city
doesnët have a very good history when we choose to become a developer,"
Mumpower told the Daily Planet last Monday. "Iëm definitely opposed to
this ÇƒÓ itës just not something weëre very good at."
He noted earlier
that the high vacancy rate at McCormick Heights and the general
condition of the site also represented failures on the cityës part.
"Weëve failed
miserably in our duty to that site," Mumpower said. "Weëve failed to
keep it from falling into the hands of crime and drug activity."
Shuford acknowledged that in its current state, "the units are very low on amenities and very difficult to keep occupied."
Mumpower had
also e-mailed various media outlets and city officials about his
objections to the city staff holding press briefings, a concern he
still has.
"I donët believe
the city should be holding these meetings with selected media outlets,"
Mumpower noted. "This should be something we go over in formal
deliberation. This process should have been opened up."
On Friday,
Lauren Bradley, the cityës public affairs officer, said that staff had
decided on holding individual briefings for reporters from the cityës
media outlets because "when something like this comes up this late in
the week, itës hard to get information out. Weëre sensitive to the fact
that there are 41 families at this location right now and itës
important for us to get out accurate information to the media."
In the current
proposal, $85,000 is set aside to give those families counseling and
pay for moving them to new housing over the next six months.
"Weëll help them
through this process. Weëll answer all their relocation questions and,
in addition, weëll pay their relocation expenses," Shuford said.
Charlotte
Caplan, the cityës community development director, said that if a
private developer bought the site, such families might receive no
assistance at all.
"We hope that
once people hear about this, theyëll start taking advantage of those
services and the move can go as comfortable as is possible," Caplan
said. "If this was bought up by a private developer, they could build
anything that was allowed under the zoning, weëd lose this affordable
housing and the families living there might well get nothing."
Currently, 28 of
the families located in McCormick Heights are receiving federal
subsidies for their housing, the new development is planned to be
mixed-income and include green space, Shuford noted.
Caplan sounded a similar note.
"This is a very under-utilized site," she said.
The amount of
the purchase, which is above the assessed "as is" value of the
property, put at $1.65 million, would pay off the debt that Progress
Energyës subsidiary owes on the site, including the mortgage and
rehabilitation loans it got from the city to develop McCormick Heights.
Memos released
by the city say that the mortgage on the new development is expected to
pay back part of the cost of the purchase and that the cost compares
favorably to nearby land sales.
Caplan also noted that the city would turn to another developer to build and run the site.
"That could be
Mountain Housing Opportunities or a private non-profit like them or it
could be a private developer," Caplan said.
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