Council tables plan for complex
By Ethan Smith
Published in News on January 23, 2015 1:46 PM
Just as quickly as plans for an affordable housing complex in downtown Goldsboro were proposed to city leaders, the plans have been canceled -- at least for now.
After an outcry of mixed responses to the project rattled through the community and local businesses, the Goldsboro City Council struck the item from its Tuesday night agenda.
The deadline to apply for tax credits for the property, which would have allowed rent for units in the complex to be subsidized, is today, and City Manager Scott Stevens said it is not possible for the deadline to be met now that the council did not take action on the matter.
This means the earliest an affordable housing development could be reconsidered for Goldsboro is next January.
"I had council members calling me Monday, and some Tuesday morning, telling me about some of the responses they were hearing to the proposed plan," Stevens said.
"After hearing all of them, I recommended we take no action on the matter due to what seemed to be some misconceptions about the project throughout the community. I cleared it with the mayor and all the council members, and we decided it would be best to table it for now."
Downtown business owners had mixed feelings about the item being removed, but all agreed the public was not properly educated about what was being proposed.
"I heard a great deal of concern about it from multiple parties," Downtown Goldsboro Development Corp. Director Julie Metz said. "Whether it would've been good or bad for downtown I can't say, because we never got to that point in the discussion. Our intention was to have it be work/live housing for young professionals that are just getting started who might not be able to afford market rate housing, or want to live downtown."
Ms. Metz said the stigma surrounding affordable housing in Goldsboro contributed to the community uprising about the matter.
"Unfortunately, Goldsboro hears affordable housing and they have concerns about what that means," she said. "I think they've earned that feeling about affordable housing with some of the affordable housing properties we have here that do exist in Goldsboro."
Ruth Glisson, owner of Uniquely R's at 135 S. Center St., said she felt the public was not given proper notice of the proposed project.
"A friend actually brought an article about it in the News-Argus to my attention," Mrs. Glisson said. "It was disconcerting. That was the only way I knew about it, because there wasn't sufficient dissemination of information to the public about it. I think that's how everybody felt, and the city did say that at the meeting."
The proposed plan would have seen 64 units built on the corner of Center and Spruce streets for people who make $30,000 per year or less, which is 60 percent of the area's median income.
DHIC Inc. -- the contractor for the building venture -- said the income restriction on the apartments was to corner the young professionals market of recent college graduates who might not be able to afford market rate housing right out of school.
Mrs. Glisson said she felt this excluded certain demographics that might wish to live downtown.
"I would've liked to see a proposal that allowed everybody the option to move into the complex," Mrs. Glisson said. "Perhaps in the future they could consider a building venture that operates on percentages, where a certain percentage of the apartments are allotted for lower-income demographics, then a certain percentage of the apartments are for middle-income residents, and so on."
Kalilah Mischeaux, owner of The Village Rising at 114 S. Center St., said she was neutral on the matter and understood each side of the argument.
Ms. Mischeaux had a different concern about the cancellation of affordable housing being placed downtown.
"My concern is that we had developers willing to spend millions on our area -- and they're privy to information they share with fellow developers -- and now they might not be coming," she said. "I'm scared because of the stink created about it that it's going to scare away other developers that may have been looking to come here. It's sad the way it ended because it might scare off potential investors."
But DHIC might not be gone for good, and developers might still be looking at the area, Stevens said.
"What we're doing now is looking at other areas we might be able to place affordable housing in Goldsboro," Stevens said.
Ms. Metz said DHIC was not offended by the responses to the plan, either.
"They were sad we didn't have enough information out to the community before the community reacted," she said. "But they're pretty thick-skinned. They respected the feelings of the community and they understood the concerns that were expressed. So in the future they're looking to educate the community more about their style of affordable housing."