The Affordable Housing Task Force met on Monday the 27th to discuss the information Jonathan Leist, Culver Town Manager, had assembled through various meetings. I attended four of the six meetings he reported on and was able to help fill in background. In a nutshell, there are opportunities and developers that can be enticed to do work.
In a MCEDC site visit with Elkay, we were able to recruit Elkay’s management to assist us in our endeavors. Two Elkay representatives attended the Monday meeting and brought demographics for our use. They also volunteered to help with surveying to determine how many Elkay employees would be interested in relocating to Culver if housing were made available.
In the meeting with IHCDA, we learned that funds are available, but only for income based housing projects, not market based housing. We did find that much of the projected income based rental rates are actually above the local market rate rents.
The Task Force agreed that it would be prudent to pursue both market based and income based housing to keep our options open. The group tasked Jonathan to take a couple of things before the Town Council: 1) A budget for a Needs Assessment Survey and 2) A tentative agreement to consider tax abatement for the properties. (Tax Abatement was requested by all of the developers Jonathan met.) Jonathan accomplished #2 at last night’s Council meeting, but #1 was not approved as it would require an additional appropriation for the unbudgeted cost.
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I sit on the Affordable Housing Task Force for Culver and as part of that as well as wearing my MCEDC hat, I sat in on a meeting at the Culver Library with Darin Edwards, Underwriting and Closing Manager for IHCDA. The meeting was arranged by Jerry Chavez, MCEDC Executive Director, and included representatives from the Marshall County communities of Culver, Argos, Plymouth and Bremen.
Easterday Construction Co., Inc. lost another good friend last week with the passing of the Reverend Dr. Ronald Liechty. As President of Garden Court, Ron was a client through the seven Garden Court projects Easterday Construction Co., Inc. has completed. As often happens with good people, Ron also quickly became a friend. You often hear the accolade, “He’s a gentleman and a scholar.” That was Ron.
Along with our interaction on Garden Court projects I also had the opportunity to work with Ron through our mutual involvement in PIDCO, MCCF and the Community Resource Center. Among various other groups to which Ron volunteered his time, Ron set the bar very high in his examples of volunteerism, philanthropy and community leadership. I had the opportunity to attend his retirement party when he left the Presidency of Garden Court and his 80th birthday party. The number of people in attendance at both events and the uproaring of goodwill shared there was testament to how he had touched many lives in the community. Ron’s ability to lead and to find amicable resolutions will be missed. I counted Ron as a personal friend who will not be replaceable. I want to extend my personal condolences as well those of the Easterday Construction Co., Inc. family to Ron’s family. I’m sure they’re aware of how many lives he’s touched but this is just a reminder of how he touched ours.
Culver took a step forward with their Affordable Housing Task Force on Wednesday March 11th. Representatives from the Town Council, Redevelopment Commission, Plan Commission, Public Schools, Culver Academies and MCEDC met at the library to discuss the issues and goals regarding affordable housing. With the exception of two with staff positions, all were volunteers from the community stepping up to try and make things better.