Sand Hill Farm
LaPaz Commons Apartments Ground Breaking
LaPaz Commons Apartments is part of the Riverside Commons Apartment project. The project is a LIHTC project through IHCDA. Last Fall we held a ground breaking for Plymouth to celebrate their portion of the project. Now we are going to celebrate LaPaz‘s portion.
The Riverside Commons project was part of Marshall County Crossroad‘s Stellar Region application. Marshall County’s successful designation as a Stellar Region allowed us to use an IHCDA Stellar Set-Aside to successfully obtain tax credits for this project. We still had to obtain every possible point allowed for the sites as set out by the IHCDA QAP, but the set-aside gave us a boost. It’s very competitive for rural LIHTC projects (all of Marshall County is Rural per IHCDA), so the set-aside was critical to receiving this award.
We are working on some renderings, but the LaPaz Commons apartments will be all townhomes and look very similar to those we built at The Paddocks in Culver. (See the rendering to the right.) There will be 6 two story townhouses and two accessible flats. There will also be a community room including an administration office and a laundry room. The townhomes will front on Troyer Street, just off Michigan Street. Currently Troyer Street is unimproved, but the Town of LaPaz will be upgrading this street to accommodate LaPaz Commons. The Town has been very supportive and has already brought in some stone to give us an area to get off the road onto Troyer Street.
We are happy to be working with the Town of LaPaz on this project and hope you will come out and help them celebrate this addition to their community.
Riverside Commons Plymouth Ground Breaking Ceremony 11/2/21
Marshall County Crossroads is coordinating a ground breaking ceremony for Riverside Commons apartments in Plymouth tomorrow, November 2, 2021 at 10:30am. The ceremony will be at the site at the corner of Baker Street and Richter Road on the east side of Plymouth. Marty Oosterbahn will speak for Marshall County Crossroads. Mayor Senter will speak for the City of Plymouth and Kevin L. Berger will speak for Culver Sand Hill Farm LLC and Easterday Construction Co., Inc.
We’re hoping for a good event to kick this project off. This is just for the Plymouth portion of the project which consists of 40 units. We will have a separate ground breaking ceremony next Spring for the second part of this development, consisting of an additional 8 units in LaPaz.
Actual construction should begin quickly with erosion control and earthwork. The first units should be open within 18 months.
Trash Surrounds
A few years ago we posted pictures of this pool surround fence we saw in Wabash, IN. We liked it and decided to rework it as dumpster surrounds at Sand Hill Farm. Plagiarism is the sincerest form of flattery, you know… We have used this for the dumpster surround for Sand Hill Farm Apartments and then again at The Paddocks.
The original stained cedar would have been a little bit of overkill and a little too much to maintain for dumpster surrounds, so we reworked the basic design to frame it with treated lumber. We maintained the galvanized corrugated metal panels for the main screen.
In the original, as a pool surround, more care was needed for details to assure no sharp edges were exposed to the bare skin you would find around a pool. Trash dumpsters are a little more forgiving and we were mostly interested in the exterior look. We also knew that maintenance would be an issue, so we looked at reducing areas to collect debris and ways of making it easier to clean, like providing space beneath the panels.
Depending on how the wood weathers, we may or may not go back and stain the treated lumber next year. For now, it is a clean look and creates a more pleasing screen than the chain link and vinyl ribbon you see so often. The green of the treated lumber actually goes with the greens used on the buildings and the overall farm theme.
Ginny Munroe – Soaring Eagle
Last Thursday evening Becky and I were pleased to be invited to attend the ceremonial dinner where Ginny Munroe was awarded the LaSalle Council of the Boy Scouts of America Soaring Eagle Award. This award is given to individuals who have been successful in their field of endeavor and have demonstrated integrity, a record of volunteer leadership, and service to youth and their community. Soaring Eagle Award honorees are people who have been unselfish in their service to others on an individual and community basis. They seek no return for their service, other than satisfaction of aiding their fellow citizens, their community and their nation. Ginny definitely deserves the recognition for what she’s done for Culver and recently extended to Marshall County.
Ginny and I didn’t really know each other before she joined the Culver Town Council, but since that time we have counseled each other and collaborated on things. We have a mutual respect that has only become more important to me as it has grown. I have continued to tell her that she is leaving a legacy in Culver for which she can be proud. And as is her way, she demures from that.
From her first term on the Town Council, Ginny was motivated to make things happen. She wanted to move the town forward; often fighting the opposition that wanted things to stay the same. I related to her more than once what Jim Dicke had told the Culver Chamber of Commerce years ago; to paraphrase, “Towns are either growing are dying. They cannot stay the same.” Ginny embodied that push for growth. She quickly formulated a plan that included early infrastructure improvements that prepared Culver for other moves forward. When I was pushing the Plan Commission to do a new Comprehensive Plan, she quickly grasped the value and made it the next priority. Then unlike most community leaders, she took that plan, held additional meetings and created a Strategic Action Plan to implement the things the Comp Plan recommended. Most communities let their Comp Plan sit on a shelf, unused and seldom referenced. Ginny has made Culver’s Comp Plan obsolete by completing a majority of the action items and making progress on many of the aspirational items as well.
One of her initiatives that I’m most familiar with was the formation of committee that came to be known as the Entry-Level Housing Committee. For decades, affordable housing has been a problem in Culver and it has only gotten worse. The Comp Plan noted this as a recognized need. Businesses can’t find help and full-time residents are being priced out of the market. I joined that committee as a contractor, with interests in construction, but due to Ginny’s energy and the lack of others stepping up, she motivated me to become a developer! As a step forward in this, MCEDC arranged for me to meet with Bill Konyha, then head of the Indiana Office of Community Development and Rural Affairs (OCRA). He suggested that Culver pursue the recently created small community competition for Stellar designation. When we brought this back to Ginny, she seized it as a great way to move Culver forward, not just in the initial goal of affordable housing, but for community wide improvements. I believe that Culver’s loss in their attempt to win Stellar in 2016 was as much due to politics as anything else, but despite some initial hesitancy, Ginny recommitted Culver to achieving Stellar Designation in 2017. And while working on resubmittals, she moved the Town forward on two of the 2016 projects, the Damore Amphitheatre and the Sand Hill Farm Apartments. I believe that demonstration of “working the plan” made a difference in Culver’s competitiveness and and success in achieving Stellar Designation in 2017.
Marshall County Stellar was a different challenge. OCRA asked Ginny to step up for this because of Culver’s success. She did this while in the middle of a half dozen Culver Stellar projects. Despite the advances made by County Development for the Future, there was still a competitiveness between the communities in Marshall County that didn’t always allow collaboration. Too often, individuals tried to take control or take credit or conversely work against others, rather than letting group collaboration work as it should. Ginny was able to see the problems that caused the first loss and massage the group into a successful second attempt. It was extremely disheartening at the Marshall County Stellarbration when Ginny’s contributions (as well as others) were misappropriated to undeserving individuals. Obviously Marshall County still has issues to overcome.
When Ginny was considering the move to Culver Town Manager, she asked for my thoughts. I was mixed on this. I was concerned that the Town Council would suffer without her leadership and I wasn’t sure that she would be as effective leading from behind. I was also concerned for Ginny, who I consider a natural leader, not being able to lead. So far, my concerns have been mostly unfounded and Ginny has continued to help move Culver forward. Again, she is adding to her Culver Legacy. The Soaring Eagle award is much deserved…
Kevin
The Paddocks Ribbon Cutting
The ribbon cutting for The Paddocks Apartments in Culver is scheduled for July 24th. We’re working on making this a town event. We have sent out invitation to local civic groups and the Chamber of Commerce is working on recruiting businesses to participate.
The Paddocks is the result of years of local work to solve Culver’s Workforce Housing issue. This began with with citizen input pointing out the need in the last Comprehensive Plan effort. That lead to the creation of a Workforce Housing Committee. From that committee came the research that lead Culver to pursue Stellar designation. The main goal in pursuing Stellar was to qualify for a tax credit set-aside for a Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) project. That project is The Paddocks.
From its construction start to in 2019 to its completion this year, The Paddocks has been observed closely. It has prompted Plymouth and LaPaz to pursue a LIHTC project under Marshall County. This ribbon cutting is the culmination of this.
As we’ve discussed in our invitations, The Paddocks has brought 25 new families to Culver so far. It is up to the rest of Culver’s citizens, businesses and civic groups to make these new residents into community members and good citizens.
Lieutenant Governor Suzanne Crouch will be here to help celebrate the project Part of her duties as Lieutenant Governor is to oversee OCRA and IHCDA. OCRA oversees the Stellar program and IHCDA oversees the tax credit program. L.G. Crouch was here when Culver first achieved Stellar designation, so we’re pleased that she can come back and see the fruits of our labor.
We’re hoping this is an event that is the start of something good for Culver. Those 25 new families have brought 20 new kids to Culver Schools and some of these new residents are already working in local businesses. This is a great opportunity for Culver to come together.
