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GLADSTONE -- Members of the Gladstone City Commission heard a presentation on a proposed mixed-income housing facility that would replace Bayview and Fairview Manors during a work session held before its regular meeting Monday evening. The presentation was delivered by Gladstone Housing Commission Executive Director Michael Lindahl.
According to Lindahl, one of the city's affordable senior housing facilities has been standing for almost half a century. Fairview Manor was constructed in 1968 and opened in 1969.
"In 2019, we'll actually have been serving our seniors for 50 years," he said.
The manors' units range from 460 to 470 square feet, which can make it difficult for residents with mobility aids or other medical equipment to move around in their units. Due to the manors' age, the structures have also developed several different problems -- some of which Lindahl said are too costly or too impractical to repair. During his presentation, Lindahl showed photos of many of these issues, which include warped floors and problems in the manors' basements.
Lindahl said the Gladstone Housing Commission originally set out to construct a new facility to replace Fairview Manor and to redo Bayview Manor. However, the commission found it would be more cost-effective to demolish both buildings and to build another facility to replace them.
Because of this, plans to create a new apartment building (tentatively known as the "North Shore Apartments") were made. The proposed building would be four stories tall and about two football fields in length. It would contain 126 units, which would be larger than those in Bayview Manor and Fairview Manor; these units would feature small walk-in closets, dishwashers, hook-ups for washers and driers, and wheelchair-accessible bathrooms. A community room would also be included in the new building.
The North Shore Apartments would be a mixed-income facility -- 80 percent of the building's apartments would be reserved for low-income seniors, and 20 percent would be available for seniors in the general public. Lindahl said people currently living in the manors who do not meet updated requirements for affordable housing would not be forced to find housing elsewhere because of this.
"They do have a right of return, so we will not be putting anybody on the street," he said.
The project is currently estimated to cost about $24.9 million to construct, Lindahl said. However, Gladstone residents would not be charged additional taxes to fund this project.
"Right now, the main source of funding … is9 percent federal tax credits," he said. These are collected when corporations or banks with large federal tax bills pay money to approved housing projects and are credited for a larger sum by the IRS.
The project would also be part of a planned conversion from Public Housing funding through the Department of Housing and Urban Development to what is known as the Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) program. The RAD program is a housing voucher system which shifts units from Public Housing to a Section 8-style program.
Lindahl shared an early timeline for work on the project during his presentation.
"This would be a two-phase project," he said. The first phase, which would include about 60 units and the community space, could become operational by April 2021. Construction for the second phase, which would include the remainder of the project, could be finished by 2022.
Early plans for the project call for the new building to be located at the southern end of the North Shore Development zone, off Railway Avenue. This portion of the development project had already been earmarked for apartment buildings, and it has enough space for the building and the parking it would need.
The commissioners in attendance at the work session had a number of questions and comments for Lindahl regarding the project. Commissioner Brad Mantela said that -- as the North Shore Apartments would be located in a Gladstone Downtown Development Authority (DDA) district, and as the project would be tax-exempt (instead paying payments in lieu of taxes) -- putting the facility in this area would mean the DDA would not receive an estimated quarter-million dollars per year in funding which they would get from a privately-developed project.
Commissioner Darin Hunter said that, while he was not against the project, he felt the housing commission should have told the planning commission more about the manors' issues before they got to this point.
"Those problems didn't just accumulate overnight -- they accumulated over time," he said.
According to Lindahl, he did not want to raise concerns regarding the manors, as doing so could have increased vacancy rates.
"I am not going to go out and publicize all the problems we have and try to rent those buildings," he said.
No action on this project was taken by the commission Monday.
During its regular meeting, the commission:
– discussed Commissioner Dave Nemacheck's request that department heads be required to attend commission meetings. Commissioner David Phalen disagreed with this request.
"I've had several citizens say they feel intimidated when some of the department heads are here -- they feel they can't speak their mind," he said.
Hunter was concerned that making this change would give people a chance to "go after" department heads during commission meetings.
"It's not the appropriate time," he said.
Ultimately, no action was taken on this request.
– approved a request to purchase 10 Point Blank vests for Gladstone Public Safety from CMP Distributing. This was included in the City of Gladstone's budget, and the city received grant money for this purchase.
– accepted an engineering service proposal from C2AE to create an asset management plan not to exceed $9,000.
– tabled a discussion to schedule a work session focusing on Municipal Employees' Retirement System pension funding.
– scheduled a special meeting to interview candidates for the position of city assessor. This meeting will be held on Aug. 15 at 6 p.m. at city hall.