With approvals now complete, Linn County Affordable Housing is moving forward with plans to begin construction of its Brookside Development.
Phase one of the development will start next summer, LCAH Executive Director Dianna Cvitanovich said. During phase one LCAH will construct five duplexes to provide rentals for low-income seniors and disabled persons.
Prior to construction of any buildings, Cvitanovich said, LCAH will complete infrastructure improvements, including the widening of Sunset Avenue from Nandina Street to the development at the south end of Sunset Avenue.
Phase two of the project is scheduled to begin during the summer 2002 with a goal of completion by 2003. This phase will include six starter homes and seven larger single-family homes for sale to low-income families.
In the spring, LCAH will apply to Oregon Housing and Community Services for about $650,000 for construction of the duplexes. LCAH also plans to ask the city to apply for Oregon Economic Development Department funds set aside for affordable housing infrastructure, a cost of about $350,000 for this project. LCAH would ask, through the City of Sweet Home, for $220,000.
“This is an underutilized fund,” Cvitanovich said. “And we’d like to be able to bring the resources into the city.”
At the same time LCAH is applying for grants, it will open its home buyer education program, the ABC’s of Home Buying. Persons would enroll in the program for different lengths of time, opening the single-family homes from the second phase for purchase. Persons in the program would be able to purchase other homes instead of the LCAH homes.
LCAH plans to construct most of the single-family homes as needed but would like to get one or two model homes built.
“The single-family homes, there is no state housing money for that,” Cvitanovich said. They can be subsidized in several ways, such as private foundation grants. Bank loans to the qualified homebuyers also may be guaranteed by the state government through some lenders.
“One of the reasons this project is so challenging is we have very different funding sources between phase one and phase two,” Cvitanovich said.
Prior to any construction, probably in February, LCAH will have soil testing completed and get the Division of State Lands on site to delineate an existing wetland. Depending on the costs, LCAH may choose to do a wetland enhancement on the property, Cvitanovich said. LCAH also would like to help out with addressing drainage concerns between the Brookside Development and the South Santiam River.
The Brookside Development drew heavy criticism throughout a planned unit development approval process some six months long.
The reason LCAH chose to do a planned unit development was to preserve what Cvitanovich, and the city through the approval process, recognized as amenities on the property.
The property is located just to the west of Strawberry Park and south of Stonebrook Creek. LCAH plans to preserve the trees, the scenery, terrain and wetlands on the site.
“We didn’t think a linear set of lots worked for that site,” Cvitanovich said.
The homes for sale is a first for LCAH.
“Home ownership stabilizes the country,” Cvitanovich said. “The (LCAH) Board of Directors has really wanted to do a home ownership project. It’s the American dream. Also we believe, too, that it provides stability to the community.”
Brookside, its neighborhood association and codes, covenants and restrictions provides the “opportunity for us to teach responsible home ownership and gives the opportunity to make steps upward in quality of life,” Cvitanovich said. Through the neighborhood association and CC&Rs, LCAH will be able to teach and support sustainable development for future generations.
LCAH envisions the duplexes as filling a role in some cases as “granny flats,” Cvitanovich said. A family may live in a home in the neighborhood while an aging parent may live nearby yet independently in the duplexes.
The starter homes will have two bedrooms. The other single-family homes will have three or four bedrooms. Most of the duplexes will have one room, although at least two will have two bedrooms.
Persons interested in the homebuyer education program may contact Amy Gemmer at 259-2168. For income-qualified persons to be eligible to purchase one of the homes, they will be required to go through the program.