Charles City Area Development Corp. discusses housing options

By Bob Steenson, bsteenson@charlescitypress.com

The Charles City Area Development Corp. again touched on potential local housing options at its monthly meeting this week, and agreed to look into making some industrial development land available to build apartments on.

The CCADC – along with city government and several other organizations – has for several years identified the lack of housing options in Charles City and Floyd County as an impediment to people moving to the area. Local industry officials have said the derth of suitable housing has resulted in employees they hire sometimes either living in larger neighboring communities or turning down the jobs entirely.

Tim Fox, CCADC executive director, said there is about 19 acres – 17 of it usable – that the corporation owns on the east side of the Southwest Development Park that has not been purchased for use by businesses.

“What I got to thinking is, those lots have sat there for 25-26 years, let’s consider making them housing,” Fox said. “It’s close to employment, because that’s where most of the jobs are, out in that part of the town.”

Residential zoning already exists to the east of the CCADC property, and 13th Street –  which was originally intended to eventually connect to the development park – could be extended to serve the new residential area, Fox said.

“We need to decide what we’re going to do with this land, if we want to use it for housing to make it marketable, to entice a developer to get interested. We’re talking multi-family apartments, not single-family residences, I believe,” Fox said.

When asked why it wouldn’t be used for single family homes, Fox said it’s difficult to find developers who will build single-family homes.

“The reason for apartments is it’s the only thing you can get state tax credits for,” Fox said. Tax credits for single family homes are only available for homes that cost less than $250,000, “and you can’t build it for that,” he said.

Mayor Dean Andrews said Fox had brought up the suggestion at a recent meeting of the community housing committee, “and I think the people at the housing meeting all thought it was a pretty nice idea.”

Andrews said a Cambrex representative at the meeting was excited about the idea because a lot of the people they bring to town for employment are looking for apartments at least initially, because they don’t know how long they’ll be here or because they want to become familiar with the city before deciding where to buy a home.

Fox said the current list price is $30,000 per acre as industrial development ground, but “obviously that’s not reasonable” for housing.

“If we’re going to do this I think we need to decide on a price, whether it be $10,000 an acre, or whether we say, ‘Hey, we’re so overwhelmed by an offer that we’ll give you the land.’ It kind of depends on the project and the parameters,” he said.

The CCADC board approved directing Fox to continue working on the idea.

Also at the meeting, Andrews gave a report on the recent housing committee meeting. He said the group decided against another housing readiness assessment by Iowa State University that was recommended by the Iowa Economic Development Authority because of the cost and because there have been housing assessments for the county already done in the last several years.

He said the question came up if local industries would be willing to help with the cost of a housing project.

“A lot of cities that have done housing projects, the industry helps in that because they’re the ones who are looking for the workers, their workers are the ones who are looking for housing, so they’re willing to put some money into that so their workers have housing to live in,” Andrews said.

“I was reminded that way, way back when, that’s how a lot of the houses up by White Farm got built, because White Farm paid for that housing for their employees. So it’s not a new concept, but it’s something that I think we’re going to want to explore,” Andrews said.

Incentives from various sources were part of the discussion, he said, including the potential to use American Rescue Plan Act funds. The city is receiving about $1 million and Floyd County is receiving a little over $3 million in ARPA funds, although much of the county’s funds are being considered for use to complete the new law enforcement center and courthouse update project.

Andrews said City Administrator Steve Diers was going to look into the availability of infill lots to build on, because houses can be built less expensively on those lots since they already have streets and utilities available to them.

Other members of the committee took the assignment of researching developers who might be interested in a housing project, Andrews said.

The housing committee will meet again next week.

Also at the CCADC meeting Wednesday morning, the group:

• Discussed a potential project by Mid-Iowa Cooperative to build a $25 million facility in Nora Springs to store and handle mostly soybeans to be shipped by rail to a new soybean crushing plant being built in Shell Rock. Fox said property owners and residents within a mile of the site were invited to a meeting about the project and “they were universally opposed.”

Doug Kamm, the Floyd County Board of Supervisors representative on the CCADC board, said after the meeting he heard from several people who were very much in favor of the project but were afraid to speak out at the meeting. He said the primary opposition is being organized by a neighboring landowner.

“It’s the same old story – not in my backyard,” Kamm said.

Fox said the project would have the potential to add more than $400,000 annually to Floyd County’s property tax collection, although for the first three years it would be eligible for a 100% property tax exemption through the county’s urban revitalization program.