Seniors oppose zoning change for affordable housing development near Active Life – LaGrange Daily News

In a packed council chambers on Tuesday evening, dozens of seniors made their voices heard that they do not want a proposed affordable housing development near the senior center.

The outcry stems from a proposal from the Paces Foundation, a nonprofit out of Smyrna, Georgia, that wants to build 101 affordable housing apartment units in LaGrange near the Active Life Senior Center. The project is seeking a competitive process to receive a loan financed by tax credits. It would also require a rezoning of property off of Robertson Street and Ragland Street from Campus General Business (CP-GB) to Traditional Neighborhood Mixed Use (TN-MX), and an amendment to the Comprehensive Plan Character Area Map designation from parks to commercial development.

Steven Bowden, of the Paces Foundation, said the nonprofit was drawn to LaGrange because of the city’s recent economic development success.

“We wanted to be sure that the city of LaGrange has a wonderful, healthy workforce to go along with the job growth that you guys have done such a good job at creating,” Bowden said.

The proposed development would be financed by loan housing tax credits, which are credits given by the federal government to the state and then competitively applied for. 

“That will raise a lot of equity in this transaction, so that we can charge lower rents. The tenant population for our development will earn incomes anywhere from 30 percent of the area median income all the way up to 80 percent, so it’s considered workforce housing,” Bowden said.

“The types of tenants that we’re targeting in this community are police officers, teachers, sanitary workers, social workers, and a lot of the folks that I think are in this room right now and probably go to church with on Sunday,” Bowden said.

Dan Wooten, director of the Active Life Recreation Center, spoke on behalf of a large group opposed to the proposed zoning change that would allow apartments to be built near the senior center.

“[It] would unintentionally disrupt or harm both the center and the community that it serves. The Active Life, which welcomes hundreds of older adults each week, has long been a safe haven, offering recreation, health programs and fellowship in an environment that is peaceful and secure. Introducing a high-density housing development directly next door would increase traffic and safety concerns for our participants, many of whom face mobility challenges.” Wooten said.

“While affordable housing is wonderful, and we deeply support that. I’m an advocate for affordable senior housing. We believe locating this directly beside the senior recreation center is not the right fit. This proposed development would alter and negatively impact the landscape of the existing area, introducing instability, higher crime potential, increased traffic and constant turnover that directly conflicts with a secure and welcoming environment that the Active Life provides,” Wooten said, directly asking the council to reject the zoning change.

The members of the planning commission recommend the zoning change on the condition that it revert from TN-MX to CP-GB if an affordable housing development does not occur on the property. Since then, staff have discussed the issue with City Attorney Jeff Todd, who does not believe that type of condition is allowed.

“To put it simply, you know what you have to do to rezone a property: public hearings and two readings. At least in my opinion, you can’t just make it automatically revert and then skip all those steps. You’d be rezoning property without going through the zoning procedure,” Todd said.

Bowden explained they have no intention of doing anything other than the proposed affordable housing using the tax credits. The rezoning is required to even apply for the credits, which is the reason the rezoning request is coming first.

Todd told the council he would research what conditions could be put on the rezoning, but noted that options are limited.

After the public hearing, a first reading was held for the rezoning request, but no vote was taken.

A decision on the rezoning request is expected to be made at the council meeting on Sept. 23.