Parkersburg affordable housing plan drops site
Neighbors have submitted bids for property
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PARKERSBURG -- The number of sites in the city's affordable housing program has dropped from three to two.
Acting as the Urban Renewal Authority this evening, Parkersburg City Council will consider two offers to purchase the property at 804 and 806 19th St.
Council as the authority voted last year to accept the donation of 804 and 806 19th St. as part of a deal to purchase two other sites, 1115 and 1115 1/2 E. 12th St. and 908 15th St., at a fair market value of $7,000 from the same owner. After demolishing the blighted structures, the plan was to place modular homes at the site for an estimated total project cost of $450,000, with a $45,000 contingency budgeted.
But the increasing costs of construction materials resulted in the price for the structures on East 12th and 15th Street jumping to $481,644, Development Director Ryan Barber said Monday. That's the amount of a contract for local firm UCCI to acquire the modular homes from the manufacturer, place the foundation, driveway and patio and install the structures.
"They're going to do everything start to finish for the city," Barber said.
The 19th Street site was cut in part because the single-story design the city selected would have been out of place in the neighborhood, which mostly consists of older, two-story homes, he said. A two-story structure would have been even more expensive.
"That would have been most appropriate, so you don't have something that's out of place," Barber said.
The city used federal HOME funds to purchase the other two sites, so it's obligated to build affordable housing units on them. But because the 19th Street parcels were donated, there are no requirements attached to them.
A request by the city to consolidate the 19th Street lots went before the Municipal Planning Commission on May 21, but the meeting ended before a vote could be taken after the quorum was lost when a member could no longer participate by phone. Officials still discussed the proposal informally and two Parkersburg residents, Susannah Lowden and Dixie Showalter, said they had not been made aware of the plans until recently and had both been interested in purchasing the property, rather than having a new structure built there.
Barber said city officials had since discussed the property with them both and each submitted a bid that is on tonight's URA agenda. Lowden's is for $3,950 and Showalter's for $8,000.
The meeting is scheduled to take place immediately after tonight's 7:30 p.m. City Council meeting at the Municipal Building.
The agenda also includes a request for the authority to purchase 912 15th St. at fair market value, an estimated $1,000, for the purpose of mitigating blight. Demolition of the structure would cost approximately $16,500.
Evan Bevins can be reached at ebevins@newsandsentinel.com.