Board To Look At Home St.

Authority to meet Thursday to review development

By CHUCK HAYES
Warren’s Redevelopment Authority is about to take a close look at the potential for new housing on the former Home Street Elementary School property.

The authority acquired the property from the Warren County School District last year with plans to make property available for some type of housing.

Warren City Manager James Nelles said on Monday that the redevelopment authority will be meeting at 7:15 a.m. Thursday in the first-floor conference room of the municipal building.

The chief item of business on the agenda, said Nelles, will be a discussion of how the Home Street property should be developed.

The authority has indicated it is reluctant to subdivide the property and make individuals parcels available for development in a “hodge-podge” manner.

The authority favors the more planned and controlled approach of selecting a developer to construct a planned community.

A decision has to be made by the authority on exactly what type of housing will be constructed.

Before a developer is selected, a Request For Proposals will have to be advertised.

“We need more guidance,” said Nelles. “It’s up to the authority to establish what they want on that lot.”

Before the RFP can by written by city administrators, said Nelles, “We need to answer a lot of questions.”

Current plans are for the authority to review the proposals submitted by developers and then furnish the deed to the property to the chosen developer for a fee. The property would be developed according to the proposal and within a set time period.

Once the new housing is constructed, the developer would sell the houses.

The former Home Street School will not be razed until the city selects a developer.

The redevelopment authority first approached the school board in May 2006 with a proposal to sell the school property for development of ten to 14 standard sized residential lots.

In another housing related matter, Nelles said on Monday that there have been no developments regarding possible new housing in the Mulberry Park area.

Last May, city planners and council agreed to rezone approximately two-thirds of the nine-acre Mulberry parcel, not including the playground, from a preservation to residential district, which allows single- or multi-family housing.

The city had been approached with a proposal regarding housing development on the Mulberry property several months earlier.

Nelles said on Monday, “That’s still on the back burner” until the Home Street School property matter is resolved.