Riverfront housing eyed for Decatur

By BOB SHRALUKA

WZBD.com

There is no question that affordable housing is a critical need for Decatur. It’s been reinforced over and over again by studies, speakers, developers, etc.

A plan unveiled at Tuesday’s meeting of city council could be a way to ease the situation by adding riverfront housing on city-owned land along First St., plus the city parking lot just west and north of the Chamber of Commerce building.

Ron Storey (right in photo) and Curt Ehlerding (left) of the city’s redevelopment commission unveiled specifics of the plan to council and Mayor Dan Rickord.

Ehlerding said the commission “has really taken this to heart and is moving forward on it.” In fact, it is spending $50,000 of its own monies as “seed money.”

Three tracts of land are involved: a) the empty (except for a small building in the back) one acre situated south of the Emergency Mobile Technologies building; b) the approximate 1.9 acres north from the Mobile Tech building to Monroe St.; and c) the 2.33 acres which are currently a city parking lot.

Ehlerding underscored the fact that the housing, mostly apartments, would be “market-rate apartments, not subsidized housing.”

Part of the development would include a recreational area, such as a splash pad and the like.

Commission officials have been talking about the idea with the Housing Resource Hub of Fort Wayne. It specializes in developing and implementing workforce housing strategies, housing development, and home-buyer programs.

“We have a desperate need for apartments in Decatur, a study showed that,” said Ehlerding, a non-voting member of the commission who represents the North Adams School board, of which he is a member.

He contended that one reason North Adams’ enrollment numbers have dwindled is due to a lack of affordable housing here.

Ehlerding asked for council to join a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Hub in order to move forward with the riverfront development idea.

Council agreed, with the stipulation that City Attorney Anne Razo must first go over the MOU.