Council to discuss Carr Lane housing



The town council will hear a proposal Monday that could reinvigorate the stalled development of affordable housing on Carr Lane.

Christian Belden, executive director of Church Community Housing Corporation, told the councilors about the proposed changes at their meeting last week. With support from Town Planner Lisa Bryer, the updated plan for 91 Carr Lane would reduce the number of units from six to five, and two of those units would be sold at market rate. The original proposal called for all six units to qualify as affordable housing.

“It would greatly improve our chances to get grant funding,” Belden said.

The property was purchased by the town in June 2018 for $450,000, which was subsidized by a $150,000 state grant. For the front 1.3 acres of the 9-acre lot, a purchase-and-sales agreement has been signed between the town and Church Community Housing. That section was subdivided into four lots by the planning commission in August 2018. The rear section that is bound by North Pond will be preserved for watershed protection. That land contains deciduous wetlands and shrub swamps that are part of 133 acres that protect and filter drinking water before it flows into the reservoir.

The nonprofit organization, however, will not close on the property until two conditions are met. First, the Newport agency must secure at least $1.98 million to finance the project. Second, the local zoning and planning boards must approve a comprehensive permit that would allow the development.

That deal was signed in October 2018 with a stipulation that the closing date must be within 60 days of March 31, 2019. Because the agency has applied for grants, according to Bryer, “without a heck of a lot of success,” the agreement was extended 18 months until

Oct. 1.

The main reason for the delay, Belden said, is because local real estate prices are higher than prices in urban areas of Rhode Island. Funding agencies, he said, would rather build two units in Pawtucket, for example, than subsidize a single unit in Jamestown. According to Rhode Island Housing, the community is “basically not competitive” when it comes to affordable housing, Bryer said.

“All of the funders are trying to get the cost per unit down at the same time when the cost of construction and land values are increasing,” Belden said.

He said the second problem with affordable housing in Jamestown is the “lack of willingness or acceptance” for these developments to “fit within surrounding neighborhoods.”

The new plan, however, would allow the units sold at market rate to subsidize the affordable units. The original proposal would have retrofitted the existing structure into an apartment with three affordable units. The three remaining units would have been single-family homes that qualified for affordable housing.

Belden’s new plan would sell one of the single-family lots to a private buyer. The three-family apartment would be turned into two condos, one affordable and one at market rate, and the final two lots would remain earmarked for single-family homes that qualify as affordable.

Not only would this plan lessen Belden’s dependence on grant money, he said, but it would be in line with his agency’s newfound commitment to the Communities of Opportunities model, which posits that “ZIP code is more important than genetic code.”

“This model says we are all products of our environment,” he said.

According to Belden, research shows that by having children live in places with accomplished schools, high incomes, stable mental health, low divorce rates and low crime statistics, they will grow up “healthier, wealthier and happier” as adults.

While Church Community Housing traditionally has been dedicated to projects that provide 100 percent affordable housing, this new approach says developments should not be made up of more than 20 percent affordable housing.

If the council gives its support to the amended plan, Bryer said Belden’s agency still has to go through the public process that allows for objectors to share their concerns.

While Councilman Randy White said at the June 8 meeting he understood the economics involved with changing plans, he wondering whether there is a market for condos in that part of Jamestown. He asked Councilman Bill Piva, a local real estate agent.

“We don’t have too many condominiums north of the highway, so it would be difficult to figure out if that would even be something people would want,” Piva said.

Belden, however, said he already talked to his appraiser about the marketability. That was the reason he changed the condo structure from three units to two units.

“Now you have larger units that become more marketable,” he said.

The 6:30 p.m. meeting will be conducted via Zoom. Directions on how to access the meeting will be on the agenda posted on the municipal wesbite by Friday.