LODI, CA - Already years in the making, Lodi's first city-subsidized affordable-housing project in more than a decade is again in limbo. After property negotiations stalled and the housing market tanked, the City Council late Wednesday voted to abandon a vacant, 5-acre plot on Lodi's East Side for the project. Now, city planners are hoping to cobble together a new project before June, when the city could lose its right to use federal subsidies to partly fund what was estimated to be an $11.5 million endeavor.
Mayor JoAnne Mounce, who opposed the project's original location out of safety concerns, said she was happy to see the city looking for other options. "I'm thrilled to death about this," she said. Plans had called for 71 units of single-story, affordable senior rental housing on land near Union Pacific Railroad tracks across from the Lodi Grape Festival Grounds, south of Lockeford Street. The city partnered with Lodi-based PAM Development, which has developed low-income housing in Stockton, Ceres and other Valley communities.
The city planned to contribute about $1.2 million in federal subsidies and income from repaid housing assistance loans toward the total price tag, while PAM would have funded the rest of the cost through a combination of sources, including selling more than $8 million in federal and state tax credits to private investors. Planners had hoped to start construction late this year or in early 2009. The property is owned by Union Pacific, and the city had the first right to buy the land.
Over the past year, however, the project has hit roadblocks, said Joseph Wood, Lodi's community improvement manager. For one, the market for low-income housing tax credits, which would have funded a major portion of the project, has dropped along with the economy, Wood said, creating a potential $1.5 million gap in the project.
PAM Development Vice President Mike Boettger said Thursday he could not comment. "I just really haven't had a chance to talk to the city," he said. "We are involved with affordable housing with the city of Lodi and would love to do a project in the city." Wood also said negotiations with Union Pacific were moving slowly and were unlikely to be resolved in time to meet the city's June deadline to use its federal grant money.
Vice Mayor Larry Hansen, a vocal proponent of the senior project, said negotiating with the railroad was frustrating because there were many disputes about the land's value and possible property contamination. Zoe Richmond, a railroad spokeswoman, said those disputes were cleared up and a deal was ready to sign until the city backed off.
The city is kicking around a few ideas for a new project site, Wood said. One of them could be 3.4 acres of land west of Roget Park on the west end of town. Mounce said she would be excited to build there because the site is close to the commercial centers at Lower Sacramento Road and Kettleman Lane. The last time the city helped pay for an affordable housing project was in 1996, when city officials committed nearly $700,000 of housing funds to rehabilitate the 76-unit Hotel Lodi downtown.
Hansen said he hopes something can be pulled together soon. "I believe it's one of the areas the city's lacking in, affordable housing, and I'm going to do everything I can to make it happen," he said.
Source: RecordNet.com