Published: May 15, 2008 01:30 am         

City council voices concern over senior apartments

GREENVILLE — City of Greenville officials say they want some questions answered before they will endorse a proposed new local apartment complex aimed at senior citizens.

“In the last few days, we ran across some language in the state statutes which caused us some concern with that contract,” said City Manager Steve Alexander.

Bernice Carr, executive director of the Greenville Housing Authority (GHA), one of the partners the project, warned how any delay in the Council’s support of the proposed complex would doom the development.

“I think it may be helpful to know that by tabling this, you’re killing it,” Carr said.

And yet the Council did table the issue Tuesday, but Mayor Tom Oliver promised to try and schedule a workshop session in order to iron out the details in time so that developers can still apply for tax credits which could make the project financially viable.

The Meadows at O’Neal was first brought before the Council in January, as developers with the Integrated Real Estate Group had proposed a 200-unit complex geared for families in the 4700 block of O’Neal Street. At that point, the Council decided against its public support of the plan, citing concerns the City of Greenville was attracting too many “tax credit-supported housing” developments, and urging a study to determine the needs for specific types of housing in various parts of the city.

The development has since been restudied and is now being presented as a 132-unit senior residential development, still in the same location, as a joint project between the Meadows at Oneal LP and the GHA, which is seeking Housing Tax Credits from the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs (TDHCA). Under the proposal, the GHA would develop an affiliate entity to own and operate the development.

As the GHA is a non-profit agency, it is tax-exempt, so the partnership had proposed a Payment In Lieu of Taxes (PILOT) agreement, which would allow for annual or quarterly payments to the City of Greenville equal to the ad valorem (property) taxes that would otherwise be levied.

Carr was among those stressing the need for the Council to both vote its support for the proposed project, and to approve the PILOT, so that the partnership would be able to have time to seek the tax credits and up to $3 million in funds through the federal HOME affordable housing program.

“We see a great need for quality housing for the elderly in Greenville,” Carr said, noting there was a current waiting list of at least a dozen people seeking affordable senior citizen housing. “We need it. We need it desperately.”

Oliver, though, noted how both Alexander and City Attorney Brent A. Money had asked for additional time to clear up questions they had concerning some of the language involved in the proposal.

“This is not a simple matter to be quickly considered,” Oliver said.