A development team from Indiana and New York wants to build a 158-unit apartment complex on Rockford’s south side near the intersection of 11th Street and Sandy Hollow Road, but the city says the proposal conflicts with long-range plans.
LandWhite Developers LLC has put together a $17.6 million proposal to build the rental units, called The Village of Southgate, and improve the parking lot and facade of the shopping center just north of where it wants to build six apartment buildings. The team wants to obtain $12.2 million from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and $4.6 million from state housing tax credits. It plans to spend $800,000 of its own money, said LandWhite partner David Roos, and has an option on 6.9 acres where it intends to build.
Roos and his partners plan to take their proposal to the city’s Zoning Board of Appeals tonight despite a thumbs-down recommendation from city staff.
“We have a strong market study that came back very positive. We’ve got commitments from some of our lenders. The missing link is the (city’s approval of a planned unit development application),” Roos said Monday. “We’ve had positive conversations with the city, and we believe we’ve addressed their concerns.”
Not appropriate land use
Todd Cagnoni, deputy director of Rockford’s Community and Economic Development Department, said the city’s denial remains based on the proposal’s inconsistency with its land use plan.
“It’s not that these developers haven’t made an effort to appropriately design their development,” Cagnoni said. “The fundamental concern of staff is that it’s not the appropriate land use. It’s not consistent with our 2020 plan, nor is it consistent with the TIF plan that we’ve adopted for that area. We’re looking for more commercial and industrial uses to go in that area rather than residential.”
Going against the city’s plan can cause problems down the road, Cagnoni added.
“Once you start going against the land use plan, you start taking opportunities away from commercial development that you’d like to see in the future, and you’re setting the stage that it’s going to be a residential development and we’re going to have to provide the services that we typically provide for residential, which is not planned for that particular area.”
But Roos argued that the current zoning classification would allow for a residential development. He said he’s asking the zoning board for height and setback variances.
Rents of $630 to $930
The one- to three-bedroom units would rent for $630 to $930 a month, Roos said, and the development would bring hundreds of construction jobs to the area.
Because of the types of funding that LandWhite hopes to obtain, The Village would need to rent 80 percent of its units to people who meet income eligibility requirements, Roos said. The remaining 20 percent would be market rate, he said.
LandWhite also is putting together a proposal for the redevelopment of Church School on Rockford’s west side.
Staff writer Corina Curry can be reached at [email protected] or 815-987-1371.
Read the original article from the Rockford Register Star.
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