Council OKs pre-application for 30 Ninth Avenue workforce housing tax incentive

Grand Forks City Council’s Committee of the Whole on Monday approved a pre-application that would allow a proposed mixed-income apartment project at or near 30 Ninth Avenue to proceed through the city’s pilot tax-incentive review. The pre-application vote was intended to help the project’s developers show local governmental support when they apply this fall for state and federal tax credits and grants, city staff said. Staff cautioned the incentives are not guaranteed and that the project would be revised if the external credits do not come through. City staff presenter Todd Phelan described the project as a partnership involving Dakota Commercial, MAC Capital and Construction, and the Red River Regional Council to produce low- and moderate-income housing on a commercially zoned site that developers are seeking to rezone to residential. Developer Mr. Regan provided rent ranges to the council, reporting efficiencies at $865, one-bedroom units at $960, two-bedroom/one-bath units at about $1,134, two-bedroom/two-bath at about $1,245 and three-bedroom/two-bath at about $1,489. Council members summarized those figures as roughly $1,100 for a two-bedroom in the new development. Regan also said the project will set aside units at multiple area median income levels, “anywhere from 30% of area median income up to 80%,” and gave illustrative household thresholds (for an individual, he cited roughly $35,000 at the 30% level and about $62,000 at the 80% level), noting household size affects the numbers. Council member Berg moved approval of the pre-application; Lansky seconded. The motion passed by voice vote. Discussion included concerns from one council member who said she preferred incentives for single-family homeownership rather than apartments and questioned whether ‘‘workforce housing’’ signals employers are not paying adequate wages. Staff and other council members responded that city incentives already support a range of housing types and that the project addresses an identified shortage of rental housing at lower price points. No final tax-incentive agreement or rezoning was approved Monday; staff said the rezoning and any final incentive agreements will return to the council after federal and state application results and further planning and zoning actions.