Committee advances Lancashire sale for senior affordable housing; councilmember objects

The Planning and Development Committee on Feb. 4 considered Ordinance 21 0212025 authorizing the mayor to execute a real estate purchase agreement for a city parcel on Lancashire that city staff said will be used for a senior affordable housing development.

City planning and economic development staff said the privately financed project would be about a $22,000,000 investment and would create income‑restricted senior housing on a parcel described in the ordinance (parcel numbers referenced in committee materials). Eric Zahn, director of planning and development, and Brian Anderson, director of economic development, and developer Kevin Brown described the transaction and the next steps, including a later development agreement if state tax credits are awarded.

The discussion focused on eligibility and unit mix. Kevin Brown, identified in the meeting as “director, senior housing development with National Insurance Business,” said the units would be income‑restricted rather than voucher‑based and would reserve tiers of units for households at lower percentages of area median income; Brown said the property will have a minimum age restriction of 55 for residents. “So we'd be serving individuals with so many we have so many units set aside for individuals earning up to 30% of the year in median income, and there'd be tiers up to 70 or 80% of the year in median income,” Brown said.

Committee members also discussed parking and the transaction's purchase price and payment schedule. Staff said the city and developer have been coordinating with the Unitarian Church, which controls part of the site, and called the proposal a public–private partnership. Anderson described the administration’s support: “At the end of the day, this is a project that the administration and city staff is supportive of, to, you know, increase density while putting better use to underutilized city surface parking lots.”

Councilmember Craig Kopp called the proposed sale price and the disposal of two nearby parking lots problematic. “Huge difference. $1,000,000 property that we're essentially selling for 200,000,” Kopp said, adding that selling both parking lots could force neighborhood drivers to use the Coventry parking garage and that he did not find that acceptable.

A committee member moved to send the ordinance to the Committee of the Whole for further review; the vote as recorded in the meeting included at least one recorded no (Councilmember Craig Kopp) and one or more yes votes. Committee staff indicated the measure will be considered next in Committee of the Whole; the development agreement would be a subsequent, separate step and remains contingent on tax credit or other financing approvals.

Clarifying details discussed at the meeting include a $10,000 earnest money deposit and a subsequent payment on closing (staff and committee members identified a typographical error in the draft ordinance’s arithmetic and confirmed corrected figures would be reflected in the routing documents). Staff also said the purchase agreement is only the first step and that a development agreement would be negotiated later if tax credits are secured.

Next steps: the ordinance will be forwarded to the Committee of the Whole for further review. Staff said a development agreement and financing package would follow if state tax credits or other financing are secured.