Council authorizes option for 60-unit affordable housing proposal on Aelia Avenue

Brevard City Council on Jan. 20 authorized the city manager and city attorney to negotiate and execute an option agreement with Fitch IIC that would allow the developer to submit a preliminary application for 9% low-income housing tax credits for a proposed 60-unit rental community on the city's Aelia Avenue site.

The project site, at Aelia Avenue and Old Hendersonville Highway just north of downtown, totals just under four acres; city staff said roughly 2.5 acres on the southern portion are developable because of a stream buffer at the north end. Sarah Van Leer of the city's Development Finance Initiative described the team’s pivot to pursue an allocation of state-allocated 9% low-income housing tax credits and the potential additional competitiveness that disaster-recovery funds tied to Hurricane Helen could provide.

Andrea Gonzalez, vice president of development for Fitch IIC, said the firm's January submission would target a mix of one-, two- and three-bedroom units affordable to households at about 40–60% of area median income and include community amenities and green space. “While Fitch IIC has lots of experience in affordable housing, it’s what we do. It is our mission,” Gonzalez said.

The developer’s proposal includes construction of a sewer pump/lift station estimated at $2 million to serve the site and support future neighborhood connections; the city’s estimated participation at this stage was described as land conveyance only. Staff told the council that Transylvania County and state Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) disaster-recovery funds were potential additional sources of support but that appropriations and awards are not guaranteed.

City staff said the immediate action before council was not approval of a lease or construction contract but authorization to negotiate an option that gives the developer the security needed to file the preliminary tax‑credit application due later in the week. The full application would be prepared by May; NCHFA review would follow with awards announced in August.

Councilmembers praised the proposal’s potential to address multiple local needs — housing affordability, aging septic systems in a nearby neighborhood and sewer infrastructure improvement — while noting that final terms and long-term commitments (including any 99‑year ground lease or a development agreement) would come back to council for approval.

The resolution authorizing the manager and city attorney to negotiate the option was moved and seconded; the council voted to approve the resolution (one council member registered opposition verbally during the roll call).