Jessica Cejnar Andrews / Friday, Aug. 12, 2022 @ 12:35 p.m. / Community, Local Government
Crescent City Council Considers Low-Income, Senior Housing Development Near Joe Hamilton Elementary
Battery Point Apartments is slated for a parcel at Gary and E streets in Crescent City. | Courtesy Google Maps
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Crescent City Councilors on Monday will consider endorsing a housing project for low-income families, seniors and others in need of a place to live.
Synergy Community Development Corp and Step Forward Communities, both Southern California-based nonprofits, seek to build an affordable housing development, Battery Point Apartments, at Gary and E streets in Crescent City.
Forty units will be for seniors and 120 units will be for low-income families and workforce housing, according to the city’s staff report.
To make this apartment complex a reality, the developers are pursuing a state Infill and Infrastructure Grant, City Manager Eric Wier told the Wild Rivers Outpost. If their grant application is successful, Synergy and Step Forward Communities hope to use tax credits to complete the project, according to Wier.
“If they can achieve the grant it will pay for the infrastructure that goes into the project,” he said. “That includes sidewalks, storm drains and water-type improvements. And improvements to transit — things which will make the project a lot more affordable from a business plan standpoint.”
Synergy Community Development Corporation has a history of building and managing low-income housing complexes. The organization currently manages Valhalla Pacific Townhomes, which was a recently the recipient of 25 site-based project vouchers from the Crescent City Housing Authority, according to Wier.
These vouchers allow Valhalla Pacific Townhomes to offer housing to very-low income families eligible for rental assistance through the Housing Authority.
According to Wier, the parcel of land Synergy Community Development Corp and Step Forward Communities are considering for their housing development would include connecting the undeveloped E and Margie streets to Gary Street. The apartment complex would be right behind Joe Hamilton Elementary School.
Also on Monday, city staff will ask Councilors to consider other options for installing a remote reading system for the city’s water meters.
This request comes about two months after Councilors learned that the city was still in negotiations with Johnson Controls, a Medford-based company that began an energy efficiency audit of city facilities in 2021.
As part of that audit, Johnson Controls recommended several upgrades at the Fred Endert Municipal Pool to increase its energy efficiency and agreed to spearhead the water meter project for the city. Councilors had expected to be able to move forward with construction for the pool project by the end of the 2021-22 fiscal year. However, in June, Wier told Councilors that he was still negotiating a contract with Johnson Controls over the pool project.
On Friday, Wier told the Outpost that when Johnson Controls evaluated the water metering project initially, they estimated it would cost up to $2.4 million. However, looking at escalating costs of construction and materials, Johnson Controls is now estimating the water metering project to cost $5 million, Wier said.
Johnson Controls told the city that to make the energy efficiency project at the swimming pool feasible, it would also need to spearhead the water metering project, Wier said.
“Johnson Controls looked at it really from an energy efficiency company. These projects aren’t necessarily energy efficiency projects. They are improvements,” Wier told the Outpost, referring to the water metering project and the swimming pool upgrades. “From that standpoint, our recommendation to the Council will be to go through a more traditional bid process, hire engineer and put together plans and specs and hopefully this winter receive competitive bids from contractors to complete that scope of work.”
Under the terms of its initial agreement with Johnson Controls, the city doesn’t owe the company any money since Johnson Controls could not deliver the water metering project for the initial $2.4 million cost, Wier said.
Other matters before the Crescent City Council on Monday include a report on impacts to the city if Measure S was repealed. It will also consider the ballot question voters will consider in November regarding the proposed Measure S repeal.
The Council meets at 6 p.m. Monday in the Flynn Center, 981 H Street in Crescent City. For copies of the agenda and a Zoom link, click here.
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