NeahCasa

NeahCasa Nehalem Project: 10th Street

In March, 2007, Tom Bender and Lane deMoll mortgaged their home to purchase this 10 acre site for $208,000 with the intention of transferring it to NeahCasa to develop as community land trust housing. The price was unusually affordable which is why they jumped on it. They hope to either sell all of it at cost to NeahCasa or sell off portions of it at market rate to cover their costs and give the rest of it to NeahCasa.

It is a perfect place for homes for folks who live and work in our community: within two blocks of the Nehalem Grade School, Post Office, Senior Meals, Head Start and the North County Recreation District with its pool, preschool, gym and Senior Activities Center. The site has a 600 foot frontage on a city street and is near the sewer, as well as already having electricity and city water. It is also above global warming levels.

Preliminary thoughts were to build a cluster neighborhood of 20+ homes - a density that is no greater than permitted in adjacent blocks. The homes would be built in several phases on the ridge top portions of the site, leaving roughly 50% of the site in green space, sustainable forestry, permaculture, and community gardens. Some of the homes would be rental and some would be owned. All are planned to be as close to Net-Zero-Energy as possible, and will utilize efficient construction, passive solar, green design, and rainwater harvesting.

 

In order for this to work it needs to be brought into the city Urban Growth Boundary.

Tom and Lane arranged a trade with a land owner nearby who was willing to give up her right to develop portions of her own property so that NeahCasa could create a neighborhood close in to the town center.

However, the Nehalem Planning Commission turned down their request in October 2007, despite early indications of support from folks in the city - including some of the neighbors. The reasons for this were reported in a North Coast Citizen article by Nan Nelson:

Nehalem City Manager Michael Nitzsche said he heard concerns from citizens that a recent Buildable Lands Inventory showed a 120 acre surplus, so why would the city need more land in the UGB to develop affordable housing? He also expressed concern about setting a precedent, in swapping properties

"on a whim" without looking at what's already available.

Nitzsche told the planning commissioners one citizen asked what kind of precedent would be set if the city moved forward with the swap. He said there are other people on the fringe of the UGB who would like to develop their properties with city zoning requirements.

                                                                                                                                                                 Preliminary Site Plan for Nehalem Tax Lot 300

The other concern Nitzsche expressed was the amount of infrastructure work that may be needed if the property were to be developed at a higher density. Nitzsche said he understands there is a need for affordable housing, but asked why it couldn't be accomplished on property already within the city's UGB.

Not mentioned in the article, but referred to at the meetings, was concern about the nature and character of affordable low-income housing that commission members had heard from some in the community.

WHAT NOW?

Clearly there is more education to be done about the nature of "affordable" housing so that knee-jerk fears about "those people" can be allayed. NeahCasa is committed to continuing that education process.

In the long term, Tom, Lane and NeahCasa continue to hope to have the property brought into the UGB on the merits of providing needed workforce housing.   Down load Tom Bender's letter to LCDC on the topic of affordable housing exceptions for land coming into the UGB.

They are also looking for financial partners or buyers for parts of the land, as well as potential co-owners under the community land trust model.

In the meantime, the R2 zoning with the County allows them to develop 4-5 homes. They are exploring the possibility of clustering these so that future development along the lines of their original plans would still be possible. The homes would be green prototypes that showcase NeahCasa's ideals. And they would be permanently affordable.

The County's first formal decision was not favorable about the clustering idea, sewer hookups and other issues, including even the number of houses. So appeals are now in the works with help from the Community Development Law Center on behalf of NeahCasa.

Seems like it shouldn't be this hard.

Stay tuned ......