Low-income housing gets chilly reception

Minden Town Board members said Wednesday they need public input before they make a decision on a proposed low- to moderate-income apartment complex on Mahogany Drive at the entrance to Westwood.

Mahogany Court, a 21-unit, three-building complex of 2-, 3- and 4-bedroom apartments, would face the Carson Valley Swim Center and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints meetinghouse and back up to the south end of the Douglas High School parking lot.

Architect Douglas Gibson, representing Pacific West Communities Inc. of Eagle, Idaho, said the area was identified by the state as needing low- to moderate-income housing. He said state regulations dictated the number of units.

He said the complex would include a 1,500-square-foot community center, outdoor barbecue area, "tot lot" and on-site laundry facilities for residents.

The "overall amenity package" includes after-school programs for residents' children and computer access.

The land use is compatible with existing zoning, obtained in 1994 when the site was proposed as a high-end condominium project by developer Greg Lynn.

Since the project doesn't require a zone change, neighbors weren't notified by the county, a sticking point with the town board.

"If they would have brought Greg Lynn's project, it would have been a slam dunk," said town board Chairman Ray Wilson. "This is a complete change. It's up to me to protect the people who are not here tonight. I am strongly against this project."

Resident Robert McMillan said he had questions about the parking spaces and he thought the proposal "across the street at the entrance way into Westwood Village that has million-dollar homes at the gateway to Minden" was inappropriate.

"Greg Lynn gets the zone change, people don't object," Wilson said. "He sells the property with the zoning on it. This is what's bad. The last time anybody heard about this, they thought it was $500,000 condominiums for rich people who come up here occasionally to fly their glider planes. Now, we are down to a public housing project. People aren't notified. There's no way this is correct. Everyone who will be affected should be here to tell us what they think."

Town Counsel George Keele urged the board to clarify their position that they had no authority to "dictate the socio-economic levels of people who live in the units" and to encourage the developer to come up with a project that blends with the community.

"Provided he meets the criteria, the developer may build whatever is permitted," Keele said. "You need to dispel any suggestions your concerns have to do with the socio-economic level of the people who live in the units."

Town board member Bob Hadfield asked the developer to clarify whether the project qualified as "Section 8" or subsidized housing and if the project would be subject to property tax.

"We're not an elitist community," Hadfield said. "We're concerned about what people believed when they built where they did. And we need all the property tax we can get.

"We can't discriminate as to different types of housing, Nobody on the board is trying to do that."

"In my opinion it has nothing to do with low income or whatever," Wilson said. "Residents are not here to tell me what they want. It has nothing to do with people who live there. I own apartments and condominiums in four states and I would live in any one of them."

Gibson agreed to continue the project and asked the town to provide a specific list of changes.

The town also asked the developer to advise neighbors before the next hearing.

A date has not been set.