Village Center Apartments is coming to Morrisville! We are extremely excited about the opportunities and potential that this project will create both for the future residents and for the community at large.
From the communities’ perspective, new buildings and changes to downtown areas can look like a lot of moving and difficult pieces to understand… To help offer some transparency about the project details, below is a summary of Village Center Apartments’ Ground Scope, Community Needs, Downtown Impact, Funding Sources, and Community Impact.
For further questions, please contact Kerrie Lohr: kerrie@lamoillehousing.org. And, consider subscribing to our monthly e-newsletter for the latest updates!
Village Center Apartments: Ground Scope
1. Lot size. This lot has laid vacant since 1986, 35 years, with no interest in developing the property. The price is reasonable and anyone wanting it for a business could have purchased it at any time. In keeping with traditional development patterns, and the need for keeping our downtowns vibrant and relevant in the future, we believe that housing on this site is an appropriate and needed use. Zoning allows us to build out to the lot lines. We have chosen not to in order to fit better within the area. We have historical consultants that we work with to make sure that we are complying with state and Federal policies regarding Smart Growth, historical growth patterns, and the architecture of the area. Our development team of architects and engineers make every effort to comply with the local zoning by-laws as well, to ensure that we are constructing a building that will fit well within the surrounding area. At the same time, we take great pride in building a new, innovative, livable, and environmentally sound building that the community will be proud of for years to come.
2. Parking. This project will not create a parking problem. Your town administrator and zoning administrator have worked hard to make sure there is adequate parking in the downtown, without parking meters, and they are proud of their work, and should be. Zoning by-laws allows for the municipal lot to be used to satisfy the parking requirement if the project is within 500 feet of the lot. This project clearly is. However, instead of just trying to make this the case, we worked side by side with the town to come up with a plan to improve and update the parking lot and add much needed spaces that will benefit everyone and every business in the immediate vicinity. The project even paid for the design services for the town. Thanks to the blessing of the select board the town and LHP will share the cost instead of expecting the town to do it all for us. The idea that the population we serve will have 2 cars per unit is just plain false. The average for our properties is 50%, or in this case only 12 vehicles. Many of our residents prefer a downtown location for the very reason that they do not need the burden of a vehicle.
3. Commercial space. Having done extensive market and housing research, and having many commercial spaces already in our portfolios, we believe that the need for housing units far exceeds any need for more commercial spaces. If this property were directly on Portland Street, like the Nepvue building, we would not ask for a waiver. However, on a side street it seems reasonable to us to ask for a waiver for the commercial space when housing is the priority. When we developed Arthurs we included 2 commercial units. One of them remained vacant for over two years in spite of offering great lease rates and generous help with fit up. During the last year many businesses, especially retail, restaurant and hospitality, have struggled with many closing their doors. We have had to work with all of our commercial residents to help them weather the difficulties that have been wrought by the pandemic, so we know from personal experience where the needs lie. We are happy to have Pizza on Main and Black Cap Coffee and Beer as our partners and will continue to do all we can to help them survive the pandemic. We simply see no need for another commercial space on this site when the need is clearly affordable housing.
4. Walkable community. There is really no need for anyone living at VCA to drive to the rail trail. Because Village Center Apartments is so close there is no reason for residents to drive to the rail trail, the Oxbow, community gardens, the movie theater, the bank, the schools or dining and shopping. Instead, they will be able to walk or bike to all of these downtown amenities. For a reasonable fee they can have a garden plot and grow their own food. They can attend concerts at the Oxbow and enjoy the company of friends and family. They can catch a bus for a doctor’s appointment or to go grocery shopping.
5. ADA and access for people with disabilities. The primary make-up of our resident population consists of low wage workers, seniors, and persons with disabilities. We know a lot about accessibility. It is built in to every project we do. Not only do we build new, state of the art buildings incorporating Universal Design, adaptability and vistability, we also consult with our property managers to ensure we are meeting the needs of the community when it comes to providing enough ADA units for the overall population. Village Center Apartments is no exception to that philosophy. In addition to a reserved parking space on site, a simple call to the regional transit authority will result in a bus coming to the front door to pick up or deliver any person with a disability. Morrisville is not flat and was not designed for ease of movement for anyone with mobility issues. We design our buildings with those issues in mind and meet the highest standards of the laws regarding ADA issues.
What else has changed over the past year that makes this project even more vital to Morristown?
1. Jobs. Many businesses are struggling and many people have lost their jobs. And while there has been a lot of new market rate housing constructed, these units do not meet the need of low-income seniors, workers, and the disabled including homeless families. In fact, income inequality had grown. The real estate market has exploded with out of staters buying property for high prices, sight unseen, pricing locals out of their own market areas and raising rents even further.
2. Homelessness has not gone away. It has only been temporarily taken care of through hotel and motel stays. This is an expensive way to deal with housing. Permanent supportive housing is a real need that will be even more critical in the coming months when pandemic relief funds end.
What’s in it for the taxpayers? Who funds this project?
It is important to understand that this is not a tax-funded project. The vast majority of the funds come from private investment through the low-income housing tax credit program. Vermont gets an annual allotment. If they are not used in Morrisville they will be used elsewhere in the state and Morrisville taxpayers will lose out. There are no local property taxes being invested in this project.
1. Huge increase in property tax revenues. Consider the taxes collected over 35 years on a vacant lot as opposed to the property taxes that will be collected over the lifetime of this new building and what that will bring to the coffers of the town. These are real dollars. Over $11,000 per year.
2. This project will pay for half of the parking lot expansion and improvements, including the design services. That is money that local taxpayers don’t have to spend.
3. The entire town will benefit by having 24 new affordable homes for residents making between $12 and $15 per hour, with a quarter of the units up to $30 per hour. This means that many employees of local businesses will be able to live where they work.
4. All of the properties in the area will benefit from improved property values. Morrisville will have a beautiful new building that will last and be maintained properly for generations to come.
5. As evidenced by our Arthur’s on Main project, there was a renaissance that sparked a renewal on the entire street that is now a destination for people from around the area. This benefits all of the businesses in the area, and remade a block that was becoming an eye sore in the town.
6. Having more people living downtown brings more money to downtown businesses.
7. Housing people where they can receive the services they need saves millions of taxpayer dollars per year in Medicare and Medicaid dollars. SASH alone saves thousands of Medicare dollars per person per year on hospital visits. A full third of our portfolio is senior subsidized housing. Many of our seniors report being homeless, and many would be homeless were it not for our subsidized units.
8. Housing families who have been homeless saves costs of local sheltering as well as hospital and emergency room visits. Hotel stays during the pandemic are costing millions.
9. People living in downtown settings where they can access what they need can get by without a vehicle, saving them from the financial stress that comes along with it. Many low wage workers who have to drive to work are one breakdown away from loss of job and their housing because of it. Every successful person is a success for the community as a whole, saving taxpayer dollars.
10. Lower carbon footprint benefits us all. This building will use no carbon fuels. Couple that with fewer vehicles and it will reduce the amount of pollutants produced in the downtown providing a healthier environment for all of the people in the surrounding area, reducing health care costs on related health conditions.
11. Site environmental cleanup work will be done as part of the project to remove harmful lead and other contaminants left over from the fire from years ago. Whenever lead is removed from a site it removes a potential hazard for children. Local taxpayers do not have to pay for this service.
12. Meeting the needs of our residents helps grow a more inclusive and health community. Whether helping a widow find a new home, a grocery clerk can stretch his paycheck, or someone’s disabled family member to live on their own terms helps us meet our mission to build community one resident at a time. Many of the population we serve: seniors, low income wage earners, and people with disabilities; benefit greatly by living and working in downtown communities where they can easily access whatever they need. Living in a downtown relieves them of the burden of having to own a vehicle and walking tends to increase healthy living habits and decrease isolation and loneliness.
