BY LUCIE KRISMAN
The Eudora City Commission approved the final plat mapping the land for the Nottingham Center development at its meeting Monday and heard about a proposal for a possible new affordable housing development in the city.
The approved property at 1428 Elm St. is 14.65 acres long and is detailed in the meeting’s agenda. The map for the property divides it into two lots and two tracts, fewer lots than the preliminary plat for the development, which had eight lots and two tracts.
Planning consultant Dave Knopick told commissioners that despite having fewer lots, the final plat is still consistent with the lots that the preliminary plat identified for immediate consideration.
“The way that this final plat is being presented allows the city to have flexibility as new tenants are identified or additional development is identified,” Knopick said. “That way, it can be responsive to the needs of those tenants or other development of projects.”
The commission also heard a presentation from representatives of Amino Brothers Co., the construction manager-at-risk selected out of three applicants for the Nottingham redevelopment project. Amino Brothers recently replaced Monarch Build.
Don Currise, representative of capital project management firm Vieste LLC., said the contract detailing them as the new construction manager-at-risk will likely be presented to the commission by its next meeting.
“We went through considerable questions and answers and felt like Amino Brothers was, in the end, who presented the best proposal,” Currise said.
Commissioner Tim Bruce said as someone who helped make the selection, he thought Amino Brothers was qualified.
“I’m pretty satisfied with the process that we went through to get here, and I think we’re headed down the right road,” Bruce said.
In other business, the commission heard from city management analyst Jeff Rhodes during a work session about a grant application for a new affordable housing development in Eudora.
Rhodes said the city is working on an application through a partnership with Douglas County and Lawrence Habitat for Humanity for three modern income housing units for Eudora and two additional units through a downpayment assistance program with the nonprofit organization Tenants to Homeowners.
Erika Zimmerman, director for Lawrence Habitat for Humanity, said the houses would have three bedrooms and two bathrooms and homeowners would be able to make changes to the home that any other homeowner would. When the house is eventually resold, it would be to another family that is qualified based on their income.
“That means that all of the money that is being put into these houses and into these projects will be utilized over and over again,” Zimmerman said. “So essentially that house will always be affordable. It won’t ever go back on the open market. This is a tool for us to keep the houses affordable in the community of Eudora.”
Assistant County Administrator Jill Jolicoeur said this will hopefully be the start of more collaborations with communities like Eudora and Baldwin City when it comes to affordable housing.
“We’re trying to understand how the county can be a better partner with our city and our communities outside,” Jolicoeur said. “And this seemed to be one of the first really great opportunities to do that.”
The City Commission will next meet at 7 p.m. Sept. 28. Details for accessing the meeting will be available online.
Reach reporter Lucie Krisman at eudoratimes@gmail.com.
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