By Korrie Harris
University of Kentucky School of Journalism and Media
The
Midway City Council created a task force Monday evening to help with the lack
of affordable housing, and affordable land for housing, in Midway.
The
council also took the first step toward expanding this year’s street work,
heard Mayor Grayson Vandegrift say he will keep taking applications for
sidewalk-repair subsidies, and had a lively discussion about removing trees as
part of fixing sidewalks.
Vandegrift
said the affordable housing task force will make recommendations and
suggestions to the full council on a “difficult topic.”Midway Council Member Stacy Thurman, chair of the new Affordable Housing Task Force, listened as Mayor Grayson Vandegrift talked about the need for it and how it would work. |
With the
council’s approval, Vandegrift appointed Council Member Stacy Thurman, who will
serve as chair; Freeland Davis, who the mayor said has worked with Lexington on
similar projects; Xon Hostetter, a public defender who lives in Midway; Rob
Mills, the owner of Damselfly Gallery; and possibly Susan Cottingham, who works
for Kentucky Housing Corp. and is waiting on her general counsel’s approval to
serve, Vandegrift said.
Asked
after the meeting why the task force was needed, the mayor said he has heard
many people say they wish they could find affordable housing in Midway. “A lot
of people end up moving to Versailles because it’s cheaper,” he said. “It’s
cheaper to buy, it’s cheaper to live.”
One
thing the task force will look into, Vandegrift said, is what affordable
housing means in Midway. “Everybody seems to have a different definition for it.
So, what do we need as Midway?”
He had
part of the answer, saying that affordable housing in Midway shouldn’t be
defined as Section 8 housing, in which rent is subsidized by the federal
government. “We don’t mean Section 8. Sometimes people think we mean that, and
we don’t mean that,” he said. There are a few Section 8 apartments in the city.
Also,
Vandegrift said he isn’t looking for the development of new subdivisions. “Our
focus is going to be on infill, to not expand the urban service boundary,”
inside which housing can be built, he said. “We actually have quite a bit
that’s even zoned residential, believe it or not, but whether it’s for sale or
not is another question right now.”
“We need to establish what kind of
housing do we need, what do we mean by affordable housing,” to see if there are
ways to “help facilitate people to build within an urban service boundary where
they’re able to build right now,” he said.
Vandegrift said he would stay out of the task force's work, and chose Thurman as
chair because she “showed an interest and she has the leadership.”
Thurman
said her interest comes from the lack of moderately priced housing. “We’ve
looked for something between North Ridge [Estates] and kind of a little step
up, then you get to these $300,000 homes – there’s not a lot in between,”
Thurman said.
She also said that when Lakeshore Learning Materials located in
Midway, several workers or prospective workers came by the local library, which
she runs, to ask about housing.
Thurman, who got the most votes in the last council election, said
the task force will take “a lot of ground work . . . face-to-face, and having
conversations.”
Asked if the task force would take an inventory, she said,
“That’s the first thing I’d like to see, is where all those lots are and who
the property owners are.”
Vandegrift
said, “I think this task force work is gonna take some time.”
Street project
The council heard the
first reading of an ordinance to increase the street-repair budget by $75,000
to include up to $200,000 worth of additional projects that Vandegrift proposed
at a special meeting last week.
The
money will come from unanticipated revenue, unused snow-removal money, and the
budget for building a pavilion in the cemetery, which was delayed by rainy
weather.
Vandegrift
wants to add curb installations and storm sewer repair on Stephens Street,
paving of Starks Alley and curb repairs on North Winter Street.
Joseph
Mosley, an engineer with HMB Professional Engineers, said all the planned
street work could be completed by June 30, the end of this fiscal year, at a
cost of no more than $200,000.
“If for
some reason we got into to the project and it took longer than June 30, we
would just have to reflect that in our next fiscal year budget,” Vandegrift
said. Mosley said the contract could include a completion date to “discourage
them from going past that date.”
In
expanding this year’s street work, the city might get more value. Mosley told the
council that he expected the work to attract “some people who haven’t bid here
before,” and he told the Messenger that was because the overall project would
be larger and more attractive to contractors.
The
mayor said he would like to have a second reading of the ordinance in a special
meeting this week. UPDATE, April 3: The meeting has been set for 5:30 p.m. Thursday, April 4.
“I would
hate to waste two weeks just waiting for the projects,” Vandegrift said.
Sidewalks and trees
The mayor said he
plans to extend the application deadline for cooperative sidewalk repairs,
which was March 31, for another week because people are still inquiring about
it.
“I think
we’ve got about seven or eight applicants so far. We can do as many as 15,
theoretically. So, we might as well add as many people into this as we can,” he
said.
Nance
asked if there are some property owners who need to be “targeted” to apply
because of the “dangerous nature” of their sidewalks. Vandegrift said he wrote
a letter to the owner of property across from the post office and told them
that “it was in their best interest to apply because it can save them money.”
“Otherwise,
it would be up to the council and the council has the right for ordinance to
force the work to be done and we can basically put a lien on their property for
it,” he said.
The
mayor brought up the need to cut down some trees, which have caused sidewalk
damage, in order to make repairs and that would be controversial.
Council
Member John Holloway expressed his concern about “cutting down a lot of trees
on Winter Street” and suggested a new sidewalk could “bump into the trees and
“then go around.” Vandegrift said that would be difficult in most cases, unless
the property owner is willing to move a fence back.
Council
Member Logan Nance said the sidewalk on Winter in front of Midway Baptist
Church has become a hazard for parents attending Midway events with children in
strollers. “I see families doing it,” he said. ”"It’s dangerous and
embarrassing,” he said.
Holloway
told Vandegrift, “I’m just asking you to be sensitive to the fact that, I mean,
some of those trees are hundreds of years old. So, there’s no one in this room
that’s gonna be alive when a new tree would be as big as that.”
Vandegrift quipped, “I know if we
cut down a tree in Midway, my phone’s gonna start blowing up because I cut down
a tree. I know it. I’ve seen it happen before.”
He said
the city would replant “street trees,” but Council Member Sara Hicks said they
didn’t have to be ornamentals such as dogwoods, and could include slightly
larger trees.
Mowing for others
The mayor said Midway has worked out an agreement with the Woodford County Economic Development Authority to do one or two rounds of mowing at Midway Station while the EDA bids out the work. The city will be reimbursed for its labor and fuel, he said.
The mayor said Midway has worked out an agreement with the Woodford County Economic Development Authority to do one or two rounds of mowing at Midway Station while the EDA bids out the work. The city will be reimbursed for its labor and fuel, he said.
He said
the interest in Midway Station is “remarkable right now” and there are three
contracts of property sales about to be signed, with many others looking at the
industrial and commercial park.
However, two businesses that
expressed an interest have expressed concern about how the property hasn’t
looked so good in the last five years, Vandegrift said. “Why
would you want to buy a property knowing that the property next to you looks
terrible?” he asked.
The
mayor said he planned to continue mowing at the recently opened ambulance
station this summer on the city’s dime. At the end of last year, when the
station opened, Midway mowed as a “courtesy,” Vandegrift said.
“I think it’s a reasonable
request,” he said.
Council
Member Bruce Southworth said he didn’t have a problem with the mowing but
preferred to have a written contract. The
mayor said Midway and the Woodford EMS will work up a contract and bring it to
the council.
Upcoming events
The council agreed to a request by Elisha Holt and Jon Maybriar, with Francisco’s Farm Arts Fair, for city employees to help them set up the event, which has been done in the past.
The council agreed to a request by Elisha Holt and Jon Maybriar, with Francisco’s Farm Arts Fair, for city employees to help them set up the event, which has been done in the past.
The
event will take place on May 18-19. Holt said it will include Kentucky Proud
food vendors, artists from several states, music and a student art display. For more
information on the event, see www.franciscosfarm.org.
Vandegrift
went over arrangements for the public forum on the proposed resolution
endorsing refugee resettlement in Kentucky, scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Tuesday,
April 9 at Northside Elementary School.
The mayor said he will give a brief
welcome, then someone from Amnesty International will give a five-to-10-minute
explanation of the resolution, and a moderator from Kentucky League of Cities
will continue the remainder of the forum.
“It’s
intended for it to be a listening session for all of us,” Vandegrift said. “We
will sit together but separate from the audience.”
The
mayor said the tentative plan calls for citizens to speaks no more than three
to four minutes each.
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