Council creates housing task force, starts to expand this year's street work, discusses sidewalks and trees

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.

       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 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.