Pleasant Hill takes steps toward affordable homes and apartments

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The Pleasant Hill City Council took two actions Nov. 14 that will lead to the development of affordable houses and apartments.

A joint project of Knapp Properties Inc. and Destiny Homes will result in 151 single-family residences ranging in size from 1,026 to 1,565 square feet that will help fill a gap at the moderately priced end of the housing market. A local real estate expert who is familiar with the project estimated the houses would sell for around $225,000.

Peter’s Ridge Plat 2 is located south of Southeast Sixth Avenue and is adjacent to Four Mile Elementary School and the new Hickory Glen Park. In addition to adding single-family lots, the development will include extensions to the local trail network and provide a connection to the school and park properties.

Builders have said that it is difficult to construct homes at close to entry-level prices because of soaring land costs. One element that apparently helped this project was an amendment to the planned unit development plan for the area that allowed a reduction in lot sizes that resulted in an increase in density to 5.3 houses per acre from 3.

“We have been working toward providing affordable housing for over a year and are emotionally tied to the needs of the buyers for this type of housing development,” Dan Sparks, president of Destiny Homes, said in a release.

Gerry Neugent, president of Knapp Properties, said the development will “provide a type of housing that is in great demand, but low in supply.”

Pleasant Hill Mayor Sara Kurovski said the Peter’s Ridge development makes “us a complete city where residents have the ability to live where they work.”

The City Council also took a preliminary step toward the development of an affordable multifamily development by passing a resolution in support of a Minnesota developer’s application for tax credits from the Iowa Finance Authority and approving a city pledge of $650,000 in urban revitalization tax exemptions.

“If significant local participation is not included, the project has little likelihood of being awarded the necessary tax credits and the project would then not happen in Pleasant Hill,” according to a staff report to the City Council.

PH Housing Group LLC of Waite Park, Minn., has proposed a $9.3 million apartment complex that would have a minimum of 45 units in a mix of sizes in a three-story building.