Housing decision delayed
HAMMOND — The City Council has postponed acting on a New Orleans developer’s request to extend for an additional five years the time allowed to finish a 42-unit housing complex the company started in 2008.
Gulf Coast Housing Partnership also wants the city to lift requirements that allow only for the sale of homes. A company spokesman said during Tuesday night’s council meeting that Gulf Coast wants to rent out some of the units.
Andy Lauper, representing Gulf Coast Housing, said only four of the proposed 42 units have been built. He said the homes did not sell because of difficulties in obtaining mortgages in the current market.
Gulf South Housing plans to rent future units as they are constructed, he added.
If all financing and tax credits can be arranged, Lauper said, the development at J.W. Davis Drive and Phoenix Square on the city’s southeast side could be completed some time in 2014.
Councilman Robert “Bobby” Martin, in whose district the development is located, asked that the company’s request be tabled until he could obtain additional information and details about its plans.
The council plans to take up the proposal again during its 5:30 p.m. July 3 meeting in the Council Chambers.
At the same meeting, the council also considered:
MILLAGE RATES: The council unanimously agreed to set the city’s millage rates for 2012 at a rate only slightly higher than current rates.
Jinnie Wilson, city tax director, said the total ad valorem tax rate would be raised from 20.95 mills to 21.04 mills. That would mean a revenue increase of $12,681 this fiscal year.
The millage rate for the general fund would go up from 9.0 mills to 9.04 mills. The public works millage rate would change from 1.99 mills to 2.00 mills while the fire and police rates would increase from 9.96 mills to 10.00 mills.
CRIME PREVENTION: Councilman Lemar Marshall urged city officials and residents to take part in “Break the Silence … Stop the Violence,” a program scheduled Saturday in the Council Chambers.
Marshall said city police, Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff’s Office personnel, Crime Stoppers and other agencies as well as ministers and interested residents would participate.
CLEANEST CITY: Mayor Mayson Foster presented the council with a plaque recognizing Hammond as the state’s cleanest city in its population category. The award was presented to the city Friday by the Louisiana Federation of Garden Clubs.
The latest award marks the sixth consecutive year that Hammond has won the title.