By RAELYNN RICARTE
News staff writer
March 24, 2007

Hood River County officials and a developer were hammered on Tuesday about the proposal to site low-income housing in a public parking lot.

“It’s a great idea but it’s totally in the wrong place,” said Karen Dove at the open house in the county administration building.

She also voiced the primary opposition expressed by other citizens: “We don’t want an apartment building in our neighborhood with its historic homes.”

At issue was the Hood River County Commission’s interest in converting part of its State Street parking lot into workforce housing. The intent of the local government was to spearhead a movement for housing that was affordable to teachers, firefighters and other professionals.

In a 2005 study, the lack of housing for service providers was identified as a major community need. A concern was also raised that single mothers, senior citizens and lower income residents were increasingly unable to find rental units for a limited budget.

“The study showed there was a pretty deplorable affordable housing shortage,” David Meriwether, county administrator, told the 55-member audience.

“We all wanted to do something relatively quickly and the county already owned the lot. It was the only piece of property downtown that we could work with. So, we decided to take a look at what could be done,” explained District 4 Commissioner Les Perkins.

“However, we have not signed anything; we aren’t anywhere near doing anything. We have just asked the development team to show us what they can do on this property.”

The forum was scheduled after downtown landowners protested the size of the project and the fact that it could include government-subsidized housing. The Winkler Development team, hired to craft a design plan, had expressed interest in siting 41 units in the 50,000 square foot lot. The Portland-based firm said low-income tax credits could be used to construct apartments that would offset the cost of new condominiums. And that would provide opportunities for both renters and homebuyers.

“Because Hood River is an economically challenging area to develop the tax credits are greater (in the millions),” said Jim Winkler, head of the Portland-based firm.

“Frankly, this is a daunting assignment. But, I have a lot of reasons for thinking this is a competitive project given the need.”

Resident Tavis Perez informed Winkler that an unidentified group of citizens wanted to buy the lot. He said a deed restriction would then be placed on the property so that it could only be used for parking. Perez said the county could take the money from that sale and invest in a more appropriate property for a large-scale housing project.

State Street residents questioned the county’s intent to build the project around the 60-65 spaces that would be preserved for employees. They said government workers should also be called on to sacrifice for the public good if the housing need was that great.

Other arguments centered on the lack of green space where children could play. And the hazards of increasing traffic along the busy street.

Opponents refuted Winkler’s claim that residents of the apartments and condos would cut back on vehicle trips by walking to work or stores. He was told that the shops downtown were specialized to attract tourists — there were no grocery outlets — and many jobs at these businesses were seasonal.

Winkler fielded the largely negative comments with good grace. He repeatedly asked the audience to proactively share their vision and values for the neighborhood.

“I’ve never gone to a meeting about housing where people didn’t say ‘we need housing, but not here’,” he said. “We try to be very sensitive to people’s values and desires, but in the end, the economics here are formidable.”

Winkler will now go to the drawing board and attempt to draft a plan that invokes greater citizen approval. The preliminary design will be presented for public review and comment in the near future.