Lyon County Commissioners have agreed to act as a pass-through for a housing development in downtown Emporia.
During their regular action meeting, commissioners approved a pair of applications at the request of grant administrator Garrett Nordstrom on behalf of 502 Lofts Developer Ben Moore, who is seeking $350,000 in moderate-income housing grant dollars and $138,000 in moderate-income housing taxing credits through the Kansas Resource Corporation. As KVOE News has reported, the project at 502 Commercial involves garden- or basement-level residential space, upper-story residential space and main-level commercial space.
Work has been ongoing for over a year now and Moore wasn’t able to provide an exact date of completion while speaking with KVOE News; however, he did have an update on the current progress.
This project includes four units that fall under the moderate-income housing status, with three other units at market rate. If awarded, Moore says these dollars will be mainly focused on the “Garden level” of the project.
Before approving the applications, commissioners noted the asset it can be for the community, given, among other reasons, its location in the downtown corridor. Moore tells KVOE News he is happy to know the county sees the value in the project.
The deadline for submitting the applications is next Friday, Oct. 3. A date for when the county will hear back on the status of the applications is not readily available. Last year, the project was awarded $50,000 through the inaugural Residential Opportunities on Main Street, or ROOMS, program.
In a separate business, commissioners signed two letters of support, the first for Hetlinger Developmental Services, which is seeking $10,000 in grant funding for transportation services. The second letter was in support of Frontier Development Group, which is seeking support through the Moderate Income Housing Program for the renovation of the former Kansas Avenue School building, which it is in the process of purchasing from USD 253 Emporia, as KVOE News has highlighted in previous weeks.
Also, commissioners approved a request from Public Relations Director Vici Smith to pay the annual CivicPlus Website and SSL Management contract for a total of just over $9,200 to be paid for through CARES Act Fund dollars.
Two non-elected personnel executive sessions, both for employee evaluations, were also held with no action following. Commissioners will reconvene for their regular action meeting next Thursday at 9 am inside the Lyon County Courthouse Commission Chambers.
