As the city of Emporia tries to expand housing options, you can expect a lot of ongoing emphasis on so-called infill developments.
Recent decisions by the Emporia City Commission opened up development options, first with an expansion of the city’s Rural Housing Incentive District policy to bolster upper-story development in downtown — in addition to home builds — and now with RHID combining with the debut of the Housing Opportunity Overlay District for nearly 17 acres in south Emporia for residential housing.
Emporia City Manager Trey Cocking, a recent guest on KVOE’s Talk of Emporia, says infill is a better approach for Emporia than adding housing near the city limits because it lessens the strain of services.
Emporia now has several developments underway to bring upper-story apartments to downtown, and several home developments through the previous RHID model were already in various stages of construction. The so-called Kretsinger Tract could lead to a significant housing development near South Exchange and Soden’s Road.
Even with these developments, the city’s housing stock is getting sold almost as fast as it goes available. Sunflower Association of Realtors has said Emporia’s housing stock has been at about a month’s worth of supply or less for most of last year.
