During last week’s special Neosho County Commission meeting, commissioners noted that they had a lack of information about the Rural Housing Incentive District created by the City of Chanute.
District 2 Commissioner and Chair Nicholas Galemore said the purpose of this meeting was to have an open dialogue and have questions answered concerning the RHID and its impact. District 3 Commissioner Gail Klaassen noted that there was very little information received by the county concerning the RHID.
“On July 17, a letter was sent to us from the City of Chanute — basically the resolution — stating they were basically creating the district,” Klaassen said. “And then, at the end of August, we received an ordinance that they had passed. That is the only information that we have gotten on the project. That is the only information that the city sent to us.”
Klaassen said the lack of information was the basis of their decision to approve ordinance R-25-J on Sept. 23, which states that the RHID proposed by the City of Chanute concerning the RHID will have an adverse effect on Neosho County.
Klaassen said the blame was partly on the commissioners for not asking questions sooner, but felt that the issue was also partly to do with the City of Chanute not presenting the project or communicating with the county.
Darin Luebbering, of Chanute Housing LLC, was present to discuss the project in greater detail.
“What we have proposed is a 5.3 million dollar apartment complex in Chanute, Kansas,” Luebbering said.
Luebbering said that he has been trying to complete such a project for over a decade.
“I have looked at every possible way, and it just never made sense. The numbers never work,” Luebbering said.
He noted that the State of Kansas has developed programs to help get housing programs off the ground. One of them being the RHID program. With the help of the RHID program, grants, and tax credit programs, Luebbering said the housing project finally became possible.
He states that, to his knowledge, a market-rate apartment complex has never been built in Chanute or Neosho County. This complex would have 32 housing units of triplexes and duplexes. Units will have 1-2 bedrooms, some units will feature garages, nearby parking, a dog park, and walking paths.
“So this is an exciting endeavor for Chanute and Neosho County,” Luebbering said.
He noted that this would also be locally built and locally owned, as opposed to managed by an out-of-state entity.
“It’s going to be a community project from top to bottom,” Luebbering said.
He said the first step is to have the project approved by the state, then he said the City of Chanute looked at it, and Luebbering said the final process of those approvals was sending it to the county. Luebbering said the project has been in the works for 18 months and had the support of Lieutenant Governor David Toland.
“He wanted to see this done in southeast Kansas, and the commerce department was well behind it, too,” Luebbering said. “It’s just going to be a great structure for that piece of ground,” Luebbering said.
He added that the project is being completed with local lenders, suppliers, and labor.
“Everything that we are doing is just here to benefit the county and the City of Chanute,” Luebbering said.
He highlighted that the lot has been undeveloped for 25 years.
“It’s going to be another 25 years before someone else wants to do something like this again,” Luebbering said.
He said that there was no real tax risk to the county.
“We’re either going to get $220 a year, or we’re going to get a 5 million dollar project sitting out there, an asset to our community,” Luebbering said.
He noted that local businesses were looking to expand and needed housing for those employees, and that individuals moving into the apartments would bring in over $9,000 per year in sales taxes to the county, or roughly $500,000 in locally spent funds, complex-wide.
“It’s a big economic impact on our community,” Luebbering said.
Luebbering noted that this could also be an example for other local communities in southeast Kansas.
“We have a lot we can do with this project,” Luebbering said. “The RHID is the difference between the financing working and not.”
Luebbering said they were asking the commission to approve a 20-year financing term, with 15 of those years at a rate of 100% followed by 5 years at 75%. Galemore said he was concerned with the length of the RHID term, Through lengthy discussion, the commissioners had various questions answered about the project and discussed alternative financial terms. The RHID will have to be approved with the new terms by the City of Chanute.
Klaassen and Galemore said that it was exciting to have local contractors working on housing, but both expressed wanting more communication from the City of Chanute.
The next county commission meeting will be on Tuesday, Oct. 21, at 2 p.m. in the Neosho County Courthouse. Agendas can be viewed at www.neoshocountyks, and meetings are livestreamed to the Neosho County Commission YouTube Channel.
