Public housing residents on Park Avenue will not have to move out of their apartments for at least two years, even if the Columbia Housing Authority decides to demolish and rebuild the 70 existing homes as has been proposed. Consultants to the housing authority task force told residents Monday that any construction would most likely not begin until 2008.
Two plans, one calling for rehabilitation and the other for demolition and redevelopment, were presented at the task force’s fifth roundtable meeting Monday. Although some residents would prefer remodeling over demolition, consultant LaDene Morton suggested an entirely new structure would benefit residents.
“You’ll come back with a shadow of what you deserve,” she told residents regarding renovating existing apartments. “You deserve a better place.”
The redevelopment plan, which involved input from the task force, residents, and community members, includes 48 apartments, 12 senior housing homes, 28 town homes, a 12,000-square-foot community center, and 16 commercial office or retail units. Although some members disagreed with the specifics of the plan, the task force recommended the housing authority move forward with some type of comprehensive redevelopment plan.
The task force also approved a recommendation by chairman Richard Mendenhall that the housing authority guarantee that any project would ensure one-to-one replacement, residents would have the same rent-based income, moving expenses would be compensated for and any plans would be subject to all federal guidelines.
Some residents expressed frustration with the process.
“I’m ready to go find a new place because I’m sick of it,” Sharon Elvis said.
The task force’s recommendations will now go to the Columbia Housing Authority Board of Commissioners, which will decide whether to move forward with any action for the Park Avenue homes.
A Park Avenue Neighborhood Community Meeting is set for tonight from 6:30 to 8 p.m. at the J.W. “Blind” Boone Center.