A proposed transitional home for the chronically homeless could be built on University Avenue near downtown Grand Forks on a lot the city once designated for new townhouses.
The city has owned the lots for years because proposals from developers fell through, Urban Development Director Greg Hoover said. The parking requirements, he said, simply could not be resolved in an economical manner.
"It looked like we were going to be sitting on those three lots for a long time," Hoover told the City Council's Finance Committee on Monday.
City leaders had hoped to simultaneously increase the downtown population, improve the district's economy and get the properties on the property tax roll. Nonprofits, such as Prairie Harvest, which is behind the transitional housing project, are tax exempt.
Committee members gave preliminary approval Monday for the project. Not doing so would've risked the loss of $1.4 million in state grants.
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Prairie Harvest had intended to build the home at a city-owned parking lot at Division Street and South Fourth Street, not far from the County Office Building. But a conflict with a nearby church, which wanted to ensure enough parking for its congregation and had some legal rights to the land, along with the looming state deadline, scuttled the project.
The state agreed to extend the deadline from June 1 to Aug. 1 for Prairie Harvest and the city to agree to a new site for the home or lose the grant.
The original proposal called for a three-story, 14-unit building with office space at a cost of $2 million. It's since been downsized to a nine-unit building with no office space at a cost of $1.4 million.
Final approval is needed from the City Council, which meets next Monday.
Reach Tran at (701) 780-1248; (800) 477-6572, ext. 248; or send e-mail to ttran@gfherald.com .
