Parkside development closes grant for broader market, city council hears

By Kate Hayden | khayden@charlescitypress.com

Two and a half years into development at the Parkside Villas subdivision, success of the cutting-edge housing project looks a bit different depending on who’s being asked.

Under requirements from state grants, Iowa has deemed the development a success, a representative told the Charles City Council –– but lower unit numbers, a lack of a tornado shelter and slow communication left some city officials questioning the progress.

The development, originally pitched as 30-38 homes, currently has 12 homes constructed or closed, with another four lots under the final bid process, Charles City realtor Dean Stewart said.

“We succeeded on what we needed to,” Mark LaCroix, an energy systems engineer with Net Zero Alliance told the Charles City Council during Monday’s planning session.

The development is doing a bit of rebranding to attract new buyers after developers found not enough people were qualifying as program purchasers, LaCroix said.

The homes were originally intended to sell in the range of $150,000, with a grant available through the North Iowa Area Council of Governments for prospective purchasers that made 80 percent or less of the area’s median income.

Qualified buyers could have received up to 25 percent of the purchase price for homes that use a shared geo-thermal field, solar panels and energy-efficient equipment for lower, long-term homeowner energy costs.

“When we started this project, we went out and canvassed. There was a significant amount of people that wanted to get into the development,” LaCroix said, but the window of requirements was too narrow for many applicants to qualify. “Last April, we got the grant closed out and now we’re going to try to get more market-driven homes…they’ll still have this energy component.”

“All the homes that are built to date may see 50 percent of the year where they’re either at net zero energy or below –– they’re making more energy than they consume –– and then the other half of the year, from October to late March, they’re consuming more,” LaCroix added.

Slower progress than anticipated concerned council members on Monday, who questioned whether the city had been sufficiently informed of changes as the project developed.

“This seems like it was all a conversation between you and the state, with nobody locally noticed or involved regarding the changes,” Mayor Jim Erb told LaCroix.

A lack of a “community center” with storm shelters available to the development, which has no basements in it’s homes, also concerned council members. The center was pitched in 2012 as a shared space governed by the subdivision’s homeowners association.

There is currently not enough funding for immediate plans to build a community shelter, LaCroix told the council, but he said developers will start applying for grants as soon as enough homes are purchased to qualify the neighborhood for grants. There is still land space available for a center, he said.

“We’re a little touchy about tornadoes,” council member Jerry Joerger noted.

“This thing has changed so immensely from the beginning,” member DeLaine Freeseman said. “It is really different than what I originally thought it was.”

“I think the only thing that has changed is the fact that we’re not going to build $150,000 homes specifically for (qualified program buyers),” LaCroix responded. “We’re able to open it up to a broader market. We did the project as a pilot project. We wanted to have as close to net-zero energy homes.”

Stewart had closed on one sale in the subdivision an hour before the planning session, he told the council.

“It’s not an instant gratifier,” Stewart said. “Can (a community center) happen as the subdivision grows and develops? That’s the entire goal. I would love to see a community center, but I’m pretty pleased as punch to see thirteen units sitting there right now, with four more on the books. We’re doing the best we can coming out of the program.”

“The project was still successful as far as the energy goes, and the state understood that this is a pilot project. A lot of pilot projects don’t necessarily meet all of the goals for the project,” LaCroix said. “We did meet many of the goals, one of them to provide housing for low income to moderate income people.”

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