Washington Council green lights new subdivision

WASHINGTON — City council members in Washington voted Aug. 5 to approve a development agreement on the north side of town, where a local company plans to build several houses on a land currently used for row crops, despite its suburban surroundings.

The fields, formerly owned by Leroy Havel, would become a subdivision with at least 23 homes, according to a copy of the development agreement included in the council’s meeting materials. The builders, DW developments, would be responsible for not only constructing houses on the property, but installing infrastructure like concrete water mains and sidewalks, connected to the rest of the citywide system.

In exchange, the city would grant DW the authority to build a subdivision. The city is also considering plans to designate the Havel land as an Urban Renewal Area, meaning it could be eligible for property tax breaks to incentivize its development. A public hearing on that designation is scheduled Sept. 2.

“This is a unique subdivision, really, unlike anything we’ve done for quite a while,” City Administrator Joe Gaa said. “I call it an infill subdivision, because it’s there in town already.”

Gaa later added that there, “will be a rebate agreement” with the prospective developers.

DW Developments Co-Owner Dave Waite said he wasn’t sure how much money the TIF rebate would have to provide to make the Havel Subdivision profitable, but gave a rough estimate of $800,000 to $1 million, with negotiations still in the works.

The developers are already well-established in Washington, known for housing renovations on the upper story of the Washington Evening Journal building, as well as a much-anticipated hotel that was put on hold earlier this year, with builders citing economic uncertainty amid international trade disputes and shaky supply chains.

In a brief interview this week, Waite said he wasn’t sure when construction would begin or end on the homes, but said building a subdivision would be more achievable in the current market than a hotel.

“You’re doing it in pieces, somebody’s going to build a house, then you build another house, then another house, it’s not like we have to take it all off in one chunk like a hotel,” he said.

Previous efforts to develop the land have fizzled out.

Plans for an apartment building in the area near North Fourth Avenue and East 11th Street were canned after vocal resistance from neighbors in 2023. Among their concerns were the aesthetics of the proposed building, an apartment complex that would have contrasted with the surrounding suburb of single-family homes.

Waite told council members the homes in the Havel Subdivision would more or less match their surroundings on Washington’s north side.

“We’re not building Taj Mahals and we’re not building low-income housing,” he said. “We’re trying to find (housing) that fits in that area.”

Some community members are worried DW’s subdivision would suffer drainage issues, with the issue front-of-mind after recent rainfall flooded many parts of town. Gaa said the development would need to do “a few little things” to limit stormwater problems, and said the subdivision’s homes would probably lack basements for that reason.

“The north end really took the brunt of the water, the flooded streets,” Council Member Elaine Moore said at the Aug. 5 meeting. “Are we mitigating with this new development, are we making sure?”

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