Landlords concerned about Hershey Hall development

MT. PLEASANT — A group of landlords and rental property owners from the Henry County area addressed concerns about proposed development plans for multiple buildings on the former Iowa Wesleyan University campus at the Mt. Pleasant City Council meeting and the following Henry County Board of Supervisors meeting last week.

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“Do the people of Henry County realize their tax dollars are going to help this developer with this project?” a letter from a group of concerned landlords and rental property owners asked.

This concern and many others from the group come to the city and county officials following the Board of Supervisors signing a letter of support for developer Christopher Ales to submit an application for Tax Increment Financing (TIF) to begin developing housing from Hershey Hall. Ales approached the board for approval with the assistance of Southeast Iowa Regional Planning Commission Executive Director Mike Norris. If approved, the TIF would give the Hershey Hall project an 80% cut on paying taxes on the property for 15 years.

According to Norris and Ales, the plans for Hershey Hall include creating 22 apartments within the structure. The units will be a blend of two- and three-bedroom apartments with all major appliances. At least 90% of these units will qualify as low to moderate incoming housing.

“We have concerns and questions about this development, what the City and County’s involvement with it is through tax incentives, possible changes in zoning and certificates of occupancy, and the ramifications going forward,” Teresa Mertens said on behalf of the group.

“While we do realize this was a private sale and understand that competition is a good thing, we would like to make sure that all developers are given the same opportunity to succeed in our community, while also looking ahead at what is best for our community in general,” she continued. “We would like to have complete transparency as to what the city and county are prepared to give up to make this development a reality.”

In addition to raising concerns about transparency and local government involvement, the group questioned if the development is a good fit for the area considering most of the units will be designated for low- to moderate-income families and individuals.

More specifically, members of the group expressed concerns that with low- to moderate-income units entering Mt. Pleasant, those unable to find similar properties in Burlington will relocate to Mt. Pleasant.

“It’s just riffraff,” one member of the group told the Board of Supervisors. “I love them, but it’s not healthy.”

“The whole question is, what direction do we want to go?” one woman with the group asked the Board of Supervisors.

Additional concerns about what housing is actually needed in the Mt. Pleasant area were mentioned by the landlord group as they spoke with the supervisors. They claim the city cannot support that many additional units and it will create vacancies because what they believe the area needs is more single-family dwellings not apartments.

“With the needed single family home shortage here in Henry County, as well as Iowa, in general, low income apartments are not what is needed to fill this shortage,” Mertens said as the spokesperson. “Additional decent paying jobs in our community should be what our economic development group is looking to acquire first, and the added single-family homes to fill this shortage will follow. ”

As Mertens concluded reading a pre-written statement to the supervisors she asked on behalf of the group, “Will we regret the decision to endorse another government funded housing project down the road?”

Comments: AnnaMarie.Ward@southeastiowaunion.com