The Mother of All NIMBYs

[Darren Cook]

Only in Franklin:
http://www.tennessean.com/article/20100 ... n+Franklin

I am willing to listen to anyone that can explain the relevance of the median price of a home in Davidson county as THE trigger mechanism for developer concessions. As Alderman Bransford states "It's different. It's new. It's something we haven't had before." I am going to guess this is because it is half-backed?

With all of the unintended comedy in this piece I find this to be the real gem...

Idea won't work everywhere

She stressed that the proposal won't fit all proposed developments where developers might have planned to build houses priced at $350,000 and now want to build more houses but priced lower, at $250,000 for instance.

"It's not going to make sense in a gated, $1 million home community," McIntyre said.

The plan might find traction among developers who might be rethinking their development plans in the wake of the national economic meltdown.

Developer Jay Franks, who is a committee member, is intrigued by the proposal and believes it will be something other developers embrace, rather than shun.

"It just makes sense," Franks said. "We've got to provide housing for the younger folks and the folks who are less advantaged."


...just not in a gated community.

[jim chittum]

Darren,

You are playing straight man to Chris Utley again! I can't wait to see the photo he posts illustrating "affordable" housing in Tennessee. So come on Chris, show us what you've got!

[Scottsdale]

She should be removed from office.

[Darren Cook]

I second the motion.

[cju]

Wasn't this the affordable housing Franklin was trying to offer a few years ago?

[jim chittum]

Hey Scottsdale,

Pearl is an at-large Alderman. That means she will be up for re-election in two years if she is crazy enough to want the job again. So be sure to go down to the polls and register you dissatisfaction. That will put you in an elite group since fewer than 10% of the eligible votes bother to vote in Franklin.

[Kris Mena]

I don't see how this program as described can pass any kind of legal scrutiny. It only applies to developers with plans already approved, not to new developments. It doesn't apply to gated $1million communities and the city plans to take land from the developer without compensation. None of that passes legal muster.

[Darren Cook]

I don't see how this program as described can pass any kind of legal scrutiny. It only applies to developers with plans already approved, not to new developments. It doesn't apply to gated $1million communities and the city plans to take land from the developer without compensation. None of that passes legal muster.

Exactly, we could not make this stuff up in our wildest dreams!

And to top it all off, we have the venerable "payment-in-lieu" option. That's always a crowd favorite down at City Hall.

[Darren Cook]

Here we go!

http://www.tennessean.com/article/20100 ... ce+housing


"It's good for affordable-housing advocates, it's good for the community and it's good for the city," said David Pair, director of intergovernmental affairs with the Williamson County Association of Realtors.

Though Schroer called the proposal "a baby step," he said it addresses the reality of a down market where developers have been unable to sell homes they had planned to build.

"It's not a good thing for anybody to have a product out there that can't be marketed," Schroer said. "I think it's incumbent upon us to look at options."

Here is an idea, let the market decide what the cost of housing should be. Franklin, TN where "conservatives" seek greater governmental interference in the housing market. I am shocked!

[chadstory]

sorry, but there is no such thing as affordable housing in Franklin. When land is expensive and demand is high prices will go up. The only way to keep prices down is to reduce costs and that normaly means cuts in quality and what the houses come with. I am not an advocate in building cheap, lower quality houses because 19 out of 20 times a pourly developed, cheap neighborhood always end the same way. If you want affordable housing, move to a more affordable area of town.