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McHenry business park may be site for housing
OAKLAND - Before progress can continue at the McHenry Business and Technology Park, Garrett County Community Action Committee has asked the county commissioners to make a decision on the amount of land at the park to be donated for affordable housing.
"What we're prepared to do is finalize the proposal at Whiteface Farm at the McHenry Business Park," Duane Yoder, director of community action, said. "We had some back and forth on the project."
Community Action is asking for 50 acres and the plans have been scaled down slightly from original plans for the housing area due to the needs for the business park and Federal Aviation Administration restrictions, as the park is near the Garrett County Airport.
The project would involve the construction of work force and affordable housing, which Yoder said would be an added benefit for the employees of businesses that would locate at the park.
How the project will be completed, he added, is still being investigated, as it could take several years for Community Action to go through the necessary steps to get funding and construct the homes. This is a process, he said, that a private developer could probably do much more quickly. They have looked into that as a possibility if the developer would construct the single or multifamily home with Community Action's specifications.
Commissioner Fred Holliday said he didn't want to see a developer use the property to build second homes for vacationers.
He said he didn't want to donate land for developers to make a profit.
Yoder said that would not be the case and that they would find some way to ensure that money came back for the land in those cases. At this point, the concern is finding out what the boundaries would be for the housing units at the park.
"(County) economic development needs to know where the basic boundaries are going to be," Yoder said. "The actual mix (of homes) and how it works relies on additional market study."
The 50-acre lot could hold 250 to 300 units, depending on the mix of single homes and multifamily rentals like those on Pysell Road in McHenry.
"I'd like to say that we want to promote home ownership," Jim Hinebaugh, director of economic development, said. "We'd like to do it through the market. Wages haven't increased to housing costs. ... We don't want to take this on our own, but since we have an organization with a good track record, we feel good about this."
Charlie Ross, president and CEO of the Garrett County Chamber of Commerce, added the concept of affordable housing at the business and technology park is something that has been discussed for years, including the concept of mixing the possible uses for the development.
The commissioners agreed to make a decision as quickly as possible, but Ernie Gregg, commissioner, said they would need to discuss it further.
Contact Sarah Moses at smoses@times-news.com.
