Officials from just about every local community discussed the county’s lack of affordable housing and a proposed county TIF district during a chamber luncheon Thursday in Franklin.
The town managers of Bargersville, Edinburgh and Whiteland, and two representatives from Franklin and Greenwood, were the featured panelists at Aspire Johnson County’s fifth Legislation Matters luncheon. It was the first event to feature local municipalities, and took place at the Johnson County Museum of History in Franklin. Officials discussed their priorities and recent developments in the communities in a Q-and-A format.
A need for more affordable housing occupied much of the discussion. Aspire President and CEO Christian Maslowski asked the panel about what types of homes officials would like to see in their communities.
Communities should aim to have housing available at all price points, though there is a lack of developers that serve all price points. The challenge is that developers approach communities rather than communities approaching developers, said Kevin McGinnis, Whiteland town manager.
“Right now, there is a housing shortage in Johnson County. There’s a huge subdivision shortage in Johnson County,” McGinnis said.
In Edinburgh, there is a need for more workforce housing, or housing that costs anywhere from 60%-120% of the average median income for a household, which is about $57,000.
The only housing developments underway are in a Timbergate Golf Course subdivision, said Dan Cartwright, Edinburgh town manager.
The market drives what developments come to fruition in cities and towns throughout the county, something people often don’t understand, said Krista Linke, Franklin’s community development director.
“No one is going to invest millions of dollars if they’re not going to be successful at it,” Linke said. “It’s a market-driven reality of what is going to sell well.”
It is a constant challenge for communities to make sure they have a mixture of housing types for all ages and life stages. In Franklin, more expensive homes are being built on smaller lots due to more people — particularly empty-nesters whose children are grown and gone — wanting lower maintenance lifestyles. So lot size does not necessarily determine the price of a home, she said.
Communities talk about the need for affordable housing, but whenever it is proposed, no one seems to want it next to their house. It is challenging to provide it if no one can agree on where it should go, Linke said.
Greenwood is taking a different approach, instead looking at authenticity and sustainability. For example, a certain area of Old Town Greenwood was authentic but not sustainable 10 years ago, said Kevin Steinmetz, Greenwood’s capital projects manager.
“It was people who bought stuff during tax sales, people who were trying to carve things up into doubles,” Steinmetz said. “A lot of times, price is driven by location, but also the neighborhood and the community.”
Communities need to open their doors to developments for different income levels and environments. Too often the conversation gets stuck on a certain price point, when communities really need something that is authentic and sustainable, he said.
Local businesses can get involved by talking about the need for a variety of housing at city and town meetings, said Julie Young, Bargersville town manager.
Whenever developments are proposed, it is almost always residents who live near the development who attend and speak about it, not business leaders who may need workforce housing for their workers, Young said.
“It’s all of us working together to have these things happen,” she said.
Officials were also asked about the challenges ahead for future growth. For Greenwood, the county’s proposed tax increment financing district, or TIF district, is the main obstacle standing in the city’s way now, Steinmetz said.
The Interstate 65 TIF district has been stalled since April, when the mayors of Franklin and Greenwood called on the county to rethink its size and impact on the cities. A revised map presented during a Sept. 27 meeting of the Johnson County Redevelopment Commission rolled back boundaries near Greenwood to give the county control of development east of the city.
The purpose of TIF districts is to spur development in specific unincorporated areas of Johnson County. Taxes collected from commercial or industrial developments in the district would remain in the district to be used for infrastructure improvements. TIF districts open the door to tax breaks and other incentives for developers.
The TIF district removes options for Greenwood, Franklin and Whiteland for future growth, and if the proposed expansion happens, it would stop city and town development in the areas included in the district, Steinmetz told the audience. His position is not based on politics, but on math, he said.
“If you don’t get the tax value of new developments outside your city, it doesn’t make sense to build the roads and utilities out to get them,” Steinmetz said.
If the county takes away areas from the cities and towns as proposed, there is no reason for them to expand beyond their current city and town limits, which will limit future development, he said.
“If you want to see growth continuing, please contact the county commissioners,” Steinmetz said.
