HomeMy WebLinkAbout1974 10-08 Maplewood Oks HRA by narrow 3-2 council vote DISPATCH Maplewood OKs
HRA by narrow
3-2 council vote
D�t�, under
ByJimBr de which some subsi-
Staff Writer dized projects pay less
Maplewood will estab- than the going tax-rate.
lish a housing and redev- The city may well end
elopment authority up subsidizing the housing
(HRA). projects to a degree.
The decision was by a Greavu warned.
3-2 vote of the city council ------
following a public hearing Mayor Bruton. however.
last Thursday. stated that the city coun-
The action also came af- cil has a responsibility to
ter almost four years of help people in need.
on-and-off debate over the "We have talked about
wisdom of going the HRA building a big tax base,"
route to provide subsi he commented. "If we
dized housing in the Ram give up a little bit of that
sey County community of tax base to help some- of
about 30.000. our citizens, I guess I'm
The city's human rela- willing to do that."
tions commission, which
recommended approval of The h u m a n relations
an HRA, pointed out that commission also c i t e d
based on the 1970 census census statistics indicat-
the city had only four gov- ing that 11 per cent of the
ernment-subsidized hous- homes built in Maplewood
ing units. sell for less than$30.000.
The council majority —
Mayor Robert Bruton and That compares with 34
Councilman Norm Ander- per cent under $30.000 in
son and Don Wiegert — Ramsey County. it was
suggested there was evi- pointed out.
dence that Maplewood at And during- the -period
least needed housing help 1969 to 1971. the commis-
for low income, elderly sion said. no new apart-
persons. ments renting for less
Councilmen John Grea- than $150 monthly were
vu and Burt Murdock op- built in Maplewood.
posed the HRA.
They said that govern- Some people at the
ment housing programs hearing also were critical
were too bureaucratic to . of the lack of an adminis
be meaningful. trative staff recommenda-
G r e a v u specifically tion in regard to the HRA
called for tax relief to proposal.- .
keep senior citizens in • - "We were not asked for
their single family homes. a staff report:' City Man-
which he said were paid agerMichael Miller said.
for with a lifetime of He said he "assumed"
work, rather than to force that the human relations
them into government-fi- commission would provide
nanced apartments. the pertinent information.
A major concern of the
council appeared to be "It's really a communi-
"strings" attached to gov- ty decision." Miller said
e r n m e n t housing pro- of the HRA proposal. "not
grams, including so-called a statistical decision that
"property tax breaks," thestaff can make."