Too good not to post
Weare, New Hampshire (PRWEB) Could a hotel be built on the land owned by Supreme Court Justice David H. Souter? A new ruling by the Supreme Court which was supported by Justice Souter himself itself might allow it. A private developer is seeking to use this very law to build a hotel on Souter’s land. Justice Souter’s vote in the “Kelo vs. City of New London” decision allows city governments to take land from one private owner and give it to another if the government will generate greater tax revenue or other economic benefits when the land is developed by the new owner. On Monday June 27, Logan Darrow Clements, faxed a request to Chip Meany the code enforcement officer of the Towne of Weare, New Hampshire seeking to start the application process to build a hotel on 34 Cilley Hill Road. This is the present location of Mr. Souter’s home.
Link here. Saw this on Drudge. Can someone say “irony”?
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Streetcars!
A local group is promoting the creation of a streetcar line along West Main Street. The Alliance for Community Choice in Transportation, or ACCT, says an electric streetcar could benefit the Starr Hill neighborhood and areas around the University.
This is a great idea, but … the major transportation issues are not moving from UVa. to the Downtown Mall, but the traffic into and out of the City.
From WINA.
Eminent Domain Q & A
From the Realestatejournal; I posted about this earlier; it is a very good read about the eminent domain ruling’s potential impact.
Another subdivision meets disapproval
From today’s DP -
Plans for a major subdivision off Rio Road were rejected Tuesday night by the Albemarle County Planning Commission …
The applicant, Stone-haus Devel-opment, proposed rezoning the area for Belvedere in November 2003 and has worked with commissioners since to get their recommendation. …
The commission and staff came up with 10 factors that need to be addressed before the rezoning could be recommended, including widening a right-of-way from 46 inches to 58 inches and increasing plans for affordable housing.
A developer should be able to get approval/disapproval in a much shorter timeframe than this. My biggest point of contention is that, an affordable housing policy has yet to be sufficiently defined.
From Albemarle’s website -
Affordable Housing, in general terms means safe, decent housing where housing costs do not exceed 30% of the gross household income. Housing costs for homeowners shall include principal, interest, real estate taxes, and homeowner’s insurance (PITI). Housing costs for tenants shall be tenant-paid rent and tenant-paid utilities with maximum allowances for utilities to be those adopted by the Housing Office for the Housing Choice Voucher Program.
Affordable Housing is defined, for the purpose of this policy, as those houses affordable to the forty percent of the County population that have household incomes at or below 80% of the area median income. For 2003, the maximum affordable home for purchase (80% median income) would be $172,000 and maximum housing costs (rent and utilities) for tenants would be $787 (50% median income). Albemarle affordable info here.
Affordable housing is an issue. Subsidizing the developments is a recipe for disaster. Subsidizing the people is a more responsible plan - see here for more info on this fund. Continually delaying projects serves only to drive up costs and therefore, market prices.
The July Forum Watch is out
I will post the link when the site is updated. In the meantime, read the Free Enterprise Forum’s full page ad they took out a couple of weeks ago in the Daily Progress.
The Gist is here -
The Albemarle County Board of Supervisors has proclaimed June as Homeownership Month. It is somewhat ironic that reports released last month by Albemarle County , the total number of new dwelling units approved in 2004 is at its lowest point since 1995. The total number of new single family homes built in 2004 (484) is the second lowest number of such units since 2000.
In the region labeled “America ’s #1 Community” one would anticipate this number increasing not decreasing. Albemarle County ’s Community Development department, at the direction of the Planning Commission and ultimately the Board of Supervisors, is restricting the supply of housing by keeping major rezoning in process for several years rather than months. This regulatory stranglehold on supply is keeping literally thousands of potential homeowners out in the cold.
Full text here.
Technorati Tags: charlottesville, politics, real estate
TGIFridays is coming
They must be getting closer to opening … saw this on Emmet Street today.
The HooK said in May Latest national chains: PetsMart, Bonefish Grill, Sakura Japanese Steakhouse & Sushi Bar and TGI Friday’s made their Charlottesville debut at Hollymead Town Center, home also of the long awaited Target, scheduled to open late July. We shall see if they make their timeline! On time or not, I expect all the stores to be inundated almost immediately.
Technorati Tags: charlottesville
Took a survey today
If you have a blog, this is a good way to waste 7 minutes of the day.
Builders’ incentives illegal?
From today’s WP -
If you have shopped for a newly built house in recent years, you have probably run into this: The builder offers you a substantial incentive — a finished patio, extra square footage or lush landscaping — if you agree to obtain your mortgage, and maybe your title and settlement services, through an affiliate of the builder.
…
“What they’re doing here is discouraging buyers from shopping in the open market,” Savitt said. “They’re trying to steer people to the lenders they’ve got deals with, and they try to make your head spin with big incentives” that may be more illusory than real.
In many cases, the Buyer does fare much better by using the builder’s affiliates. This type of scenario is just now presenting itself now that Ryan Homes have moved into our market. It is hard to turn down this type of incentive - sometimes a $20k incentive to use their lender.
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This work by Jim Duncan is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License. -
