NBC29Madison Senior Development Stalled

Madison Senior Development Stalled

An effort to bring affordable senior housing to Madison County has seemingly stalled. Tuesday, land that was supposed to be used to build a large development is still an empty lot.

The process to build a senior housing development in Madison County is taking a lot longer than the man who owns the land, Carlyle Weaver, ever thought it would. He says he is anxious to get going on the project, but that he wants to make sure it is done right. He had a contract with a company to build the 60 unit development, but it fell through.

"The application that they made for tax credits was not approved," Weaver said. 

It is ready to go, but there is no builder. Every day that passes, the need for this type of development grows. Kim Frye Smith is the executive director of the Skyline Community Action Partnership, or Skyline CAP. She says seniors are coming to them who, for example, may have lost their family homes.

"More and more seniors are finding it difficult to find affordable housing," Smith explained. "We're seeing more and more of a need for low income housing, which is affordable to seniors and people with disabilities."

She hopes the development, whenever it comes, will address that need. Weaver says he wants to make sure anyone who is interested in building it will have a better shot at the tax credits that it will take to get it done.

"We've got to go through all the county site plans and everything again," he said. "So I want someone to be as dedicated as they can be to see that it goes from point a to point b."

Weaver says he has gotten the land over the biggest hurdle: zoning approvals. The eight acres is zoned for the senior housing development, there is sewer and water in place. He says that takes a year off the process that anyone interested in building would have to go through.

Reported by Tracy Clemons
See Bio / Email