New plans unveiled for Pollock Street housing
♦ Several affordable housing projects are proposed for tax-credit funding this year.
Efforts to enhance the housing stock for low- to moderate-income Rome and Floyd County residents are moving forward with plans for tax credit housing developments on several sites.
Both the Northwest Georgia Housing Authority and South Rome Redevelopment Corp./laurel Street Housing are expected to submit applications to the Georgia Department of Community Affairs this summer.
The Laurel Street project in South Rome would be approximately 100 new apartments on a large tract on Pollock Street, where the old Curtis Packing plant was demolished several years ago.
The preliminary site plan shows 20 one-bedroom units of approximately 700 square feet each. The development would include 60 twobedroom units of just under 1,000 square feet and 20 three-bedroom apartments each. A community of 1,140 building square where feet residents could gather for special events also is planned.
The SRRC has partnered with the William S. Davies Homeless Shelter to establish a vegetable garden on a portion of the property. The South Meadows Farm would not be affected by the housing development.
SRRC Executive Director Charles Looney said details of the housing proposal are still being finalized.
Laurel Street and the SRRC have submitted an application to rezone the 15.6-acre property from High Density Traditional Residential to Multi-family Residential. The first public hearing will be at the May 7 meeting of the Rome-floyd County Planning Commission. The Rome City Commission has final say.
Laurel Street previously partnered with SRRC on a series of scattered-site housing in South Rome. That project included apartments on the South Broad Street site of the old Mccall Hospital, two large apartment buildings on Etowah Terrace, another unit on Cherokee Street and the Burrell Square townhouses off Nixon Avenue.
Looney said in addition to the Pollock Street apartments, Laurel Street hopes to carve a new road to access an additional section of the site. It
could ultimately be used for single-family homes similar to the units built on Wilson Avenue and on Pollock nearer South Broad Street.
Meanwhile, the housing authority plans to submit a tax credit proposal to demolish and rebuild the John Graham Homes development in
East Rome. That is also approximately 100 units, and part of the NWGHA master plan to redevelop the East Rome community.
Rome Community Development Director Bekki Fox said she feels there’s a possibility that the DCA could approve both projects this fall.