By Lisa Carolin
Existing, as well as proposed, development plans in Chelsea were the focus of the Chelsea Housing Advisory Research Commission at its June 15 meeting.
Commission member Terris Ahrens, a real estate professional, met with Chelsea City Engineer Christine Linfield, who printed out a map to outline the development plans and those proposed plans, which she knows are coming.
The plans include 40 single family lots at Heritage Pointe, located at 433 Elm St., four second story apartments in the Mack building at Jackson St. and Main St., and 24 units at Fieldstone located off Wilkinson Road, which are nearly complete. It also included the Prairie Cottages on the Chelsea Retirement Center campus, which are also nearly complete.
Commission members agreed that within Chelsea City limits, there are very few development options that haven’t already been proposed. They talked about the possibility of increasing the number of current housing options by changing zoning from single-family housing to multi-family housing.
“We’re lacking space, and we’re lacking inventory,” said Commission Chairman Dr. Vincent Elie.
“There is not enough housing stock, and the people chasing it are those in demographics who have money,” said Commission member Peter Feeney. “We can’t solve the economics, but we can suggest ways to develop more variety of inventory as development occurs.”
Commission member Rick Catherman said that it’s important to find out what people mean by affordable housing, specifically two groups of people – young families and people who work in Chelsea.
It was decided that the commission would not do any kind of a survey in the near future. The commission will meet again at 4 p.m. Friday, July 13 in City Council Chambers.
