The City Council did their due diligence last night and saved a historic neighborhood from another commercial development that are eating up our core.
A developer thought they were going to play the game of buying crappy houses, let them go to sh*t and than have an excuse to tear them down. The council said, ‘Not so Fast.’
Watch George Hamilton school the council on what exactly the developer was up to.
UPDATE: So in this KDLT story, the developer states the obvious;
Developer Sam Assam will need to get a cost-estimate for repairing the homes and see if that outweighs the cost of demolishing them, then bring his case before the Board of Preservation again.
Well DUH it is cheaper to bulldoze a house. I think we have established that McFly. But what I can GUARANTEE and Hamilton is right, it way more cheaper to refab these houses if their structures and foundations are solid than it would be to tear them down completely and build a whole new structure. At the informational meeting on Tuesday, the Affordable Housing manager said a starter home costs about $220 now in Sioux Falls.
But the bigger question is not whether they can be demolished or not. Why are we allowing commercial development to creep into a neighborhood. I don’t even care if it is a Historic neighborhood. We should keep our affordable housing neighborhoods.
I certainly appreciate that these homes might be saved but they will hardly be “affordable housing” if the same costs are applied as Mr. Hamilton said his other rehabs have had ; he is insuring those houses for $200,000- his own statement
This was a marathon meeting and I loved every minute of it. Excellent public input!! We are seeing more responsiveness and input from our citizens and the dialogue and debate within the Council has been respectful and informational. I am encouraged that Paul TenHaken wants to address the resident’s concerns in a respectful, caring and timely manner. Good Government for the people.
It’s obvious a developer wants to make this commercial office or multistory apartments. Practically; homes this old have issues with wiring, plaster, and structure such that renovation is unjustified. However, the historic district cannot be preserved when the boundary is encroached upon. There seems no compromise so leave it as is with the owner paying property tax on unprofitable lots.
We make the BEST decisions when we listen to and consider the citizens perspective. Thanks to those who stay informed and engaged!!!
It’s post-Trump, I mean post-Huether….
George Hamilton Schooled the City Council.
Right On!
We may need George to run for an at-large city council seat in 2020!!
If I remember right, he once dated one of LBJ’s daughters, too.
Where is he? Swimming in his slough?
I encouraged George Hamilton to run for City Council in the last election. He has the vision, passion, personality and world experience to make a great Council member. He declined ,choosing instead to continue his work at lovingly restoring old homes.
I’m with George on staying private. City council is without appreciation. I follow Stehly and sympathize when someone has something negative about her that’s unsubstantiated. I burn. Otherwise, I’d be tanned like George hanging out with the Kennedys and Marilyn. Wrong George?