Mount Pleasant planners back work-force housing

MOUNT PLEASANT — Making the town more affordable for police, firefighters and other municipal employees is an aim of a new work-force housing ordinance endorsed Wednesday by the Planning Commission.

Developers who sell housing at below-market prices would be allowed under the ordinance to build more houses per acre than they could otherwise. Work-force housing and market-priced housing would be blended into the same neighborhood and be indistinguishable in terms of exterior appearance.

Eight houses per acre are allowed under the work-force housing ordinance, which is up to twice as many houses per acre as could be built otherwise. Twelve duplexes or townhouses per acre would be allowed under the ordinance, which is more than double what's allowed now. To qualify for a home under the proposed program, the income for a family of four can not exceed $70,000. For rentals, the maximum income is $46,700 for a four-member family.

About 60 percent of town workers surveyed earlier this year said they live elsewhere, and housing cost was the most-cited reason. The average home costs $320,000 in the town.

"The average person is being pushed out of the town. The first responder can not afford to live in this town. It's the school teacher, it's the police and the firefighters. It's the people who serve the community," said Pat Goss, who served as a chairwoman of the Work Force Housing Advisory Committee that drafted the ordinance.

Goss said that having more affordable housing improves the quality of life in the town. When more people who work in town live there, rush-hour traffic is less of a problem because municipal workers are not commuting long distances out-of-town. Teachers and emergency first responders who live in town provide a more diverse mix of residents, and they can more readily take advantage of the town's recreational opportunities, she said. And, in the event of an emergency, police and firefighters are in town rather than living elsewhere, she said. "There are many effects beyond just the actual housing of people," she said.

During its meeting Wednesday, the Planning Commission tweaked some aspects of the work-force housing ordinance but made no major changes before recommending it for approval. The Town Council Planning and Development Committee and Town Council will consider the ordinance next month.