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Local mill cited as affordable housing success story |
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Thursday, 29 November 2007 |
By JOSEPH FITZGERALD
BURRILLVILLE — The former Stillwater textile mill in Harrisville was chosen to celebrate the one-year anniversary of the voter-approved $50 million state bond referendum for affordable housing.
The project was held out as a shining example of the good things that can be done with government bond funding.
State housing advocates along with developers and town officials marked the occasion Thursday during an hour-long ceremony at the mill, one of 20 affordable housing development projects throughout the state to be included in the first round of bond funding this year.
A year ago this month, the state's voters approved by a two-to-one margin a bond referendum to provide $50 million over four years to create affordable housing.
The bond, which won a majority in all 39 Rhode Island cities and towns, is intended primarily to help people making between $30,000 and $60,000 a year to rent or buy a home.
"We're celebrating not only this project, but all the other projects around the state," said Richard Godfrey, executive director of Rhode Island Housing.
Godfrey noted similar bond-funded affordable housing projects in North Smithfield, Lincoln and Pawtucket, to name a few.
The Harrisville mill is being rehabilitated into 47 mixed-income units. The project received $1.2 million in bond funding from Rhode Island's Housing Resources Commission to establish 36 affordable apartments, eligible for those making between 40 and 60 percent of the median income.
Serving as a backdrop to the ceremony and speaking program was the new Jesse M. Smith Memorial Library, which was constructed at the north end of the Stillwater Mill site and is the cornerstone of the town's efforts to revitalize the mill. The $9 million library was completed earlier this month and will open to the public in March.
The mill complex was built 100 years ago and at one time manufactured worsted cloth. The mill was in operation during both world wars and was last used in the 1960s. Most of the complex is vacant and dilapidated.
The master plan developed by the town to revitalize the 12-acre mill calls for a range of mixed-use housing, a new public library and street-level retail and service uses.
At the event, representatives of HousingWorks RI put up the first of several outdoor signs that will be erected at all developments funded through the program. The sign reads: "Your Housing Dollars at Work."
HousingWorks RI, a coalition that advocates for quality affordable housing, led the campaign last year in favor of the $50 million affordable housing bond,
"We have the wisdom of Rhode Island voters and the vision and commitment of the Town of Burrillville to thank for the Stillwater Mill," said Joe Garlick, executive director of NeighborWorks Blackstone River Valley, the non-profit development firm that is heading the Stillwater project."Building homes Rhode Island is providing the essential funding we need to move this project off the drafting table and into construction.
"This project is a living, breathing model of good planning and an incredibly solid vision," he added.
"We are very pleased that Burrillville was included in this first round of bond funding," said Town Council President Nancy F. Binns. "The Building Homes Rhode Island Program is helping Burrillville to expand its long-time commitment to affordable housing."
Last year, Binns noted, more affordable homes were created in Burrillville than in any other city or town in the state, with the exception of Providence and South Kingstown.
Early next year, the Housing Resource Commission will release an additional $2.5 million in bonds for rental units only. The commission plans to award an additional $12.5 million through Building Homes Rhode Island in each of the next three years through 2010.
Also attending Thursday's event were town councilors Margaret Dudley, Wallace Lees, John Karmozyn and Kevin Blais; Town Manager Michael Wood; Town Planner Thomas Kravitz; James Langlois, chairman of the Burrillville Redevelopment Agency; Robert Billington, executive director of the Blackstone Valley Tourism Council; and Susan Baxter, chairwoman of the Housing Resources Commission.
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 05 December 2007 )
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