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Critics find fault with affordable housing
By KATHERINE GAZELLA, Times Staff Writer TARPON SPRINGS -- A month ago, Maggie Miles talked excitedly about her new home, which was under construction in the neighborhood where she grew up. "My roots are here," the 36-year-old cost analyst said at the time. "I'm right at home." But Miles later decided the house, which she helped to customize, wasn't right for her family after all. The 1,170-square-foot, three-bedroom, two-bath house would cost her $97,750, which she and her husband now consider too little space and too much money for a house in the Union Academy neighborhood. "The location and the square footage -- I felt it didn't add up," she said. In a way, it is just a decision by one family about one house. But it happened within the context of a larger discussion in which a few members of a neighborhood group are criticizing this house and other affordable homes being built by Joe Heidenreich. The critics argue that the homes are too small and cost too much. The most vocal critic is Ed Cole, a photographer and the chairman of the Union Academy Neighborhood Oversight Committee. At a recent Tarpon Springs City Commission meeting, he said construction on the homes should be halted. "The houses that are constructed are not large enough," he later said. "I believe the houses constructed could have been larger, for that same amount of money or less." The four homes Heidenreich has under construction range from 1,170 to 1,251 square feet of living space. Cole also has been trying for years to get his own affordable housing project off the ground. He has proposed putting at least 16 affordable apartment units near Pine Street and Safford Avenue. So far, none have been built. Cole wouldn't discuss his proposed apartments except to say that his plans have nothing to do with what he has said about the new affordable homes. Records indicate that Cole's apartments would have three bedrooms, said Anthony Jones, a housing manager with Pinellas County Community Development. Records also show that the apartments would be 1,131 square feet, which is smaller than the houses Cole has criticized. As he has pursued the apartment project, one of the builders Cole approached about a potential business partnership was Heidenreich. He said Cole's numbers didn't add up. Cole thought the apartments would be worth more when they were completed than Heidenreich did, the builder said. Now, when asked if Cole's reaction to his houses could have something to do with his rejection of Cole's apartments, Heidenreich said, "I hate to even think that. But you've got to wonder." Heidenreich came into the Union Academy neighborhood earlier this year with big dreams. He wanted to build 60 to 70 homes in the neighborhood, which has been labeled blighted. He wanted the homes to be affordable but not look cheap. The homes are on lots acquired by the Tarpon Springs Housing Authority through a state urban infill grant. The price of the lots is passed along to the home buyers at the acquisition price, which is much less money than the assessed value. The lot for the house on Boyer Street, which Miles had planned to buy, will cost the home buyer $4,000 instead of the assessed value of about $20,000. When the grant was awarded, oversight committee member Annie Dabbs thought the group would have more input about the houses built in the neighborhood, she said. Now she is disappointed with the houses; but the committee is "not a party to the plan," she said. "The houses are too small and close together," said Dabbs, a technology coordinator for the Pinellas County school district. "The houses on MLK (have) a project-type effect." After Cole and Dabbs spoke of their concerns at a recent City Commission meeting, City Attorney John Hubbard wrote a memo about the role of the oversight committee and the rights of builders. The committee has a "limited but important role" with overseeing the $300,000 urban infill grant, which has been used mostly for land acquisition, lot clearing and cleanup activities, Hubbard wrote. "But it is the administrators, the other participating agencies and the builder that ultimately make the decision as to what is economically viable in the way of new housing under this program," he wrote. Cole and Dabbs do not speak for the entire committee. While they and committee member Audrey Merriex have expressed some concerns, others on the committee say they are happy with Heidenreich's plans. "Those houses are beautiful houses, and I'm glad to see them going up," said Alfred Quarterman, a committee member and the caretaker of the historically African-American Rose Cemetery in Tarpon Springs. "I think it's one of the best things that could have happened in this community in a long time. I suggest that people get with reality." Quarterman doesn't like that Cole has made some of his complaints in his capacity as oversight committee chairman. In his comments to the City Commission, Cole made statements about the committee's concerns about the project. "I don't like the idea of people using the oversight committee as a whole to say they are against it," Quarterman said. "That's just a few people that came up with this. I don't appreciate the people involving me in something I didn't have anything to say about." Construction has not been halted as Cole requested. The four houses Heidenreich is building are moving along on schedule. The Boyer Street house should be done within 30 days, he said. Houses on Martin Luther King Jr. Drive and Lincoln Avenue will be finished later. Real estate agent Bob McDugald took one potential buyer to the Boyer house last week and plans to bring others to look at it. "I think it's a great home," said McDugald, a real estate broker who owns Future Home Realty of Palm Harbor. "For the price and the amenities, you can't touch that in Pinellas County." Heidenreich said he thinks Cole talked Miles out of buying the house, although he said he feels no ill will toward her. "I think Maggie is missing an incredible opportunity. But that's Maggie's decision," he said. Miles said she talked to Cole about the size of the house, but he did not make her decision for her. "My ultimate decision was between me and my husband," she said. Ed Hayden, a Tarpon Springs police officer and member of the oversight committee, has worked in the neighborhood for the past 18 years. He thinks larger homes could be good for the neighborhood, but he doesn't know if they could be sold. "We're really targeting the first-time homebuyer, and we don't think the first-time homebuyer is looking for something that large," Hayden said. Most homes in Union Academy are 800 to 1,000 square feet, he said. Heidenreich said he would love to build larger homes, but he also doesn't think the market would support bigger homes in the neighborhood. "I just can't afford the financial risk of trying to build a 2,000-square-foot house," he said. In spite of the recent conflict, Heidenreich has every intention of continuing the project. "There's just a few people in the neighborhood -- it's almost like they're trying to suppress progress," he said. But he said: "I have every confidence we'll sell the houses." -- Katherine Gazella can be reached at (727) 445-4182 or gazella@sptimes.com.
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