TIRZ-1 Housing Group Holds 1st Meeting on 100-Home Plan
Olney’s first tax increment reinvestment zone stepped closer to creating much-needed housing last week, holding its first official meeting, organizing the board and advancing agreements designed to spur construction of more than 150 homes.
The Reinvestment Zone Number One board met July 22 at Olney City Hall, where members considered rules of procedure, elected officers and took up agreements involving the City of Olney, Young County, Olney Hamilton Hospital District, Tower Extrusions and Olney Development LLC. The agenda also called for adoption of the TIRZ project and financing plan for recommendation to the City Council.
TIRZ 1 is a 45-year, developer-led reinvestment zone intended primarily to address one of Olney’s most persistent economic-development problems: a shortage of housing.
Mayor Rue Rogers said the plan includes several different types of housing aimed at bringing some of the more than 1,000 people who commute into Olney each day to work at Tower Extrusions, Air Tractor, CEMCO, Olney Hamilton Hospital, Olney ISD, Brazos Communications and Fort Belknap Electric Cooperative.
“If we could get 100plus homes — I think the original TIRZ 1 plan is 150-plus — and if we can get that built and then get those sold … that is transformative for the whole community,” Mayor Rogers said in an interview with the Olney on Air podcast last week.
The largest concentration could be on the Morrison property near Highland Drive and the city water tower, where plans envision 100 entry- and mid-level homes, he said.
Another development is planned for the Bumpers property along Country Club Road across from the Olney Recreation Association golf course. Mayor Rogers said that property, currently outside the city limits, is envisioned for larger homes on approximately five-acre tracts and will be voluntarily annexed into Olney.
Olney Development also owns property near Tower Extrusions and Three T Meats where plans include quadplexes and additional homes.
Precinct 3 County Commissioner Alan Craig, who serves on the TIRZ board, said the developments are already being platted, although he had not yet seen the plats.
Mr. Craig said he raised concerns at the meeting about the impact of the Country Club Road development on county traffic.
“As an Olney resident, I want as much as I can, but also as county commissioner, I’ve gotta look at the traffic and how many access points you’re wanting to put on Country Club Road,” he said. Plans for those entrances already are being developed, he said.