The Jefferson city council at its April 12 meeting approved a $150,000, 10-year forgivable loan agreement with Addi Meyer and Amanda Bills, DBA Pub Adventures LLC, to renovate and improve the street level at 123 N. Chestnut St (formerly a hardware store) as a restaurant and pub.
Pub Adventures purchased the building in 2019. The project includes rehabilitating six second-story apartments. That part of the project received a $500,000 Community Development Block Grant. CDBG guidelines stipulate the housing portion must be completed before the downstairs project.
The forgivable loan is similar to economic development agreements in place with other downtown property owners who have purchased historic buildings in need of substantial work.
Total project cost is $2,223,440.
The council also heard the first “pitch” of a proposal from Greene County Development Corporation board president Sid Jones to spur new home construction in Jefferson. Jones reminded the council that limited availability of affordable homes has been a stumbling block in economic development for many years.
Jones’ suggestion is that the city reimburse home builders $15,000 toward the cost of the lot after construction is complete and the builder has an occupancy permit. According to Jones, a 1,400 square-foot house with no basement but with a two-car garage would have an assessed value of about $200,000. Property taxes would be about $4,400, with that being divided in thirds by the city, the county, and Greene County Schools. The city would recoup its investment in 9.3 years or less.
The program would be used most efficiently for vacant lots the city owns or has control of, but the reimbursement would be available to any builder putting up a new home within the city.
Jones said that over the last seven years an average of three new homes have been built each year in Jefferson. “Wild imagination – What would happen if this spurred enough interest to build 20 homes in one year? That would cost the city $300,000. A pretty good investment, an investment that allows for a lot larger number than we’ve ever been able to accomplish.”
“It’s just a concept for you to think about. It’s a little different spin on incentives,” he said. He added that it would be easy to manage, since no funds would be disbursed to a builder until the house was ready for occupancy.
Council member Harry Ahrenholtz supports the idea. He said the council should “take a look at this and play with the numbers a bit.”
The council received a report of trap-neuter-return efforts during 2021. Linn Price was on the agenda to give the report but opted to stay home with her children due to the dangerous weather forecast. She relayed her information to council member Darren Jackson, who is on the council’s “cat committee.”
A total of 49 cats were seen through the joint effort of People for Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) and Animal Protection and Education (APE).
Thirty-one of those cats were trapped, neutered, and returned to their neighborhood. The two largest colonies in the project included 10 cats from W. South St and eight cats from E. State/N. Olive St. Other colonies served were at Lincoln Way near the fairgrounds, N. Chestnut/Washington St, south of Greene County Elementary, at W. Lincoln Way/High St.
Four cats were euthanize due to illnesses from which they would not have recovered, regardless of any veterinary care provided.
Fourteen of the cats were found to be friendly enough or young enough to be adoptable through PAWS or APE.
The TNR project received three different grants totaling $7,000. A large portion of those funds is still available. Included in the total is a $3,000 grant to assist in altering any Greene County cat, including house cats. The surgery can be done at either veterinary clinic in Jefferson or at APE’s Boone clinic. The amount of assistance available to the cat owner will be determined by PAWS on a case by case basis. “The hope for these funds is to stop house cats from ending up outside cats due to behaviors that come along with puberty, like howling or spraying, Price noted.
The TNR project includes microchipping cats when they’re altered by APE. Three cats were identified by their microchip in 2021. One was returned to its adopted family and two were returned to their colony.
“We still need help, though. We need those feeding cats to come forward to PAWS or APE,” Price wrote.
