NEW ALBANY, Ind. — Over the past decade, New Albany's mayor says the city has seen major growth in multi-family apartment complexes and short term rentals.
But now he says it's time to take a step back to ensure the city is growing in the right direction.
"We want everybody who wants to live in New Albany has the opportunity to come here and reside in a way that they are comfortable and safe," Mayor Jeff Gahan said.
This is why Gahan is calling on city council to take action. He says last year, officials partnered with UofL for a comprehensive housing study. Results show New Albany should focus its efforts on increasing single-family homes, which Gahan says could be done with a moratorium.
"The object is to look at all the property inside the city limits and make sure we're choosing wisely what goes into the vacancies," Gahan said. "We know from the housing study we need to make adjustments on the housing that's being developed and being built here in the city."
If passed, the moratorium would pause construction of apartments and short term rentals for more than a year. Just enough time for officials to improve the city's land use.
"We know a lot of people are preparing or considering new construction in New Albany, and we want to give those folks as much notice as we can to say 'Hey wait a minute. Wait a minute before you make decisions. Let us make sure our next comprehensive plan aligns with what you want to do here,'" Gahan said.
He says he understands this would greatly impact developers, but he assures it will be worth it in the end.
"These kind of decisions are necessary because we're trying to make decisions for our grandchildren, so it's really helpful for us to take a step back [and] make modifications based on new data and new growth," Gahan said.
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