NEW ALBANY, Ind. — What began as a recommendation from New Albany's Mayor, has moved through committee Monday.
City council members gathered to discuss the potential pause on multi-family apartments and short-term rentals.
Mayor Jeff Gahan said the idea was birthed from a comprehensive housing study done by the University of Louisville. The study's results showed New Albany should focus its efforts on increasing single-family homes.
Since the last comprehensive plan was adopted in 2017, the city has seen an unbalanced housing stock, according to this diagram below.
"Twenty percent of new construction has been single family. Seventy-three percent new construction has been apartment units, and seven percent has been public housing," Redevelopment & Economic Development Director Claire Johnson said.
With that being said, committee member Chris Fitzgerald is in favor of Mayor Gahan's recommendation despite not being a fan of moratoriums.
"I think level-setting is imperative so that we have a variety and a thriving community," Fitzgerald said.
Resident, Alecha Redmond agrees, adding rentals are stunting the city's growth.
"We need homeowners. We don't need more apartments," Redmond said. "We need an opportunity for even our low income families to find a way so that they can purchase and start paying back into the city. The more people invest in the city, the better it would be for the city as a whole."
However, before Redmond can fully back the zoning ordinance, she said she needs more information from leaders. So far, city council shared the moratorium would pause construction for a year. It would also prevent developers from gaining new permits to build multi family homes.
Council President Adam Dickey said this would give officials time to improve New Albany's land use.
"And to come up with some good common sense reforms that may help us to incentivize our housing," he said.
Ultimately ensuring the city continues to grow in the right direction.
City council plans to vote on the zoning ordinance in the weeks to come. In the meantime, the planning commission will hold a public hearing on Tuesday, Jan. 30 at 7 p.m.
Then the moratorium will be up put for consideration on Feb. 5.
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