Town Hall Meeting in Lansing addresses tax abatement ordinance, local housing needs, future of Old Stone School

by Julie Berg-Raymond

With several significant developments either happening now or being on the near horizon in Lansing, Main Street Lansing (MSL), at the request of the city council, recently held a town hall meeting to open a public conversation about some of these developments.

About 30 community members attended the meeting, held Monday, October 2 in Meehan Memorial Lansing Public Library, to learn about and discuss three topics: 1) a residential tax abatement ordinance currently being drafted for Lansing by attorneys at Dorsey & Whitney, LLC, of Des Moines, who are serving as bond counsel for the City’s residential tax abatement/urban revitalization plan; 2) housing issues and needs in Lansing - currently being addressed in the Allamakee County Housing Study, a joint project of Allamakee County Economic Development and Tourism (ACED), and Upper Explorerland Regional Planning Commission (UERPC); and 3) the Old Stone School, and how people would like to see it used.

Among those in attendance at the meeting were Lansing Mayor Melissa Hammell; members of the Lansing City Council; Val Reinke, executive director of Allamakee County Economic Development & Tourism; Michelle Barness, regional planner with Upper Explorerland Regional Planning Commission; and MSL Executive Director Andrew Boddicker. Lansing City Council member Ian Zahren presented on the Tax Abatement Ordinance; Barness spoke about the county housing study, and local housing issues and needs; and Boddicker conducted an open discussion about what community members would like to see happen with the Old Stone School.

TAX ABATEMENT ORDINANCE
City council member Zahren presented information about the possible institution of a Tax Abatement Ordinance in Lansing. Zahren has been working on the development of such an ordinance through his involvement on the MSL Economic Vitality Committee and the city council, in consultation with the Dorsey & Whitney law firm of Des Moines and UERPC.

A tax abatement is a reduction in the taxes due on a property for a specified amount of time. According to information Zahren offered in the presentation, “tax abatement is a tool that is used regularly by municipalities across the country to help achieve their objectives related to housing.” This tool, Zahren said, “can be used to help us grow our housing stock, our population, and in the end, increase our tax revenue.” One of the key objectives of instituting a tax abatement ordinance, he said, is “to increase (Lansing’s) population to 1,000.”

Zahren emphasized the importance of understanding that a tax abatement “does not reduce the City’s tax revenue in any way.” An abatement does stay with the property if it sells, he said; and it may incentivize a property owner to start work on developing or improving their property. He said it does not apply to the school tax levy, and it does not apply to commercially zoned properties.

One attendee, Teresa Severson of Lansing, wondered about that latter point: “Since we don’t have zoning in Lansing,” she asked, “how is that going to work?” Zahren said, “the (Allamakee County) assessor will make that determination.”

An important advantage of having a tax abatement ordinance, Zahren said, is that it shows City vestment for certain grants, workforce tax credits, and other state funding. “In order to get grant money,” he said, “you need to have skin in the game.”

Zahren described four levels of abatement currently being considered in the drafting of the ordinance: Existing Residential; New Residential; Multi-Residential; and Multi-Residential/Multi-Use. Further, Zahren said that a tax abatement policy “can be changed over time if the council deems it appropriate,” and that “it can be amended to include other tools like commercial tax abatement.”

In terms of where the tax abatement ordinance currently stands and the next steps involved, Zahren said the city council has approved a one-time payment of $4,500 to Dorsey & Whitney, LLC, of Des Moines, attorneys who will draft the City’s ordinance for the residential tax abatement/urban revitalization plan. When completed, the draft will be given to the city council. Every city resident will receive a letter about the ordinance - following which, two public hearings will be held. Zahren said final passing of the ordinance is anticipated in December.

“We just want to see more people live here; we want people to move here,” Zahren said, adding that a tax abatement ordinance “has good implications for our school district, our business district, our tax base, and our quality of life.”

COMMUNITY MEMBERS’ CONCERNS ABOUT LOCAL HOUSING
Regional Planner with UERPC Michelle Barness spoke to meeting attendees about the Allamakee County Housing Study, a joint project of Allamakee County Economic Development and Tourism, and Upper Explorerland Regional Planning Commission. Barness distributed hand-outs that, utilizing data from the U.S. Census Bureau, identified current housing needs and gaps in Lansing and laid out figures on local demographics and housing.

In order to help people visualize open lots and to situate themselves with the city limits, maps of the city were set out throughout the library. To get a sense of what attendees saw as Lansing’s greatest housing issues and needs, and to gather input on what they saw as potential housing opportunities, Barness asked each table to discuss these questions, and to assign a reporter at their table who would write down the results of their conversations.

Following the meeting, Barness identified via email what she saw emerging as common themes among the tables’ discussions. Community members in attendance, for example, felt that more housing is needed in general; and they expressed an interest in talking about a variety of housing types and densities - single or multi-family dwellings; rentals or owner-occupied. They wondered about specific types of housing possibilities - for example, downtown apartments, townhomes, single family homes, senior housing, and multi-family complexes.

They suggested that new construction or redevelopment could be focused on blighted properties, empty lots, or where there is room to grow. They wondered whether the City would consider annexation of different areas as a route to new housing options. They expressed concerns about the issue of short-term rentals/Airbnbs using up available housing and about the challenge of finding investors or developers. They also expressed a desire to keep housing affordable.

Barness said she will summarize Lansing’s input provided during the town hall meeting within the larger, countywide housing study. “Community housing meetings will continue around the county,” she said. “The Lansing feedback will help inform discussion of countywide housing solutions but will also serve as a reference - along with researched data - for individual communities The study will continue through December ’23-January ’24.”

As part of the Allamakee County Housing Study, county residents are being asked to complete a short survey. The survey is available online at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/V8LDVL8. A hard copy of the survey is available by calling Michelle Barness at Upper Explorerland, at 563-419-6243.

OLD STONE SCHOOL
Before opening a public conversation about the Old Stone School, MSL Executive Director Andrew Boddicker told those in attendance that “the City is working on developing a solution and making a decision for the next chapter of the Old Stone School.” He added, “Public feedback is a necessary part of that decision-making process.”

Boddicker drew attention to the conclusions and recommendations of a study commissioned in 2022 by the Lansing City Council and conducted by a team of University of Iowa civil and environmental engineering students. The study was conducted to evaluate the structure and to create plans for renovating it and repurposing it for City of Lansing offices and apartments.

Opening up the public conversation, Boddicker offered the following questions: “In terms of priority, where does the Old Stone School fall for you in terms of important City projects and improvements?” “If money and funding were not a factor, what would you like to see happen with the site?” “What level of investment would you accept from the City as a reasonable contribution to the project - $1 million? $500,000? $250,000?” “If the City were to sell the property to a developer for housing, would you support that decision, or not?” “Why is the Old Stone School important to you? Why is it not?”

Among the comments and questions raised during the discussion was the fact that the biggest challenge to renovating the building was getting it structurally ready. Larry Schellhammer, of rural Lansing, said renovation could probably be done for substantially less than the figures suggested by the University of Iowa study. “It all depends on your end goal,” he said, adding that developers “get a little nervous when you start talking about historical preservation.”

Some attendees expressed concern about the City being a landlord for rental housing units and wondered about the possibilities of: a) using the building for purposes/functions other than housing and b) selling the property to a developer. Dr. Sarah Murray, superintendent for Eastern Allamakee Community Schools and principal at Kee High School/Middle School, said the building’s location so close to the high school/middle school is a problem, given its present condition. “We need people to say, ‘We want to go to school here’; it’s hard to do, when it’s sitting next to an eyesore. We need to do something with it. I believe the building has a ton of potential and could again be a highlight of Lansing.”

For Murray, as for other attendees, the local need for affordable housing is a big concern - and she said she’d like to see the Old Stone School utilized toward meeting that need. “I personally would like to see housing be an option as that is where we are struggling in this community right now,” she said. “However, it must be reasonably priced or we end up with more vacation rentals, which is less helpful to the sustainability of the school.”

Schellhammer said the building has “some good bones, and a good roof - which saved the building. I don’t think it’s to the point of being a tear-down. But if you pass up another opportunity to do something, you will have a tear-down at some point.”

In an email following the meeting, Boddicker said he was “very excited to see the amount of interest in the future of the school. The feedback was helpful to get a taste of what the citizens of Lansing would like to see done with that space. There are plenty of unanswered questions, but having that first discussion is helpful.”

Boddicker said five individuals signed up after the meeting to create an advisory group for the Old Stone School. The group, he said, will “help the City research future funding ideas, and ultimately direct the decision-making process when that time comes.” Jeramie Wheeler, who recently moved to Lansing with his family, was one of the five individuals who volunteered to serve on the advisory board. “Getting involved is the best way to get to know this beautiful community,” he said.