Cedar Rapids affordable housing project gets a second chance via ‘successive application’

CEDAR RAPIDS - CommonBond Communities is getting another chance to pitch its affordable housing project known as Crestwood Ridge Apartments.

The Cedar Rapids City Council on Tuesday voted 6-2 to grant a rarely used 'successive application,” which means the officials believe the project has changed substantially enough to warrant reconsideration within one year of being denied.

The City Council rejected a rezoning request on Oct. 25 for the 45-unit complex proposed for city land at 1200 Edgewood Road NW. The project, which features five units set aside for the chronically homeless and the promise of $8 million in federal tax credits, has faced considerable pushback from neighbors.

'We are here to simply determine whether there's substantial change,” Council member Ralph Russell said in confirming what the panel was voting on.

Russell, Scott Overland, Pat Shey, Ann Poe, Susie Weinacht and Justin Shields voted in favor while Mayor Ron Corbett and Scott Olson voted against. Kris Gulick abstained due to business relationships.

The vote simply allows CommonBond, a St. Paul, Minn.-based nonprofit that develops affordable housing in the Midwest, to go back to square one. The firm must resubmit its plans to the City Planning Commission and City Council in the coming weeks.

Justin Eilers, a project manager for CommonBond, said he is pleased with the vote, but declined to speculate on what chances the project has. He vowed to try to work to educate neighbors about the project.

'We know there's no guarantees of the outcome,” he said.

Eilers said his group is planning a neighborhood meeting in the coming weeks before the matter goes to the City Planning Commission.

Based on the level of opposition from neighbors, the measure is likely to face a supermajority requirement of 75 percent support from City Council for passage, as it did in October.

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