An updated drawing of the Pillsbury Commons proposal shows the original driveway moved off of Pillsbury Avenue and apartment entrances facing a parking lot in the rear instead of the street.

Richfield City Council, Planning Commission and residents hear details of workforce apartment project

A packed Richfield City Council chamber was on hand Tuesday evening to hear an hour-long presentation from developer Ron Clark on his proposal to build a 70-unit apartment complex at 77th and Pillsbury.

The special work session also provided an opportunity for City Council and Planning Commission members to pose questions about the affordable-housing development, and several neighbors used the council's open forum afterward to air their views about the plan.

The project started to become controversial when Clark's original plans for a smaller condominium development on the site became an affordable-housing project. In recent months, neighbors have organized opposition to the development, sending letters and e-mails to City Hall and speaking at City Council public forums. City councilmen also voiced reservations about the switch.

Some of their objections, voiced at an open house in November, led to some of the revisions to the project presented Tuesday evening by Kendra Lindahl of Landform company, who was representing Ron Clark Construction and Design.

If the developer can obtain rezoning for the site from the city and the city approves a tax-increment finance district for the project, Lindahl said:

- The development will fill the southern half of the block between 76th and 77th, about 2 acres, with an L-shaped complex featuring four stories of apartments on 77th Street and two-story apartments on Pillsbury. 
- The cost of construction will be about $12.5 million, or $179,641 per unit.
- Rents will be $787 a month for one of the complex's six one-bedroom apartments, $945 for two bedrooms (45 units) and $1,091 for three (19 units), rents that are updated annually.
- The target market for the project is working people in Richfield. A family of four would qualify for an apartment if its income from all sources is less than $50,340.
- Steven Scott Management, which will have an employee on site, will manage the complex.
- Three of the units would be rented through Simpson Housing Services and one through the Veteran's Administration for a homeless vet.
- Objections from neighbors and the city about a proposed entrance mid-block on Pillsbury Avenue caused a change of plan that moves the entrance to 76th Street.

Members of the Planning Commission and the council asked several questions after Lindahl's hour-long presentation, including:
- How will the tax credits that supply 70 percent of the money needed to build the project work? (Banks and other brokers sell the credits to companies and individuals that want a tax break).
- Will Ron Clark Construction develop the northern half of the property or release it? (Clark has no plans to develop it and will release it).
- Will the proceeds of selling a house disqualify seniors from being eligible for an apartment? (Not unless interest on the money from the sale pushes the senior over the income limits).
- Will Richfield residents get priority? (Minnesota Housing and Finance Agency guidelines for tenant selection don't usually allow that).
- Have higher crime rates followed development like this into other locations? (The Steven Scott management company has turned around a crime problem at an apartment complex in Richfield in the past, and some studies show it hasn't been a problem. This is something disputed by opponents).
- Will neighboring property values fall if a high-density apartment comples moves into a neighborhood? (Lindahl cited a 2001 study of the Twin Cities metro area and others that show it does not, but this is also disputed by opponents). 

Read the documentation sent to the city by Ron Clark Construction and Design

Look at the website being maintained by opponents of the project