|
With workforce units in place, crews can begin getting Willow apartments ready for potential renters
By Mike Gervais Register Staff
Local residents who have been working in Bishop for more than six months should now begin thinking about their living arrangements, and whether they want to apply for residence in the Willow Street Apartments.
Construction of the workforce housing project is beginning to wind down and by this fall, Pacific West Communities, Inc., the company who brought the development to Bishop, will be ready to start moving members of the local workforce into the 11 available dwellings. Contractor Pacific Construction began placing a series of pre-fabricated buildings on their foundations on Willow Street earlier this week. That work was completed yesterday, but there is still about five months of work that will go into the complex before renters begin moving in. Hopefully, residents will begin occupying the apartments in September, said Caleb Roope, president of Pacific West Communities, Inc. “There is going to be a period of about 90 days of stitching and patching the seams of the paneling and drywall” on the pre-fab buildings, he noted. During that time, Pacific Construction will also roof the buildings.. After the roofing and paneling work is completed, probably next month, interior designers will begin painting and laying carpet in the apartments. Landscaping work on the grounds will be done next. Then Pacific West Communities, Inc. will begin interviewing possible tenants, beginning in August. The project has progressed at a quicker pace than anticipated. “We are ahead of schedule. The weather has cooperated and we have a great team working construction,” Roope said, noting that the project has nonetheless had its share of snags since work started on it more than a year ago. “We hit a minor snag when it came to water-proofing the foundations; it became a little difficult, because it’s a small site without a lot of room to move things around,” Roope said, adding that the construction crews working on the apartment complex were able to work with the city to rectify the problem. “We’re satisfied, the city didn’t have much experience with the pre-fab buildings, but we worked it out,” he added. When the project was first brought up to the council a year ago, many residents had concerns regarding the apartment complex, but some of the major supporters for the workforce housing complex have been some of Inyo County’s largest employers, who have been hurting when it comes to attracting and retaining skilled employees. The Inyo National Forest has “a tremendously high turnover due to” a lack of available, affordable housing, National Forest Supervisor Jeff Baily said at a Bishop City Council meeting last year when the project was first being discussed. He noted that Inyo County is a desirable place to work and live, but many people turn down positions when they begin looking at the prices of local housing. Susan Batchelder, representing Northern Inyo Hospital told the council last year that the hospital is in favor of the project. “The biggest challenge for Northern Inyo Hospital, by far, is to attract qualified, professional staff to work at the hospital” amidst the affordable housing shortage. And, “as one of the largest employers in Bishop,” the hospital strongly supports the new workforce housing project, she said. Local residents have been watching housing prices steadily increase for a number of years now, as Mammoth Lakes continues to grow, forcing much of its workforce to commute from Bishop, flooding the communities of Inyo County with residents who don’t even work there. In order to make sure the Willow Street apartments go to local workers, the city, along with Pacific West Communities, Inc., have come up with some guidelines regarding who the dwellings will be rented to. For example, the city can refuse to rent to anyone who is not a legal resident. Also, there is a stipulation that the apartments will open first to local residents who have been working in Bishop for more than six months. Another big draw for the city is that Pacific West will pay a live-in manager to care for the property night and day, which has been a problem with other apartment complexes in the city. Roope explained that in his other apartment complexes he has standards for income to ensure that those who need the housing are given the first opportunity to rent, and that renters make enough money to pay the rent. The general rule is that renters can spend “no more than 50 percent of their income on rent and no less than 30 percent,” he said in an earlier interview. Roope has also touched on the aesthetics of the buildings. He said the paint and general look of the apartments will mesh well with surrounding Bishop.
|
