By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
A Bowling Green landlord is taking issue with the city’s plan to donate building lots to Habitat for Humanity.
Bob Maurer sent a letter to city officials questioning a proposal to give Habitat the vacant lots where a water tower used to sit at the southwest corner of Manville Avenue and Clough Street.
While Maurer said the donation is a “noble gesture,” he suggested the city should reconsider.
”We would point out that the three lots in question are not worthless,” Maurer wrote. “If they are (zoned residential) the value is over $100,000. We would pay that amount in cash for them.”
“At a time when there is a ‘budget problem’ is it a good time to donate $100,000 of the taxpayers’ monies to two people? The City of Bowling Green must not have any financial problems if it can fund a $100,000 donation like this,” Maurer wrote.
“We do think it makes more sense to have ‘individuals’ give their personal monies for gifts than have taxpayer funds used? We feel the majority of the taxpayers of Bowling Green would prefer that. Please weigh and consider the proposed transaction,” Maurer wrote.
Mark Ohashi, director of Habitat for Humanity of Wood County, was surprised by the criticism of the land donation.
“I did not see that coming,” he said on Thursday.
Ohashi said the benefits of Habitat houses go far beyond two individuals.
“The benefit is generational. The impact may look like you are only serving two families, but the implications of decent housing extend past the home,” Ohashi said. Habitat homes turn families into contributing members of the community and lead to better health.
“There are all sorts of risk factors with substandard housing,” he said. “Our goal is always through decent housing we’re creating better citizens.”
Ohashi questioned the suggestion that the lots would be better used as apartments.
“That’s just promoting a dead end,” he said. “It just promotes that cycle of families not being able to develop wealth through home ownership.”
Brian O’Connell, director of the city’s public utilities, said he did not state the property was worthless, as Maurer had written, but rather that the lots had no long-term purpose for the city utilities department.
The Bowling Green Board of Public Utilities voted unanimously Monday evening to give the property to Habitat for Humanity of Wood County. The organization has 37 built homes on donated lots throughout the county – but never in Bowling Green.
“Acquiring land in Bowling Green has been hard,” Ohashi said last week as the organization dedicated two of its newest homes in Weston.
Since the water tower removal, the city has maintained the grass lot. But the property has no long-term use for either the utilities department or the city, O’Connell explained. So city staff met with Ohashi regarding the Manville site.
“Working with Habitat for Humanity will return these lots to an appropriate long-term residential use of the property,” O’Connell said.
O’Connell also stated this option appears to fit with recent recommendations from the Planning Department on residential developments on the east side of Bowling Green. This project will likely generate positive community outreach and volunteer efforts for many local organizations and citizens.
Sale of the property would put revenue into the utilities budget – not the general fund, which is the fund experiencing a shortfall. The utilities board voted unanimously for the land donation.
“At this point, it’s up to the city council and what they want to do,” O’Connell said. “I can’t say how council will see it.”
Mayor Dick Edwards supports the Habitat homes in Bowling Green.
“It doesn’t surprise me that Bob would like to have that property,” Edwards said on Thursday.
But the Habitat homes at that location build on the city’s neighborhood revitalization plan. “I see this as a positive for the community.”
Edwards said the city does have a shortfall in the city’s general fund revenue – but it is not something that can be solved by selling the lots to Maurer. “It needs a more substantive fix,” he said.
When asked about his letter, Maurer said his motivation was to make the city aware of all the options.
“I think there are two or three developers who would love to have three building lots,” he said.
“I have no problem with Habitat,” Maurer said. However, he has an issue with the city giving away property. “I consider that taxpayers’ money.”
“I was just trying to call their attention to that it isn’t a worthless property,” he said. “I’m convinced enough that I’d give them a check for $100,000. They are a prime location for college housing.”
However, city officials have been vocal in their support of Habitat homes in the community, especially since they support the neighborhood revitalization efforts.
