Brothers Greg and Neel Gibson want to develop properties in McComb they say will combat sprawl and blight while providing solid, affordable housing. But the solution they have brought before city officials has one aspect that makes some nervous — it involves manufactured housing.
“I know the knee-jerk reaction of most people when they hear this phrase is, ‘Oh, they want to use trailers,’ ” Neel Gibson said. “Manufactured homes are built by the same standards as on-site homes are built.”
The Gibsons are Realtors and manage rental properties through Appleton Investments.
They spoke before the city Planning Commission on Monday.
Neel Gibson told members he has nearly 100 rental applications for people who can’t find a place to rent.
“There’s a real problem finding affordable housing in McComb,” he said. “We found that many working people who come through our office to apply for rentals can’t afford the standard rent of $700 to $1,000. That’s what it takes to rent a house that is in any way nice.
“Homes for $500 are usually in very bad shape and below that the housing is dilapidated and are insufficiently insulated, creating electricity bills that are $400 to $500. We propose homes that will cost $600 a month.”
The Gibsons presented a “housing infill proposal” during a city board meeting in April, and city officials asked them to go before the Planning Commission.
In their proposal, they presented photos of the housing they are considering — cottage-style manufactured homes with architectural features that match standard-built homes.
They plan to place these homes on permanent foundations on lots primarily in east McComb.
The thing the brothers need from the city is permission to place the homes there at all, since the city does not allow mobile or otherwise manufactured homes to be placed inside city limits.
“We want to delineate an area, keeping zoning ordinances, but adding to it by allowing manufactured housing,” Neel Gibson said. “We think these should be approved on a case-by-case basis, so that the city can maintain control over the types of homes that are placed in the infill area.”
The Gibsons have an area in east McComb outlined in their proposal. It consists of 75 city blocks and has the potential for 1,000 home sites.
The concern of Planning Commission members like Johnny Turner is that if they allow the Gibsons to put in manufactured housing, many more requests will follow.
“If we let you put in trailers, then there is no telling how many people we will get coming in here wanting to put a trailer in,” Turner said. “I want to make sure this won’t be something like putting in mobile home parks.”
Neel Gibson said the “manufactured housing” will not look like trailers or mobile homes, and he spelled out two other reason why he and his brother have no intentions of creating mobile home parks.
“Number one, I don’t want to manage them, and number two, they will not add to, or increase the surrounding property values, and that is one of the things we want to do —turn around the blight that is growing in the center of the city. (The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development) is now standing by this as a solution to blight. We want you to remain in control over the types of housing that is accepted,” he said.
The Gibsons pointed out that property values in east McComb are already low because many properties there are dilapidated and abandoned. This project would bring values up, subsequently increasing property tax revenues for the city.
Planning commissioner Steve Cox liked the looks of the homes shown in the proposal, and he said he believes this is where they would need to refine their proposal.
“I think what you need to do for this board is to bring back a definitive description of the housing,” Cox said. “Will it be skirted with brick? Will it have a pitched roof?”
Commissioner Alvin Burkes said, “We are all for anything that will look better than what’s here now.”
Commissioner Maureen Clark agreed: “We hope that it can be worked out. In your efforts to define the housing that will be used you will need to go before the architectural review board and find out what the requirements are in historical districts. I think this will work, but we need to do a little more research.”
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To review the Gibsons’ proposal, visit www.Appleton InvestmentsMS.com. For more information, they may be reached at (601) 324-4048.
