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Coatesville's Redevelopment Authority looks ahead to ease relocation for affected residents and businesses as city revitalization moves forward
The Coatesville officials responsible for guiding the city's ongoing revitalization effort have taken steps to ease the transition for residents and businesses that will eventually need to relocate as development progresses.
The members of the city's Redevelopment Authority announced at a recent meeting that they are working with the Ingerman Group to increase the amount of low- and moderate-income housing available for residents of the areas affected by the revitalization's construction projects.
The Ingerman Group recently acquired the Elmwood Garden Apartments at 100 Harlan Drive, a 62-unit building that is currently about half occupied, according to Assistant City Manager E. Jean Krack. The authority is approving a memorandum of understanding lending its support to the group's application for state funds to help renovate the apartments. These funds are meant to increase the amount of high-quality housing available for people with low and moderate incomes. The city will officially support those applications with the understanding that the housing can be used by the residents who eventually will need to move as the revitalization moves ahead.
Krack notes that the apartments proposed for renovation are only about 500 yards from the areas where relocation will be necessary, which should make moving a little less stressful for the affected residents.
The properties in the city that T.R. White, Inc. will be renovating are also envisioned as potential "landing zones" for displaced residents and businesses, Krack said.
The exact number of residents and businesses that will be moving, the locations affected, and the timeline for the relocation are currently being studied by James Franciscus, the city's newly appointed project manager for the revitalization effort.
When formal project declarations are made for the different components of the revitalization, federal and state law will require financial assistance for the residents and businesses affected, Krack said. But he emphasized that besides meeting those requirements, city officials wanted to help ease the transition by arranging early on in the planning to make a variety of high-quality housing options available.
They have also been talking to residents and business owners in the affected areas to get their input, avoid misunderstandings, and allay fears. "By talking to them now, we're eliminating the rumor mill," Krack says.
The study and planning being done now by the project manager, other city employees, the Redevelopment Authority, and the City Council are intended to make the necessary relocations a temporary inconvenience that will ultimately provide a permanently improved environment for the affected residents and businesses and the entire community.
"Our purpose is to minimize the impact," Krack said. "We're very concerned about our citizens."
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