mschechter@aikenstandard.com
Affordable housing in Aiken can be difficult to come by - a lesson resident Dale Couch and his wife Barbara learned when they were looking for a home last year.
"We were paying almost $900 a month for a two-bedroom apartment," Barbara said. "I'm retired, he's (Dale) retired; it's just hard to make it on two social securities, and he's on disability. I can't go to Cedar Creek or Woodside. So we had to find something within our budget."
The couple moved into a home in the Crosland Park neighborhood last fall. The home is just one of many the City of Aiken bought, renovated and resold on the market. Everything from the paint, the floors to the appliances and heat was installed new by the City.
"We love the neighborhood; it's great," Dale said. "We have some crime, but who doesn't?" he inquired, referring to Crosland Park's stigma in the community.
But like Couch, the Urban Land Institute panel pointed out in a December 2014 meeting that the neighborhood is still dealing with a "public perception" problem, deeply rooted in instances of crime activity, a lack of home sales and a slow transition due to impacts of the 2008 financial recession.
The history
The City of Aiken approved more than a decade ago a "Northside Development Plan," calling for the construction and rehabilitation of more than 350 homes as part of an initiative to revitalize Aiken's Northside.
Toole Hill was one of the first neighborhoods targeted under this approach, due to its heavy crime rate, the age of the homes and declining buildings and infrastructure. It was a neighborhood, interim City Manager Roger LeDuc said, "that was disconnected."
The City, with the help of several nonprofits, churches and the Aiken Corporation, purchased about 70 percent of the property in Toole Hill, turning the declining neighborhood into a $4 million investment, LeDuc said. The City not only built homes, but installed sidewalks and streetlights, bought sheds for all of the properties and installed porches on the front of the homes to "make a neighborhood that would work," LeDuc said.
At the time of Toole Hill's revitalization, state grants were available because the economy was doing well. But that same financial climate didn't pan out for Crosland Park.
The Crosland Park neighborhood was developed in the 1950s, in conjunction with the construction of the Savannah River Site. In 2009, the City focused its efforts on the neighborhood, voting to borrow $1.5 million from the City's water and sewer system equipment replacement fund to fund the rehabilitation of homes. Council also approved Aiken Corporation's request to borrow $170,000 for construction and rehabilitation of homes in Edgewood and Crosland Park.
"We thought we could do the same thing in Crosland Park (like Toole Hill), but at the time when we were accumulating all these lots and we were ready to accumulate several hundred other lots, the economy turned and the grants were not available to these nonprofits to tear down or renovate these homes," LeDuc said.
Residential and City involvement
Crosland Park resident Gary Yount said he doesn't disagree with the City's involvement in the neighborhood; he thinks the City's effort to bring the nonprofits together as partners was a "great idea."
"But when the stock market tanked and basically the grants dried up, I really think that's when things began to stall and fall apart - making people lose interest," Yount said. "Before 2008 to 2012, we were really trying to define what Crosland Park was and what its neighborhood association was going to be and do. I think now is a good time to get back involved with the Realtors and develop partnerships with others so we can work together and bring more people to Crosland Park."
Yount has lived in Crosland Park for nearly 29 years. He's also been the past and now current president of the neighborhood association. He said he'd like to see "a lot of things happen," but realistically he doesn't know if they will.
"I'd like to see us clean up the neighborhood, get rid of the litter," he said. "I'd like to see the association partner together with businesses over here and maybe have like a job fair to get the area teenagers involved. I'd like to see us work together with the landlords and the City."
More than 50 percent of those living in Crosland Park are renters, causing a lack of relationship between homeowners and the landlords. Both Dale and Barbara Couch said they would like to see more streetlights, possibly speed bumps to deter drivers from speeding and more retail and shopping options in the area.
Just within the past year, the City has moved forward on various projects to be located on Aiken's Northside. City Council just recently chose the architect for the proposed Eustis Park Senior-Youth Center, and the City is also getting closer to identifying land for the Northside park. Also just last week, the Greater Aiken Chamber of Commerce held a presentation from retail group Retail Strategies to help identify retail options for Aiken.
"We need to have some major things happen on the Northside," LeDuc said. "With the recreation center, over the next five to 10 years, there will be $15 million to $20 million invested. ... We've also been talking with other people to come alongside us and build their facilities on this side of town. But the main thing is people need to look at not what's going to happen next week or in the next year. They need to look down the road 10 to 20 years from now."
Where Crosland Park goes from here
Since the City acquired more than the dozen homes, the City's Special Projects Coordinator Emory Langston said there are now only 10 City-owned homes for sale.
The price ranges of those homes have also dropped, now ranging from $63,500 to $65,000. Langston went before Council in January, requesting those prices be lowered. She said they are now more "right in line" of where they should have been.
The City also has again received the help of a grant to work with the Second Baptist Development Corporation, who will tear down some of the boarded up homes and are now free to develop those properties however they wish.
LeDuc said the City's involvement in fixing up the area is still a good idea; he said the City will just have to find the "right timing again when grants are available."
"When we first started Crosland Park in 2006, we had 13 nonprofits sign a memorandum of understanding of how to work together," LeDuc said. "Again, at the time the grants were there, and now that the funds to get these grants are building back up, it might be time again to resurrect that agreement."
Like many others, residents Gary Yount and Dale and Barbara Couch would like to see a touch of Toole Hill in Crosland Park.
"When you compare aesthetically what you see in Toole Hill and what you see in Crosland Park, there is a big difference," Yount said. " ... But I'd love to see something like that in Crosland Park. There's a lot of determined people here who would like to drive this neighborhood in that direction."
Dale said he has mixed feelings of copying exactly what Toole Hill looks like, but he said he supports partnering with other entities to move forward.
"A lot of work went into Toole Hill, but we had good results," LeDuc said. "I believe in the Northside - the development there and in Toole Hill. I think with the new projects, there will be more movement."
To get involved in the Crosland Park Neighborhood Association, email Gary Yount at gyount@atlanticbb.net.
Maayan Schechter is the local government reporter with Aiken Standard. Follow her on Twitter @MaayanSchechter.
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