SOUTH BEND — A narrow strip of asphalt darker than the pavement surrounding it on California Avenue, a main east-to-west thoroughfare in the Near Northwest Neighborhood, represents an unglamorous but costly aspect of building a new house in an old neighborhood: connecting the property to city water and sewer services.
Small-scale developers in South Bend, such as the Near Northwest Neighborhood Association, which is nearly finished with a new home at 1037 California Avenue, say the procedure especially hampers efforts to build lower-income housing on vacant lots. Widely varying fees for excavation, street closure, asphalt paving, sidewalk restoration and associated labor can surpass $20,000 at more cumbersome sites.
By reimbursing developers of infill housing for up to $20,000 of that cost, and waiving utility connection fees for some projects, a new city initiative to begin in mid-July aims to encourage builders to fill vacant lots in older South Bend neighborhoods where the housing stock is sparsest.
City officials say two new programs are the first in a series of actions to be announced this year designed to bring more housing to historically dense neighborhoods that are now replete with unused lots. Other potential policies, as outlined in a 2018 Near Northwest Neighborhood plan, could seek to reduce zoning compliance costs or the cost of installing mandatory sprinkler systems.
The goal is to gradually close a gap, which is tens of thousands of dollars wide in such neighborhoods, between the high cost of building a new home and the relatively low market price it will earn upon being sold in urban areas of South Bend. South Bend Mayor James Mueller and Director of Public Works Eric Horvath announced the new programs Thursday.
More on housing in South Bend:South Bend Heritage Foundation to open nearly 30 affordable units this summer