Mount Airy officials are being asked to re-apply for $250,000 in Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) money to aid a local apartment complex, where rent charges will be higher without such funding.

“It would benefit the future residents of Edgewood Place apartments,” Craig Stone, president of Wynnefield Properties, said regarding the application during a Mount Airy Board of Commissioners meeting Thursday night.

Wynnefield Properties, of Jamestown, is developing the $7.4 million 56-unit complex on Edgewood Drive, located near Walmart, which will cater to working families needing two- and three-bedroom apartments.

The city commissioners had applied earlier this year for $250,000 in federal CDBG funds, for which the allowable uses include housing projects benefiting low- and moderate-income individuals. In the case of Edgewood Place — where residents will need to earn 60 percent or less of the area’s median income — the funds have been targeted for infrastructure needs such as streets, sewer lines and sidewalks.

However, the initial request was denied due to intense competition for CDBG money among projects in various communities.

Federal housing credits totaling $450,379 and a $315,000 Rental Production Program (RPP) loan were awarded for the Edgewood Place development by the North Carolina Housing Finance Agency. The federal credits will be spread over a 10-year period, Stone said at Thursday night’s meeting.

He said the failure to qualify for CDBG money was a stumbling block, but will not keep the development from moving forward. Stone asked that the city government re-apply for the funds on behalf of Edgewood Place, since the lack of them could increase rent costs by $50 per unit.

“We’re going to try to do everything we can to try to mitigate that, but it would have an impact,” Stone said.

The new apartments are viewed as a needed boost to Mount Airy’s housing market, which has an abundance of older and ill-maintained rental units.

City board members did not take action Thursday night on Stone’s request for the re-application for CDBG funding, due to Commissioner Shirley Brinkley being absent, but are expected to formally consider it during a November meeting.

Board Appointments

Also Thursday night, the board:

• Voted to appoint members to a new city recycling committee. Its tasks will include exploring ways to improve the curbside recycling program launched by Mount Airy last winter and educating the public about it in order to increase participation.

The members appointed Thursday include Dave Petri, Roger Haymore, Tracy Greenwood, Ken Klamfoth and Lee Daniels.

• Reappointed N.A. Barnes and John Collins to the Mount Airy Planning Board. Each was approved for a new three-year term to expire on Oct. 31, 2015.

Reach Tom Joyce at 719-1924 or tjoyce@heartlandpublications.com.