Photos courtesy of Cody Sexton
Botetourt County officials’ efforts to “fertilize” the affordable housing field was the focus of Monday’s daylong Housing Summit at Greenfield Education and Training Center.
Stuart Patz of Stuart Patz & Associates did a presentation on the recently completed housing study the Board of Supervisors commissioned last year to see how the county might help stimulate housing/apartment development to accommodate the people who will be filling the promised 1,200-plus jobs that will be available over the next few years.
The county has identified the lack of affordable housing for the people who will take the jobs that are coming to Ballast Point Brewery & Spirits, Dynax, Eldor Corp. and the Virginia Community College System’s combined services center as a challenge.
Repeatedly, county officials have said they’d like the people who fill those jobs to live in Botetourt.
Thus, Monday’s summit to bring together developers, builders, realtors, property owners, financial institutions, Virginia Housing Development Authority representatives and county officials.
County officials hoped the program would provide those folks with a chance to network and discuss possibilities that could begin to fulfill the projected housing need.
The formal parts of the program included Patz’s presentation, a county vision of the new Gateway Crossing area around the Exit 150 highway access improvement project, insights into development and discussions about finance and funding opportunities.