News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
The number of apartments coming to Algood has raised concerns among some members of the city council.
City Engineer Matthew Tucker said the perception of too many apartments in Algood is affected by where they get built. Tucker said that when you look at the map, apartments make up a small portion of land area.
“Because they are, as Tommy just said, in areas that are defined as best use they end up along main thoroughfares,” Tucker said. “They end up near your central business district and they end up in areas that are more highly trafficked.”
Tucker said the density of apartments stem from the city’s current zoning, and requirements say they have to be in certain areas. Tucker said while someone might see a lot of apartments on Main Street, if they went to an area like Mirandy road, they would see all single family homes.
Building Inspector Bob Lane said there are roughly 500 apartments in Algood.
Lane said that the reason people are wanting to develop apartments as opposed to single family homes has two reasons. Lane said that infrastructure has to be expanded and millennials are simply less interested in buying a home.
“I can think of two new houses that are under construction, there’s no where to build none,” Lane said. “So we’re gonna have to grow the city and the only way to do that’s through annexation and extension of infrastructure, water and sewer. If it isn’t out there they can’t use it. The best thing that could happen is single family residential in any city but we don’t have it. You just don’t have anywhere to do it, maybe there’s a few lots here or there but there’s not a lot.”
Lane also said that Algood is a desirable place to live, but the new generation does not have the same wants and needs when it comes to housing.
“This millennial bunch, they don’t want a house, they want an apartment,” Lane said. “When the garbage disposal doesn’t work they want to make a phone call. They don’t want to worry about having to call and hire somebody and that’s just the world we live in.”
Planning Director Tommy Lee said that answering the question of if Algood needs more apartments is in the eye of the beholder. Lee said that both Tucker and Lane’s perspectives on apartment density are why an area like Main Street sees rezoning requests to build apartments.
“When you think about high density residential, you want that development to be close to your downtown,” Lee said. “Which will promote walkability and decrease some of the traffic that’s on your streets.”
This discussion comes from a tabled rezoning request to add a third building to Quarry Run at 299 East Main Street. Currently, 299 East Main Street is a single home between Quarry Run and Bradley Station.
