River Cities Business Journal: Real Estate

Special to the Journal

MOHAVE COUNTY - Arizona Department of Housing Director Fred Karnas discussed issues with county, regional and city officials during a visit to Mohave County on March 18.

Karnas began his day with a meeting with Mayor Les Byram and others at the City of Kingman building. He then visited with Chairman of the Mohave County Board of Supervisors Pete Byers and County Manager Ron Walker followed by a round-table discussion with county, city and regional officials. Attendants included County Community and Economic Development Director Susie-Parel Duranceau, Community Services Manager Dave Wolf and Grants Coordination Specialist Barbara Blythe, Western Arizona Council of Governments (WACOG) Executive Director Brian Babiars, Kingman Planning Administrator Thomas Duranceau, Kingman Historic Preservation Officer Bill Shilling and Bullhead City Contract Specialist Denise Filey and Housing Inspector Liz Housley. Karnas then met with Continuum of Care Providers at the County Administration Building and then concluded his day with a tour of the Katherine Heights affordable housing development, which is just north-east of Bullhead City.

Karnas replaced Dr. Sheila Harris as state Housing director in October, 2007.

During his meetings with local officials, Karnas discussed a variety of topics including the state Housing Trust Fund, Community Development Block Grants (CDBGs), work force housing and home ownership programs, the economy and dealing with the state Legislature. He also said he wanted to meet his partners on the local levels and “find out what is working and what's not working. My goal is to be more connected to the communities.”

Dealing with the impacts of growth and the preservation of affordable housing was heavily discussed as well as fair housing issues.

“I've had fairly good success meeting with a number of legislators in helping them understand” Department of Housing funding, Karnas said. “Maintaining infrastructure is criticalŠ.This is a big hole the state is in and we will all have to share it. We may have to make some changes and there will be some bumps along the way.”

The various agency representatives discussed working together as partners in the “evolutionary process” of housing services.

In the afternoon, Karnas and Mohave County Supervisor Tom Sockwell, Dist. 2, toured Katherine Heights, a tax-credit, affordable housing development just north-east of Bullhead City.

ACMC, Inc. Manager of Development Paul Durr and President Gregory Wagner conducted the tour and answered questions. According to company literature, “Adams Construction and Management Company, Inc., and its affiliated company, ACMC, Inc., is a Utah based development and construction alliance operating in the Intermountain West.”

Katherine Heights is being developed “under the Federal Tax Credit program as administered by the Arizona Department of Housin.” Occupancy is limited to “families with annual income at 50 percent or less of the area medium income.” Right now, there are 54 family townhouses and 56 senior (age 55 plus) tax credit homes completed and another phase under construction.

“There are three vacant units in the senior section,” Durr said, “while we are at 100 percent occupancy in our family units.”

“This was a very unique project for us in many ways,” Wagner said. “We have our own sewer treatment plant. We drilled some wells and have our own water distribution system.”

“This is a beautiful development,” Sockwell said. “The roomy, well-made, sprinklered units are high quality, landscaped homes for low-income working families and seniors. The rents are very affordable. There are yards, wide streets, great views, sidewalks and a community center with a playground, basketball court and swimming pool. There are accommodations for people with handicapsŠ.and everything is extremely clean.”