Overview:

We the single family home owners of properties within the Lincoln Ridge Development along with residents of Indianola, Iowa oppose the development as proposed by Kading Properties. We are asking that you support us in asking this housing development as proposed be voted down. 

We as single family home owners would like to see this area be developed as single family homes in accordance with an R3 Zoning requirement. 

Background: 

Kading Properties develops and builds affordable income properties in various Central Iowa locations, including, Indianola. They currently operate two developments called Lincoln Ridge 1 and Lincoln Ridge 2, which are located within the Lincoln Ridge development on the Northeast side of town, specifically on North 9th Street.

Kading Properties purchased an additional 17 acres within this same development and has presented site plans for an additional 150 units of affordable income housing. Cavitt Creek Condominiums I & II are two developments of duplexes and six-plexes similar to their existing neighborhoods. These proposed condominiums would also qualify for Section 8 Housing Assistance, based on resident income. 

Development Concerns: 

Police records indicate a dramatic increase in demand on our police force, and crime in our neighborhood. Prior to their properties being built, we had a total of 11 police calls to our neighborhood in ten years. Since they've been here, it has averaged over 160 calls per year to their Properties alone. (Over 800 calls since 1/1/2014 or about every other day). Everything from crime, shots fired, domestic situations, sexual abuse, many other reasons, and some non-emergency type calls. These numbers don't include the calls to our single family residences. A number of us have been victim to crime and vandalism ourselves as well since they moved in. 

The exact numbers are as follows: 

• 2014 124 total calls to Kading
• 2015 146 total calls to Kading
• 2016 157 total calls to Kading
• 2017 200 total calls to Kading
• 2018 167 total calls to Kading
• 2019 83 calls (as of 8/1/2019)

To give you an example, here is a list of just some of the incidents that one neighbor who lives near Kading Properties has experienced :

• Four of their vehicles have had windows broken out.
• One vehicle was rear ended in the street and knocked into another vehicle
• During the day, someone pulled open their locked gate and entered the garage. One dog was hit on the head with a heavy object and ran away due to gate being open.
• They've caught kids poking their dogs with sticks and throwing rocks at them in their backyard.
• One dog has had a chunk taken out of her side and had to get several stitches to repair.
• They've had dogs shot with a BB gun.
• They've caught a kid jumping on the hood of their vehicle. 
• On numerous occasions, domestic fights can be heard coming from Kading Properties from their house.
• They've called several times due to vehicles speeding in/out of the development and squealing tires.
• Two weeks ago, they caught people on the side of their house at 3am. They ran towards Kading Properties.

In addition to how they have changed our neighborhood, their developments lack green space, sufficient parking for their residents, and play areas for the children who reside in their units. We, as well as their own residents deal with traffic problems, parking issues, and unsafe situations with children who have nowhere to play, but the streets and storm run off ditches. We encourage you to look up this company for yourself to form your own opinion about their business ethics and how they conduct business. 

We have concerns about 150 more families being added in only a 2-3 block radius, and the impact that will have on traffic, storm water, utilities, property values, and long term impacts of high density. 

The current properties have a total of 137 units with 3 bedrooms and a total population of those units of 538 people. That is an average of 3.9 people per unit. Take into consideration that there are some units with 1, 2 or 3 people living in a few makes most of the units at the max occupancy of 5 people according to their lease agreements. 

The median household income of their current units is $42k (information provided by Kading Properties). Warren County's low income limits according to the National HUD standards for a family of 4 (the average unit occupancy) are as follows:

• Very low income - $43,750
• Extremely Low Income - $26,250
• Low (80%) Income $70,000

By these standards most of the residents would qualify for low income Section 8 housing assistance, (which would be subject to availability through the Warren County Housing Authority).

We're concerned about the impact on our school system. Emerson is above capacity with some classrooms at 27 students, however the impact reaches district wide as the students would not all be elementary age. While our student numbers district wide declined in 2016 and 2017, Emerson Elementary is crowded and has had to turn students away. A redistrict is inevitable as Kading adds to the student population. 

In addition to being a significant drain on our city's resources and being a population density concern, the project qualifies for a corporate tax abatement. This means the city loses out on significant tax revenue, because the tax income generated by these affordable income housing developments are not only lower than single family homes, they are putting a higher drain on our city's resources. 

Please join us by signing this petition to oppose the building of the Cavitt Creek Condominiums by Kading Properties. While this is happening in our neighborhood, it's taking away from resources and tax base for the entire city.