UPDATED: Transient Worker Housing Plans in Carrollton Scrapped

The Times Reporter has some further details on the Utica Shale Housing Group withdrawing their plans to build transient worker housing in Carrollton:

Each home was to have four bedrooms, four bathrooms and a common kitchen and living area. Coen had said the ranch homes would be quality construction, on permanent foundations, and would be converted to single-family, three-bedroom homes when the gas-and-oil boom had moved on from the county.
Coen had stressed to council that this type of housing would prevent the establishment of “man camps” in the county. Those developments have been perceived as having negative impacts on areas in which they are established.
In March, Coen told the council that the streets and driveways in the developments would be gravel initially, but would be paved, with proper gutters and storm drains, all by village regulations, when the homes were converted to single-family use.
One additional development was also planned for the Minerva area on 12 acres.
On May 9, Coen sent a letter to the mayor, council members and chamber of commerce members as well. In the letter, Coen said, “I feel there is no realistic plan in place here. Our primary concern in rural communities is the availability of water and sewer lines.”
Coen said that if communities have restrictions to modular, manufactured, or park model homes, the companies will be forced to move their housing farther out of the village.
If Utica Shale were permitted to build the type of housing in the locations they choose, using their standards and designs, then there would not be a concentration of large numbers of men in single-family homes, according to Coen.
In the letter, he urged local leaders to work in a collaborative effort to provide housing for the gas-and-oil workers.
Most council members said they felt that the letter was threatening.

Read the entire article here.

Original story from 5/17/12:

From the Mr. Thrifty:

When told by Mayor Frank Leghart that approval for development of the former Bissell property on South Lisbon Street was contingent upon the installation of paved streets, Dan Coen, of Utica Shale Housing Group, abruptly withdrew his request and left Carrollton Village Council's May 14 meeting.
At Monday's meeting, Coen commented that, because of infrastructure issues including paving requirements, his group is no longer interested in moving forward with a proposed development to provide housing for oil and gas workers on Mace Road, and then asked council members to transfer approval for the plat previously submitted by property owner Don Lalinsky for the Bissell property, to Utica Shale Housing Group.
Leghart then explained the conditional approval given to the Lalinsky plan required installation of paved streets with curbs and gutters in exchange for the village's agreeing to relax width requirements for the access street into the proposed development.
At that, Coen said, "Then I withdraw my request," and left.

It looks like an opportunity for considerable development which would have helped with the difficulty in finding affordable area housing in the wake of the shale boom may have fallen by the wayside.



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