An affordable housing development for McCall-Donnelly School District employees is one step closer to becoming reality.
Last week, the McCall Planning and Zoning Commission signed off on the first phase of the plan, which will include eight apartments and a single-family cottage.
The site is just south of McCall-Donnelly High School. Ultimately, it could offer 35 housing units on 4.4-acres, which would be open to teachers and classified staff alike.
Kerstin Dettrich is with the district’s consultant, The Land Group, Inc. She said teachers are experiencing the housing crunch in the resort community like many others.
“I meet ski patrollers that live in their cars and other young professionals that are living in yurts and trailers without power and water because they’re trying to make their life work,” Dettrich said during an April planning and zoning meeting.
The goal, she said, is to have the first phase be move-in ready for the start of the 2024 academic year. The commission initially delayed a decision on the plan during its April meeting to work out some technical issues.
A requirement to bury the power lines, for example, was waived. The district said it would be cost-prohibitive on an affordable housing project, pointing out that several other owners on the same street all have exposed power lines.
School district officials are still working out details of how leasing these homes will work.
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