The morning after a pivotal and contentious meeting on what could be the largest affordable housing project in Jackson, Housing Supply Board Chair Laura Bonich apologized to the mayor and town council.
“Please accept my apology for my comments yesterday which I realize were neither constructive or helpful in any way,” she wrote in an April 7 email viewed by KHOL.
During the meeting she had admonished electeds for not understanding the financing plans for 90 Virginian Lane. An additional $5 million ask came as a surprise to electeds, who thought their previous commitment had satisfied the developer, Pennrose.
“I’m sitting back here thinking, ‘What the heck? You’re all smart people. How could you possibly come up here and now say, ‘Oh, my gosh, this is new information?’” she said at the podium.
Bonich has been supportive of the project in previous supply board meetings. She has expressed frustration that electeds aren’t moving faster on a deal two years in the making.
In her apology, she pushed for officials to approve another $10 million in public funding for the 90 Virginian Lane project, converting a now publicly owned RV park into more than 200 affordable homes. That project is now in jeopardy as electeds worry about rising costs.
“For-sale units for lower incomes always require more subsidy and are the hardest to provide,” Bonich wrote.
The day after pressing “send,” she resigned from the volunteer post she’s held for nearly a decade. She did not give a reason and declined to comment when reached by text. Her term was up in December.
“I admire your amazing dedication to our community,” she wrote to Housing Director April Norton and other county staff. The housing board is a volunteer group of seven that advise the joint town and county department.
The next meeting on the project’s development agreement is next Monday, May 11.
The shakeup comes as electeds have publicly mulled overhauling how the housing department operates. Some want the joint government department to again act as developer rather than a public partner for private developers.
