By BOB MARTIN
Eagle Times Staff
CLAREMONT, N.H. — The Marion L. Phillips Apartments need new elevators as the current ones are pushing 50 years old, and on Wednesday night the Claremont City Council unanimously approved the application for a Community Development Block Grant of up to $500,000 that would be used for replacements.
The apartment complex has 96 units and is occupied by elderly and disabled people with extreme low and low income. Mayor Dale Girard said that the project conforms with the Claremont Housing and Community Development Goal of encouraging varied stock of safe, sanitary, decent and affordable housing for people of all ages and income groups.
Marion Phillips Apartments is managed by the Claremont Housing Authority, and Executive Director Michelle Aiken addressed the council about the need for the elevators.
“We are looking to upgrade our elevators,” Aiken said. “They’re out of ADA compliance. They were built in 1975 so there are a lot of things that happen like leveling. You know, you want your elevators to land so that nobody trips. Things like that.”
Aiken explained that there are many components and parts that they can’t get anymore because of the age of the elevators.
“The state has said certain things have to be done, and we went through a conversion a few years ago, so we don’t have that capital fund set up yet,” she said. “It would be about four or five years before we would be able to do it, so we’re hoping that the CDBG grant would help us out with this.”
The public was given a chance to speak but nobody did so, and once the public hearing was closed, Councilor Nick Koloski made the motion to approve the grant. The motion was seconded by Councilor Bill Limoges. There were no comments by any members of the council, and it passed through a 9-0 vote.
The city council also voted unanimously to adopt the city’s residential anti-displacement relocation assistance plan for the proposed CDBG housing funds to be used for improvements at the apartment complex.
Donna Lane, a CDBG consultant, said that while the second motion sounded scary, she wanted to assure people that nobody is getting displaced.
“We have to adopt it every time you ask for CDBG funds,” Lane said. “Nobody’s being displaced. We’re fixing elevators, OK? So, I don’t want anybody to be scared and think that they have to move or anything like that. It is project-specific, but we have to adopt it every time we ask for CDBG. I just wanted to clarify that nobody gets nervous about it.”