About 30 people attended a public hearing on a proposed low-income apartment complex in Byram Thursday night, and many of them expressed opposition to the project.

Pinnacle Housing Group, a company that develops subsidized housing through a federal housing tax credit program, would be the developer of the complex off the Byram Parkway.

Residents and landowners who attended the meeting at Richard Wright library in south Jackson said they were worried the complex would mean more students in already-crowded schools and more motorists on already-crowded roads.

“The infrastructure, as far as traffic is concerned, is completely unprepared for additional apartments,” said Dale Schwindaman, 49, who lives south of Byram and owns two small office buildings near where the complex is to be built.

District 29 Sen. Richard White, who represents the area, pointed out that monthly rent on an apartment in the complex would range from $400 to $730, about what he said would be a monthly mortgage payment on a starter home.

“Those families need to have houses,” he said. “They don’t need to be in low-income apartments … We need to encourage people to move into houses and not low-income apartments … It gives them a sense of ownership.”

Hayes Dent, a spokesman for Pinnacle, agreed the complex would increase traffic in the area and put more students in local schools. But such things are part of life in a rapidly-growing community, he said.

“The community of Byram is experiencing explosive growth,” Dent said after the hearing. “It’s not going to contribute any more (traffic) or any less than any other of the vast amount of development that’s taking place in that community right now.”

Despite the opposition, the project is expected to proceed because the land is already zoned for such a development, and it does not require approval by Hinds County supervisors.

Not everyone was opposed to the complex.

Buddy Brock, 60, of Crystal Springs owns commercial and residential property in Byram. The complex would bring money into local businesses, he said.

“Low-income buys just like upper-income people buy,” he said. “It’s going to create cash flow.”

The site on the Parkway is one of 10 the Miami-based company is considering in the state. This will be the third complex planned for the Byram area in about two years.

In November 2006, supervisors voted 4-1 in favor of rezoning property off the frontage road in Byram for a complex. One year earlier, supervisors approved another proposal for a 250-unit facility off Siwell Road near Forest Woods Estate Subdivision.

Pinnacle has faced opposition before. Earlier this year, the company pulled out of a proposal to build subsidized apartments in Terry after a filing in Hinds County Circuit Court against the project and a push by some residents to quash the deal.

Source: www.clarionledger.com

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