Housing Unit for Volunteers: Clarkstown Set to Sign Deal with Normandy Village

The Clarkstown Town Board Tuesday authorized town Supervisor Alex Gromack to sign a deal with Normandy Village in Nanuet that will turn over one unit at the housing complex to the town so that Clarkstown can lease it at an affordable price to a local emergency services volunteer.

The agreement is part of an updated arrangement the Town Board approved in June to move ahead with an effort to help volunteers find affordable housing.

The deal provides one unit at the housing complex on College Avenue to the town for free, altering and original deal had called for selling three units at below-market rates to a local housing agency that would in turn rent them to local volunteers.

A 2008 agreement between the town and Normandy Village, spearheaded by the late Councilman Ralph Mandia, called for providing three units at Normandy Village for local volunteers in exchange for a zoning change to allow construction of 12 new units at the complex. The deal called for Normandy Village to sell the three units to the Rockland Housing Action Coalition at about $150,000 below-market prices.

However, because of the downturn in the economy, the housing agency  told the town it could not obtain the necessary financing to buy the units, according to Clarkstown Town Attorney Amy Mele. In response, Mele said Normandy Village agreed to give directly to the town one unit at the existing complex, which the town can in turn lease to an emergency services volunteer.

Mele said the town plans on contracting with Rockland Housing Action Coalition to manage the leasing of the unit to a volunteer, like the coalition does under a contract for volunteer housing in the Town of Orangetown.

The rent to be charged for the town-owned unit is still to be determined, and the process of selecting volunteers eligible to rent the unit is also to be determined. Mele said the rent for the apartment would be based on the costs associated with the unit, such as the monthly maintenance fees.

Clarkstown Councilman George Hoehmann of Nanuet in June proposed that when the town takes possession of the Normandy Village unit, that the town dedicate it in honor of Mandia, who died June 2, 2009. Mandia was first elected to the Town Board in 1989 and was re-elected four times. He resigned from the board in February 2009 due to illness.

The agreement with Normandy Village turns over Unit 8 in Building 20 in Normandy Village Section II to the town.