Foley Leaders Discuss Growth Options

FOLEY (WJON News) - Officials in Foley are ready to see the town start to grow.

Due to infrastructure problems, a building moratorium has been in place for the past few years. Once the wastewater interconnect with St. Cloud is complete, Foley can begin to grow again.

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At last week’s city council meeting, Benton Economic Partnerships gave a presentation indicating the city has a current demand for about 340 homes, apartment units, and senior living units, with an expected demand of about 814 units in the next ten years.

Amanda Othoudt is the Executive Director of the Benton Economic Partnership. She says a few developers have already expressed interest in building in Foley.

There is a lot of interest in developing new single-family homes as well as multifamily dwellings. The problem comes with the current interest rate environment as well as the cost of building materials and the cost of infrastructure.

Once the wastewater interconnect between Foley and St. Cloud is complete, Foley officials are bracing for a surge in development and are interested in learning more about the programs and options available to the city and private businesses to help grow.

We talked about a number of different ways that the city can accomplish that through added programs, the use of economic development incentives, or, tax increment financing or tax abatement.

Othoudt says the largest segment of demand is senior living. She suggests the demand exists for more than 1300 memory care, assisted living, independent living, and affordable housing units over the next ten years.

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