One of Trent Court’s historic apartment buildings could be saved from demolition and preserved as a public space, according to a report from New Bern Housing Authority Executive Director Tiffany Askew.
During a June 19 meeting of the NBHA Board of Commissioners, Askew said she recently met with the New Bern Historic Preservation Commission to discuss the progress of demolition plans for the Trent Court property. Askew said the commission members expressed that they were willing to approve the NBHA’s application for demolition once it is submitted but may want to discuss saving one of the buildings, which date back to 1941, for historic purposes.
The local Historic Preservation Commission consists of nine members which are appointed by the New Bern Board of Alderman, each for a three year term. The HPC is a public commission of the City of New Bern that is responsible for developing and administering historic guidelines.
“They can’t say whether they want to keep one (building) or not until we actually submit an application but that may actually be something they require us to do,” Askew said. “We’re not really sure at this point.”
Askew said if a Trent Court building is saved from demolition it would be one that sits in the area’s flood zone, not a structure located where new apartments and other possible future development could be located.
NBHA Board Vice-Chair Zeb Hough said the board’s current plan calls for them to keep one Trent Court building so it can be used as a public space. Hough said there is a possibility of raising the building, taking down its walls and using it as a pavilion for the public “as opposed to just sitting there as a dormant building.”
“Even historically speaking, I think a boarded up building sitting there is pretty useless and nonsensical,” Hough said.
Board member Sabrina Bengel suggested including a storyboard detailing the historical significance of Trent Court.
“But even if we raise it, it really takes away from the historical intent, the historic nature of it,” she commented.
The Housing Authority has confirmed that Trent Court residents displaced by the future demolition will be relocated at no expense. Askew said demolition plans have been submitted to the Federal Emergency Management Agency and that they are in the process of reviewing the documents.
“We actually got those to them early,” Askew said. “They were expecting to get them in the next couple of months and we got them to them the first of this month.”
According to Askew, FEMA and the Department of Housing and Urban Development have been meeting to decide who will be the lead agency on an environmental assessment of the Trent Court property. She said the agencies are discussing an agreement that would allow for only one environmental study of the property instead of the two that are currently required, one by FEMA and another by the City of New Bern.
Hough said the NBHA has been assisted in their communications with FEMA and HUD by Valarie Philipp, an associate managing director with Witt O’Brien’s who specializes in FEMA public assistance grant management and has been working with the housing authority since last December.
“Everything we can possibly be doing as an organization has been done and really we are relying on the mercy of the infrastructure of disaster and HUD and public housing and trying to work it out,” he commented.
Hough said he was hopeful demolition work would begin “sooner rather than later.”
“We’re really wrestling a lion and a bear called FEMA and HUD,” he told the board.
MOU with developer still awaiting approval
Plans for the redevelopment of Trent Court have been ongoing since just after 108 of the property’s 218 units were impacted by flood waters from Hurricane Florence. Twelve buildings at the site were permanently closed and recommended for demolition.
Under the current proposed plan, Trent Court’s existing units would be torn down, with phase 1 focusing on the flood-damaged units and phase 2 on the remaining occupied units. All new apartments would then be built back on the property.
At last week’s meeting, Housing Authority Attorney James Norment told the board he had still not received a response from Laurel Street, a Charlotte-based firm that develops mixed-income communities, regarding a proposed Memorandum of Understanding that was presented to the company on May 15.
According to Normant, the MOU is a non-binding agreement that lays out the details of what the NBHA would like to see for the Trent Court redevelopment.
In April, Lee Cochran, senior vice president for development with Laurel Street, said Laurel Street’s housing developments serve residents who earn 30% of the area median income up to those who can pay market value for new homes. He said Laurel Street offers multiple financing options, including low-income housing tax credit developments up to market rate housing.
Laurel Street was the developer for Indigo Ridge Senior Apartments in New Bern and has worked on mixed-income communities such as Park Terrace in High Point, Brenner Crossing in Salisbury, Renaissance in Charlotte, and Highland Grove in Richmond.
By Todd Wetherington, co-editor. Send an email with questions or comments.