Chandler work session themes include call for more ‘middle housing’
Independent Newsmedia/Jason W. Brooks
Chandler senior planner Alisa Petterson speaks to the Chandler City Council and others about housing topics during an Aug. 11 work session. Council gave staff some direction, but the main purpose of the nearly two-hour session was to inform council of progress on several initiatives and state and federal changes.
Courtesy of City of Chandler
Chandler’s citywide average rent has dipped slightly twice in the past four years, according to this chart. but affordability of housing was a main topic during an Aug. 11 work session. Council gave staff some direction, but the main purpose of the nearly 2-hour session was to inform council of progress on several initiatives and state and federal changes.
One of the city of Chandler’s stated goals is that a household shouldn’t have to pay more than 30% of its income for housing.
That was one of the many goals Chandler staff and others focused on in a multi-person presentation to the Chandler City Council in a work session held earlier this month on housing.
Priorities and land-use changes were part of a historical perspective in the work session, which included several presenters. Cultural Development Director Kim Moyers pointed out major differences between a 1995 downtown plan, when many city leaders and staff foresaw much more medium- and high-density residential housing being built there, and a 2006 plan that includes much more commercial and city-use property.
Some of the other presenters on a wide range of housing topics at the work session were some city directors and other staff who have something to do with development, along with consultants like Elliott Pollack & Co. President Rick Merritt, Jim Heid of sustainability consultancy UrbanGreen and Lorenzo Perez, the co-founder of Venue Projects LLC.
The city’s development services director, Kevin Snyder, began the presentations by mentioning many of the straining and constraining factors working against cities like Chandler in 2025 in their efforts to create more truly affordable housing. One of those factors is the “iffy” climate in terms of uncertain federal support, currently and in the years ahead, for housing programs.
Snyder talked about affordable housing as an economic development strategy, mentioning that it’s a Chandler goal to find ways to create conditions in which a minimal number of city residents are spending more than 30% of their income on housing.
Planning Administrator Kevin Mayo told Council it might take a couple more years of both housing assessments and pending legislation to really have a full picture of exactly what the city’s next steps will be in creating affordable housing.
Moyers recapped the city’s plans for a Washington Street neighborhood, which include building a connecting length of the street past Kessler Lane to Pecos Road. Council held an entire work session on that topic alone, focusing on the “missing middle” affordable housing that involves small condos or other starter homes.
Jason W. Brooks News Editor | Chandler Independent
Jason W. Brooks joined Independent Newsmedia, Inc., USA, in July 2021 as an associate editor. After a year covering Buckeye, he has covered Chandler since the fall of 2022, in addition to assisting the Daily Independent throughout his time at INI.
Education: University of New Mexico, bachelor of arts in journalism and mass communication, print emphasis, English minor.
Random Fact: He and his siblings witnessed a Space Shuttle launch and landing in the same year in person, on opposite coasts.
Hobbies: Karaoke, bicycling and American Sign Language.
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