by Jackie Nunnery
HEATHSVILLE—More affordable housing is on the horizon for Northumberland County. The board of supervisors on Thursday, October 10, approved a conditional use permit for an apartment building in Callao.
After failing to find interested commercial tenants, Daniel Tomlin of Old Tidewater Properties plans to renovate the lower half of the building at 410 Northumberland Highway in Callao to create 12 residential units.
Despite the approval, the hearing was not without concerns. Supervisor A.C. Fisher questioned who would be living in the apartments, and “what requirements” Tomlin would require for renters. Tomlin said he is “hoping for workforce housing—teachers, prison guards” and that Fair Housing laws prevented him from “picking and choosing who lives there.” He added that plans are for eight additional studio and one bedroom apartments, “not super conducive to families but more for working individuals.”
Fisher countered that “everybody needs a place to live, I understand that,” but was “concerned about the clientele that was going to be there, what strain is going to be put on county resources, what controls management is going to have so that people are doing what they’re supposed to do, if they’re not doing what they’re supposed to do are you more concerned about the dollar or are you going to put them out?”
Tomlin responded that he had a property management company and was “certainly not a slumlord and I don’t plan to be.” Tomlin has already renovated the outside….
