More houses coming to Pecan Grove
By Elizabeth Billips Associate Editor

Sixty-four more families could make their homes in Pecan Grove next year.

Next month, construction of phase two will begin, including a much-needed access road onto Lovers Lane.

The houses will each have three or four bedrooms, according to Mike Altman of Hammond Development Company, and like the first 40 built, will help fill a housing niche for working families with low to moderate incomes.

While the homes will only be available as rentals for the first 15 years, tenants will eventually be given an option to buy.

"This housing is important to Waynesboro, especially since we have a shortage of work force housing and affordable rentals," said councilman James "Chick" Jones, who chairs the city's housing com- mittee. "The development is in a nice location and gives the feeling of living in a house rather than an apartment. Hopefully, it will spur house ownership initiatives."

Although the city is providing a few incentives to promote the project, city council refused Hammond Development's latest request for a five-year tax abatement.

That deferment would have sucked around $16,000 a year from the city's tax revenue, according to city administrator Jerry Coalson.

Last Monday, city council did agree to provide labor to clear 22 pecan trees along the proposed roadway and to install a water line.