Some residents have concerns about affordable housing projects moving to The Plains

By: Noah Cavin
Posted on: Monday, June 30, 2025

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THE PLAINS, Ohio (WOUB) – The average market value of a home on East First Street in The Plains is just over $76,000. That’s about to go way up after affordable housing projects are completed.

Over the next few years, 160 units of affordable housing will be placed along East First Street in three separate buildings, which concerns people like Todd Acheson, a property manager in The Plains.

Acheson helped author a petition against these housing developments that has gathered over 60 signatures. They claim they aren’t opposed to the idea of affordable housing in their community, but the housing developers have shown little to no interest in their voices.

“We’re not against affordable housing,” said Acheson. “It’s great to have affordable housing for the community, but it’s not great to have developments come in that dominate the neighborhood, don’t take into account the character of the neighborhood, the size of and the history of the neighborhood, and the input that the neighborhood may have to help provide a superior product both for the community, the immediate neighbors and the people that are going to live in the affordable housing itself.”

The first of the three Low Income Housing Tax Credit, or LIHTC, buildings is called The Lofts on First. It will provide 51 units of affordable housing that are exclusively for residents who are at least 55 years old.

The Lofts on First will be a three-story building with a massive parking lot that will hold as many as 102 vehicles and tall light poles to illuminate the property throughout the night.

It will also be located directly behind small single and multifamily housing.

“Kids are up and down and all the time, and it’s quiet and pleasant,” said Acheson. “It’s going to be a radical change of character. If these developments go in as proposed, it’ll just be obvious, you won’t be able to avoid it.”

Acheson, along with the petition’s co-author, Jon Branner, was one of several community members who attended an Athens Township trustee meeting to ask for a moratorium to be placed on the developments.

But it’s too late to stop the housing developments from being built, as they’ve already been approved, according to Steve Pierson, the vice-chairman for the Athens Township trustees.

“There isn’t anything we can do,” said Pierson. “If we put a moratorium in place, it would not affect an application that was submitted prior to that moratorium adoption date. So it wouldn’t affect previously approved projects. The regulations would be the same.”

Acheson claims that the developers were not transparent with the residents of The Plains during the planning process.

“It is very frustrating,” said Acheson. “They don’t communicate with us. We wanted to comment in a timely fashion on these developments, and we could not figure out what was going on or who would talk to us. But of course, I’ve put in requests to talk to people and get no response from them.”

Acheson says the developers have made buildings that would fit into the neighborhood, and that they should build those models instead of what they’re building soon.

“We have examples. We know these developers have actually built examples. You can see them on their website. They are attractive. And we go, ‘Look at this, this looks pretty nice.’ But that’s not what we’re seeing.”

Woda Cooper, the developer of The Lofts on First, did not comment.

The other two buildings being built are the second phase of The Lofts on First, which is another 51-unit building, and another development called Cornerstone on Eclipse Run, which will hold 58 units of affordable housing.