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On Monday, Nov. 15, Dare commissioners gave instructions for developing options for building workforce or essential housing on the Bowsertown site.

The commissioners want to look at a mixed development of about 120 units, split between 90 one-bedroom and 30 two-bedroom units.

Commissioners are expecting to spend money. The options will include financing amounts of $7 million, $7.5 million, $8 million, $8.5 million and $9 million.

Sarah Odio, project manager with Development Finance Initiative at the School of Government, UNC-Chapel Hill, is expected to have the options prepared by the end of the current week.

The commissioners are planning to make a decision at the board’s Dec. 6 meeting.

The board will have more affordable housing decisions to make in the coming year.

The General Assembly’s Compromise Budget, released Nov. 15, includes $35 million “to Dare County for the construction of affordable housing units.”

“That’s fantastic,” said Robert L. Woodard, chairman of the Dare County Board of Commissioners. “There is a Santa Claus.”

Some of that funding will go to the Bowsertown project, reported Woodard. Several sites throughout Dare County have been identified as possible locations for housing projects.

One of those sites that will not be in the mix is the Elizabethan Inn. At the housing meeting, the site was labeled as too expensive.

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