<body><div><figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=1UlAqc_15kGpOgd00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=1UlAqc_15kGpOgd00" width="2048" height="1365" ></figure>QUINCY — Michael Fleetwood made a pitch to the Quincy Housing Task Force at its meeting last month to utilize an outside developer to place modular homes on nuisance properties throughout Quincy and Hannibal, where he serves as a member of the Hannibal City Council.The plan would generate additional tax revenue and cut expenses for the cities by getting properties back on the tax roll, increase affordable housing stock for low-income families and boost property values in dilapidated neighborhoods. On its face, it seems to be a win all around, and officials in both cities are enthusiastic about its prospects. Others, like housing advocates Carol Nichols and Brennan Hills, aren’t so sure. Though they both expressed a willingness to keep an open mind, they also shared a sense of frustration for Fleetwood’s flippancy toward their concerns and his inability to answer their questions, waving them off as being too “in the weeds.”“I deal with people on a regular basis that have these dreams of what they can accomplish, but in reality, they never accomplish anything because they’re so busy dreaming instead of doing,” Fleetwood said in a phone interview earlier this week. “I’m not accusing those people of doing that, I’m just telling you: there are people that do stuff, and there are people that dream about stuff… I’m not a dreamer, I’m a doer.”Fleetwood is of the mind that too much thinking and organizing hinders progress, but Nichols sees it as a necessary part of long-term planning. “Does the detail cripple you? That’s what (Fleetwood) was trying to tell us. ‘The detail will cripple you,’” Nichols said. “But the lack of detail will cripple you, too.”<h2>Fleetwood and Nichols clash on strategy</h2>Nichols has been developing a plan similar to Fleetwood’s for the past few years, also centered around the concept of placing modular homes on nuisance properties. While her plan would also utilize investments from the private sector, she wanted to ensure that the long-term health of the community was at the center.Local contractors and vendors would be utilized as much as possible, residents would be consulted and outside developers would be subject to a thorough vetting process to ensure that whatever’s built would be affordable and would last. “(Nichols) wanted to make sure that the people we were bringing to town were reputable,” Fleetwood recalled. “I’m like, ‘Get out of the weeds! Quit worrying about that stuff. You’re looking 10 miles down the road and you don’t even — nothing’s happening. That’s why stuff doesn’t get done.”Fleetwood said the idea of sending out a survey to ask what kind of development residents want to see in their communities would “create a storm of atrophy” that would further delay any action on the issue. He acknowledged the fact that, to many on the Quincy Housing Task Force, he was an outsider. “I didn’t mean to offend, but I may have. I’m willing to take that risk to help the city,” he said. “I mean, what are they going to do? They’re going to send me back to Hannibal.”Fleetwood said Nichols asked if his investors would be willing to invest in her program. He appreciated her passion and intelligence, but at the end of the day, that wasn’t enough.“I told her, ‘Absolutely not,’” he recalled. “She’s not a developer. She doesn’t know how to do this kind of stuff… Who’s going to take millions of dollars and give it to somebody who’s never developed anything in their life?”“I thought, ‘OK, I’m not going to tell him I was responsible for helping build five schools,’” Nichols recalled of the meeting. “But it’s OK, because we were talking about ideas.”In August, Nichols was recognized by the League of Women Voters for her contributions to the community. Her most notable achievement was the conceptualization, development and campaigning to bring new K-5 schools to life in the Quincy Public School District during her time as a member on the Quincy School Board.<figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=1gartG_15kGpOgd00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=1gartG_15kGpOgd00" width="2048" height="1516" ><figcaption>Carol Nichols, left, was presented with the Evelyn Sacadat League Award by the Adams County chapter of the League of Women Voters at their annual Women’s Equality Day program in August. &nbsp;Photo by Aspen Gengenbacher</figcaption></figure>In 2014, taxpayers “overwhelmingly approved an $89 million bond issue to build five new elementary schools and an expansion for Quincy High School (QHS),” according to the district’s website. Nichols started dreaming it up in 1993. Her vision was fully realized 26 years later, as construction wrapped up in 2019.<h2>Nichols presses Fleetwood with questions </h2>Fleetwood’s proposal made Nichols aware of the existing unknowns in her own, she said.As Quincy is lacking in several types of housing, but especially in affordable houses and rental units, affordability is a top priority. How useful would either plan be if the low-income families they were built for can’t swing $100,000 to $170,000 to buy them?The problem of the down payment, for example, is a code she has yet to crack. Many first-time home buyers are low-income and are unable to save, and few banks will work with them for a loan. If they are able to secure a loan for the down payment, though, it’s unlikely they’ll be able to get another for a mortgage. Each question only led to more questions: What happens if they can’t keep up with the mortgage? Who watches them? How can they cultivate financial health? Is a $140,000 home even truly accessible to low-income people unable to save while making $30,000 per year?There were also questions about the building requirements.What kind of foundation is required? Should it be put on a slab? What are the requirements of Missouri versus Quincy in Illinois? Does a modular home have the same resale value as a stick frame home built from scratch with a full basement? And then there were the questions of who they’d really be working with.Who are they? What have they done? Who are the shareholders? What do they do? How do they hold up? What’s the community reaction to what they’ve left? What’s their track record? “All those questions are important, because why go through all the anguish?” Nichols asked. “Am I overly cautious? I’ve seen school systems build modular classroom units like gangbusters, and within 10 years, they’re trash.”There was at least one question about Fleetwood, himself, too.“He’s on city council, and he’s trying to sell a product to a city council that he represents? Wait a minute. How does that happen? He is making financial gain out of something he’s proposing as a member of city government,” Nichols said.Hills, one of Quincy’s most outspoken housing critics who led a successful campaign in the spring to pass a non-binding ballot initiative establishing a rental inspection program, said he was “fishy” about Fleetwood’s proposal and felt as though he spoke condescendingly at times to the group. (A transcript from the meeting was unavailable.)“I’m just so fishy of the whole situation,” Hills explained. “I can’t form a real opinion about any of the offers because it’s like every follow-up question we asked him, (Fleetwood) was like, ‘Well, that was so stupid of you to say, but because you said it, let me just answer.’”Hills was skeptical of the role of Fleetwood’s wife, who is a real estate agent, in his proposal, as she could stand to profit off the proposal as the selling agent when the new houses are sold. His greatest concern, though, was that the proposal could be the first sign that a data center is on the way. Fleetwood mentioned putting solar panels on the houses in his proposal, and his investors make their money in the artificial intelligence and power industries. “I’m perplexed about the whole situation, honestly,” Hills said. “But I know that I really did not like that interaction.”<h2>‘The devil is in the details’</h2>The Hannibal City Council votes to approve or deny the sale of city-owned property in closed session. Fleetwood said it would be the only time the city would be voting on anything concerning his proposal.When asked if he viewed it as a conflict of interest, he said he’d abstain.“I would never compromise the city or anything like that for anything,” he clarified. “But they’re going to sell the houses with somebody. Who would they sell them with? You have to be a licensed realtor. Who would do that?”By that point, he said, the deal would be “so far removed” from the city’s involvement and developers would be free to work with whoever they wish. There are currently no official plans for Fleetwood’s wife to sell the properties; there are currently no official plans at all.When asked if proposals for a data center were on the table, Fleetwood said there weren’t, but maybe it wouldn’t be so bad if there were. <figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=1YQx7p_15kGpOgd00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=1YQx7p_15kGpOgd00" width="2048" height="1387" ><figcaption>Hannibal Mayor Darrell McCoy, left, and Michael Fleetwood discuss the details of Fleetwood’s housing proposal at one of Hannibal’s nuisance properties. | Photo by Aspen Gengenbacher</figcaption></figure>“Why wouldn’t we want one?” he said while checking out one of Hannibal’s vacant lots with Hannibal Mayor Darrell McCoy last week. “Everybody else does.”The jury’s still out on if “everybody” wants data centers in their communities. Some have led successful campaigns to thwart any development, while others have welcomed them. Proponents cite economic booms and job growth wherever they pop up, but opponents say that, while that may be true, the benefits don’t come close to making up for the depletion of resources like water and energy.For McCoy, nothing’s off the table.“Data centers have their issues, but they also can be very profitable to a community or to a city, so we have to weigh that out,” McCoy said. “Anybody that’s interested in anything like that, the door is always open for the city to generate revenue.”In a phone call Monday night, Fleetwood clarified that he wasn’t aware of any proposals or plans to recruit a data center to the area, and assured it had “nothing to do with the housing plan.” He’d spoken to the council about data centers, but only to discuss if and how they needed to prepare for the arrival of one.While solar panels might have been a condition of the proposal at one point or another, Fleetwood said it would be up to the developer at this point, as federal solar tax credits are set to expire at the end of the year.He also clarified that he’d have little say on the final decision making involved with the proposal’s execution, especially in Quincy. “They’re the ones that have to decide what it is they want to do,” he said. “All I’m doing is presenting them with funding options. Really, it’s going to come down to Carol and the housing committee.”While he said he wasn’t ready to disclose the names of any of the three developers he’s been in contact with, Fleetwood said each one has built “over 100,000 homes that are currently being occupied” in Jamaica, Arizona and elsewhere. He continues to work as a liaison between them, city officials and investors. If communities are supportive, a developer could arrive as soon as the spring and have up to 40 houses built by the end of 2026.For now, Hills and Nichols are cautiously taking a wait-and-see approach in hopes that Fleetwood will be able to answer their questions at the next task force meeting, scheduled for later this month.“It’s just that the devil is in the details. The money on the top of it ready to go is wonderful, but please tell me that the road signs are in the right place,” Nichols said. “That’s all.”</div></body>

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QUINCY — Michael Fleetwood made a pitch to the Quincy Housing Task Force at its meeting last month to utilize an outside developer to place modular homes on nuisance properties throughout Quincy and Hannibal, where he serves as a member of the Hannibal City Council. The plan would generate...

New housing proposal gets mixed reviews

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QUINCY — Michael Fleetwood made a pitch to the Quincy Housing Task Force at its meeting last month to utilize an outside developer to place modular homes o

New housing proposal gets mixed reviews

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