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Leavenworth — Heartland Habitat for Humanity wants to build a new home in northeast Leavenworth, but the nonprofit organization may face a bit of difficulty from the city.

On Feb. 24, the City Commission placed a moratorium on any new development in the northeast and downtown areas of Leavenworth. The moratorium will last for nine months, and Director of Planning and Community Development Christopher Dunn characterizes it as a “planning pause” that will give the city time to study and evaluate these areas for future redevelopment. He said the northeast area of Leavenworth has the lowest average income and the highest crime rate in the city. In short, it is in need of some work.

“What we’re trying to do is figure out a way to bring it up to its potential,” Dunn said.

Of course, this moratorium puts quite a damper on the home Heartland Habitat is set to build for client Kelly Medsker at Sixth and Dakota streets. Medsker is 32 and has, as she describes it, a “mild” case of cerebral palsy, which affects her speech and motor functioning but still allows her to be largely self-sufficient. She lives in a small duplex about a mile away from the Dakota property on Cheyenne Street.

Nancy Higgerson, family services assistant for Heartland Habitat, said Medsker’s home has been broken into, and Medsker said her duplex has a mold problem, which aggravates her severe allergies.

Medsker said she has lived in the duplex for six years now and would like a bigger place for herself and her dog, a half bulldog, half boxer named Sox. But even greater than the desire for less allergy irritants and more space is the desire to be a homeowner, which Medsker said had been a dream of hers for a long time.

“I always wanted to buy a house, but I did not know how to afford it,” Medsker said.

To make that dream a reality, Heartland Habitat has one of two options. It can go through an appeals process to try to get a variance on the moratorium, which will allow it to begin building.

“They do have a realistic chance of getting that variance,” Dunn said.

Or it can try to find another property in an area that isn’t closed off to new development.

But, even then, the organization has one further obstacle to overcome in getting the house for Medsker.

“The house will cost $80,000,” said Heartland Habitat Executive Director Tom Lally, “and we still need funding to get to that $80,000.”

Funding for Heartland Habitat, which was established in 2006, comes through fundraising the organization does every year as well as through several other means, such as funds and grants it gets through the government in addition to corporate sponsorship. Once a home is built, the homeowner will make payments on the house until it is paid off, just as would occur with a regular mortgage. The only difference is that, as Lally said, “We sell our homes at no profit (to Heartland Habitat) and no interest.”

“If the house costs us $120,000 (to build), we’ll sell it for $120,000,” he added.

Lally said Heartland Habitat was currently going the appeals route to get the Sixth and Dakota property under way. He said building homes in “less than desirable” areas like northeast Leavenworth is a typical move for Heartland Habitat. Not only are these properties more affordable, but results have shown the new homes are actually helping neighborhoods by turning them into more desirable places to live.

“We often build in areas where no one else will build,” he said.

This could be exactly the answer the City Commission is looking for in that area, and Dunn said he had been in talks with Lally well before the moratorium was put into place, just trying to apprise him of what was going on. Dunn said the City Commission would do all it could to help Heartland Habitat, even if it means finding another property for them.

“They’re a good organization and they’re definitely welcome in this city,” Dunn said.

Lally said that Heartland Habitat is currently working on getting a variance to the moratorium.

“But if someone donated some land, we would certainly give strong consideration to that,” he added.

How the additional funding still needed for the property will be found has yet to be determined as well.

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