WS Chronicle

Forsyth County commissioners approved accepting money to help expand affordable housing during its Thursday, Nov. 30, meeting.

Forsyth County and the City of Winston-Salem originally received a $2,625,000 Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP) grant from the N.C. Commerce Department’s Community Division in 2009. The funds had a variety of uses during the housing foreclosure crisis, including helping Miller Valentine and the North Carolina Housing Foundation transform a foreclosed, incomplete condo development on the corner of Bethania Station Road and Shattalon Drive into 68 units of affordable housing known as The Enclave.

“The project has been very successful,” said Housing & Community Development Director Dan Kornelis.

Last week, commissioners unanimously voted to accept about $2 million in remaining NSP from the state to help with The Enclave II. The second phase will let the developers put 96 units of affordable housing in four apartment buildings that’ll be built on land adjacent to the Enclave’s current location.

Also during the meeting:

*Commissioners authorized applying for another year of funding from the Winston-Salem Foundation for the Stepping Up program that focuses on reducing recidivism among women with mental and substance abuse issues.

*They awarded a $164,889 contract to One Diversified, LLC  for replacing technology in the commissioner’s meeting room that’ll include HD cameras and a digital system, which will be installed by next year.

*They approved the rezoning for 14 acres in the southern part of the county near the intersection of Clemmonsville Road and Paula Drive for a senior living community. It’s planned to have 124 units that’ll include 88 apartments, 30 patio homes and six single-family homes. The new development will be connected to West Clemmonsville Road and have a gated entrance off Paragon Drive.