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Lack of quality housing, downtown buildings holding Fayette back

Justin Addison Editor/Publisher
Posted 10/21/20

Quality housing and refurbished downtown buildings are necessary if Fayette is to once again become a prosperous city, according to Missouri Main Street Connection. Members of the group spoke before …

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Lack of quality housing, downtown buildings holding Fayette back

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Quality housing and refurbished downtown buildings are necessary if Fayette is to once again become a prosperous city, according to Missouri Main Street Connection. Members of the group spoke before a handful of people from Fayette Main Street, Central Methodist University, the CID board, and the City of Fayette Thursday night.

Keith Winge, State Community Development Director for Missouri Main Street Connect and Jim Thompson, who helps fund programs for struggling rural towns in Iowa, returned to Fayette Thursday for a guided tour before making the presentation that evening in an auditorium at CMU. Mr. Thompson analyzed various demographics in Fayette and concluded that the city is in serious need of better housing to attract a midwestern population that is increasingly leaving metropolitan areas for rural towns.

Fayette has seen a slight decline in population over the last two decades. The chief setback for those seeking to reside here while either working in a nearby community or via the internet, is quality housing, explained Mr. Thompson. He said appropriate housing must be a high priority for Fayette. The city should incentivize property owners to fix up derelict housing.

He suggested the city freeze assessed property valuations for those troubled properties in exchange for substantial rehabilitations.

A survey taken two years ago of Central Methodist faculty and staff who do not live in Fayette revealed that many chose to live in Columbia or Boonville specifically due to a lack of quality housing here. 

When both men visited Fayette in 2018, they presented a long-term plan to Fayette Main Street that included downtown beautification and other amenities around the square. But the biggest suggestions were to fix up buildings, enforce building codes, and address vacant buildings. 

“These buildings are worth saving,” said Mr. Thompson. 

“I get excited every time I come here. You have bones downtown that I don’t get to see in a lot of my travels.”

However, he said that those buildings are undergoing “demolition by neglect.” He pointed specifically to the west side of the downtown square.

“No amount of historic preservation is going to work if a property owner does not care about their building,” said Mr. Thompson.

While you can’t force a building owner to fix his buildings, he explained that sometimes it is best to find new owners for those buildings.

“Some of those buildings have great bones,” he said. “They deserve more than what they’re getting.”

He advocated for Fayette to invest in its real estate. By fixing up buildings and houses, the city would raise the tax revenues from property taxes, the majority of which fund Fayette’s public schools. “If you love your school, you’ll fix up buildings.”

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