Developers wanting to build a 40-unit townhouse complex in Natchez have a new site in mind after a proposed location on West Stiers Lane failed to impress city planners.

Concerned that West Stiers Lane could not handle the increased traffic the complex would create, the Natchez Metro Planning Commission voted last week to recommend against rezoning the 12-acre site from single-family residential to multi-family residential.

The planning commission’s decision is only a recommendation, and the Natchez Board of Aldermen will review the application at its meeting Tuesday, said Assistant City Planner Gretchen Kuechler.

But developers have since found what they believe might be a better location, said Clarence Chapman, president of Midsouth Housing Foundation, a non-profit partner in the project.

Kuechler said she received a request Friday from developers to rezone land on Old College Lane known as the old Thompson School football field, just a few blocks from the original location.

The aldermen will still vote on the original request, and Kuechler said she will begin preparing a staff report on the Old College Lane request. Chapman said the complex would include 40 1,280 square-foot townhouses, each with three bedrooms and two-and-a-half baths.

The same group has built similar complexes in McComb, Hattiesburg, Oxford and Tunica as part of a &uot;rent-to-own&uot; program through the Mississippi HOME Corporation.

Chapman said the development is not federally-subsidized or what many people consider low-income housing, but a joint project between the state and private investors to promote home ownership.

Prospective tenants must meet certain income requirements, earning less than 60 percent of the area’s median income.

For a family of six in Adams County, that translates to $23,940, Chapman said.

Applicants must also undergo background and credit checks because they are responsible for monthly rent.

Tenants renting a unit for 15 years then have the option to buy the unit at a reduced price. The developers say tenants who feel a sense of ownership will take better care of the property.

And better tenants are better residents who are ultimately better citizens of their communities, Chapman said.

&uot;If you don’t have the house, you don’t have the home, and you don’t have the family,&uot; he said. &uot;You have to build everything in our society around the home unit.&uot;

For example, take a unit valued at $70,000. Based on a monthly rent of $400, the tenant could purchase the unit at the end of 15 years for $25,000, or $183 a month based on 8 percent financing at 15 years.

The same unit if purchased outright at the same finance rate and period would cost $514 a month, Chapman said. And if rented, the complex owners pay the taxes, insurance and maintenance costs for the first 15 years. &uot;There is no other program we can think of that stacks up in the renter’s favor like this,&uot; he said.

As part of the agreement with the HOME corporation, the developers are also required to provide self-enhancement courses to their tenants, such as GED classes and family finance classes.

The Natchez project is the fifth and last project for the group as part of the HOME corporation’s pilot program. But judging on the success of the projects so far, Chapman said the state may decide to continue it.

According to findings of the Southwest Mississippi Planning and Development District as set forth in the city’s 1999 comprehensive plan, an additional 1,851 multiple family units will be needed by 2020, for a total of 5,035 new apartments, duplexes or townhouses.