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Megan Derr and her husband, Michael Derr, had been on a discouraging, year-long house hunt before they found someone who could help them. The Derrs, 21 and 19, respectively, have two small children. Their combined income is between $23,000 and $24,000 a year. Like most people in the coastal Carolinas whose annual wages are in that range, the best they could envision was rent-subsidized housing. But with the help of a federal home-ownership program and a willing builder, the Derrs now find themselves living a dream. They should be in their new house by next summer. "We thought we'd never get a break," Megan Derr said. Home ownership in Brunswick, Horry and Georgetown counties is an elusive goal for most people whose income is less than $40,000 a year.
KENNEBUNKPORT -- Just up the road from Goose Rocks' oft-photographed Clock Farm, developer Tim Harrington is pushing forward with his proposal to put 26 prefabricated homes in a new subdivision dubbed "Cottages at Fishing Pole Lane." On Wednesday, Nov. 15 the Kennebunkport Planning Board held a public hearing to gather input on the project. After much discussion, the board decided to hold the hearing open and take another hour's worth of input at their Wednesday, Dec. 6 meeting. While a group of abutters opposed to the project have hired Kennebunk attorney Alan Shepard to represent them, Planning Board Chairman Mike Weston says the public hearing was civil and productive. Some key questions looming over the project do appear to be resolved: according to Port Town Counsel, the cottage project does meet the town's definition of a Mobile Home Park--and in order to meet this, Harrington and his Atlantic Holdings, LLC must hold the land in unified ownership and "lease" the cottages to eventual "owners." The designation of "Mobile Home Park" will allow Harrington--who is perhaps best known locally for "The Cottages at Cabot Cove" project on South Maine Street--to place the cottages on a much smaller lot than normally allowable.
On the continuum of American culture, prefab housing falls somewhere between Tonya Harding and pork rinds. Acceptable for trailer park denizens, maybe, but not for serious connoisseurs of real estate. People such as Karim Rashid beg to differ. The famed industrial designer recently invented his own version of a home-in-a-box – Kit 24 – and is one of many “tastemakers" bringing prefab design to the masses. His vision of factory-made living has 24 side panels, two storeys, 1,800 sq ft, and looks like a landing pod created by extremely chic (and colour-conscious) Martians. .
South Carolina has the 10th fastest population growth in the nation, according to estimates released today by the U.S. Census Bureau, and the Upstate's housing market shows it. South Carolina and Georgia were among the top 10 fastest-growing states in terms of population change from July 2005 to July 2006, according to the Census Bureau information. South Carolina was the 10th fastest-growing state, with a 1.7-percent population increase. Georgia was the fourth fastest, with growth of 2.5 percent. Georgia also was among the top 10 states in terms of the raw number of additional people living in the state in the past year, with a population growth of 231,388. The number of Anderson County housing units grew by about 6,000, to 79,350, between 2000 and 2005. The increase presents an opportunity for reviewing whether the available housing is affordable, said Michael Cunningham, assistant county administrator.
John Serio, who has served as principal of Archbishop Hannan High School since its inception in 1987 and oversaw its reopening on the north shore this fall, will step down at the end of the school year, according to a letter distributed last week to parents. "I just thought it was the right time for me to move on," he said Monday, adding that Hurricane Katrina, which flooded the school's original campus in Meraux and his own home in New Orleans, had no bearing on his decision. Serio helped usher in a new chapter in the school's 20-year history this year, when the Hannan community relocated from its flooded campus to St. Tammany Parish. The temporary Hannan, which is currently housed in modular classrooms at St. Joseph Abbey near Covington, will eventually move to a permanent site in Goodbee, although officials expect it will take several years to build the new campus.
BY BRITISH standards, it was hardly an impertinent question, but the inquiry from the veteran correspondent was enough to make several members of the White House press corps gasp: Was George Bush, the president of the United States, "in denial" about the state of Iraq today? The answer was as blunt and folksy as the president himself. "It's bad in Iraq. That help?" snapped Mr Bush before unloading on the man who flew in from London the night before, like many others scenting a potentially historic turning point in the bloody story of Iraq and the US' war on terrorism. .
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