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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - Affordable Housing Committee - 01/24/2022January 24, 2022, SoBu Affordable Housing Committee Minutes – APPROVED Page 1 Approved on February 14, 2022 AFFORDABLE HOUSING COMMITTEE January 24, 2022, 10:30 a.m., meeting held online and at City Hall Members attending: Janet Bellavance, Leslie Black-Plumeau, Vince Bolduc (dep. before adjournment), Sandy Dooley, Darrilyn Peters, Minelle Sarfo-Ado (arr. 10:50), John Simson (arr. 10:34), and Chris Trombly; members absent: Ariel Jensen-Vargas and Patrick O’Brien; staff present: Jessie Baker, City Manager; PC liaison, Monica Ostby (arr. 10:39). AGENDA 1. Call to order, agenda review, approval of minutes from 1/10/22 AHC meeting, announcements, public comment 1a. Meeting format options decision (before action on minutes) 2. City Manager’s Report 3. Receive an update and possibly take action on Climate Action Task Force meetings and next steps 4. Receive an update from Redevelopment Subcommittee and possible action on recommendations 5. Discuss and possibly take action to approve text of committee’s request that Chittenden County Regional Planning Commission convene a regional gathering on “How to craft zoning regulations that promote equity and address both the climate and housing crises.” 6. Report on Planning Commission’s response to AHC’s request that they place the policy proposal to reduce the maximum density on small SEQ lots from 4 units per acre to 1.8 units per acre on the 1/25/22 meeting agenda 7. Adjourn 1, Call to order, agenda review, approval of minutes (1/10/22) announcements, public comment, Call to order: Chris called the meeting to order at 10:30 a.m. Agenda review: Chris shared that new legislation provides municipal boards and committees three options for meeting attendance: all virtual, all in-person, or hybrid (both virtual and in-person attendance) and suggested we add a discussion of these options to the agenda. Motion to add this item to the agenda approved by consensus. 1a. After brief discussion, Darrilyn moved and Vince seconded motion that committee continue to allow attendance at meetings via the hybrid format. Motion approved: 6-0-0 (John and Minelle had not arrived.) Approval of minutes: Vince moved and Darrilyn seconded motion to approve the minutes for the 1/10//22 meeting as drafted. Motion approved: 6-0-0 (John and Minelle had not arrived.) Announcements: Leslie: Homeowners Assistance Program opening on that date, ARPA-funded; maximum income 150% AMI; can pay up to $30,000 in overdue bills attributable to the pandemic. Sandy: committee members have been assisting Energy Committee members in promoting attendance at upcoming Weatherization workshop. Chris: he submitted petition to run for City Council (CC); continuing to serve as chair during campaign is not considered a conflict of interest. Vince question: are CC paid? Answer: $1,500 annually. Public Comments: None. 2. City Manager’s Report: Another CC question: May CC simultaneously be members of City Committees? Jessie: CC may serve as liaison/non-voting members but they are “rethinking this.” Sandy noted that Climate Action Plan committee meeting minutes state that Helen Riehle seconded a motion nominating a member to be elected as vice chair of the committee. Jessie had not been aware of this. Staff leadership will be presenting report at 2/22/22 CC meeting on process and recommendations for investing ARPA funds. A potential purchase of the U-Mall appears to be in the works and may become public soon. Still making progress on School District lease of 575 Dorset Street. CC voted to have 2/22/22 public hearing on City’s plan to request CDBG funds in support of Summit Properties’ affordable housing proposal for O’Brien Farms development. 3. Receive an update and possibly take action on Climate Action Task Force meetings and next steps: Darrilyn shared following information: seven voting members and two liaisons (H. Riehle and P. Conner), meets once per month, final meeting is 9/8/22, plan will be compatible with State Plan—goals are the same, question: how do we determine a baseline amount of CO2 emissions for SoBu? Three overarching goals: reduce greenhouse gas emissions, increase resiliency, and view everything through an equity lens. Next meeting: 2/26/22, 7 PM. Questions/discussion: are you looking as commercial as well as residential structures, plus municipal and school January 24, 2022, SoBu Affordable Housing Committee Minutes – APPROVED Page 2 district buildings? Is location of buildings, including housing, being considered? 30% of housing units built within ¼ mile of services should be affordable, need to change land use to be adaptive to climate change impacts, who is the potential audience for the plan—employees (?), employers (?), have you looked at what other towns are doing—e.g. the ideas that Montpelier is considering? How will equity be applied? Darrilyn: at state level, active subcommittee on equity. How does AHC provide input into process? It’s complicated. AHC needs regular input on Climate Action Plan—role of transit vs. transportation, electric vehicles. Need SoBu-specific data. Need to consider development of land within ¼ mile of existing infrastructure. 4. Receive an update from Redevelopment Subcommittee and possible action on recommendations: Ideas/recommendations described in 1/19/22 DRAFT minutes of subcommittee were presented and discussed. (a) Liaison to the Planning Commission. As PC will soon be working on PUDs for redevelopment and infill, it will be good for someone from subcommittee to attend PC meetings as an “informal” liaison to the PC. Positive comments on this proposal. Everyone endorsed Janet’s offer to be informal liaison to the PC. Need clarification on what the PC wants from us. Monica indicated that PC plans to provide this information to AHC and other committees in the near future. Everyone thanked Janet for willingness to serve in this role. (b) Financial incentives for “Missing Middle” Housing. John working with Leslie and Jessie on this. One idea is for city to buy land, issue RFP, subsidize units built by developer, and require that Missing Middle housing types by included. Legislative proposal for housing did not gain enough support for inclusion in State’s Budget Supplement for FY22. The proposal is to use ARPA funds to “fill the gap” between cost of housing and what middle income households can afford—this is all for homeownership. Modeled on housing proposal in national Build Back Better bill. Income limit could range up to 140% AMI, which is somewhat higher than the VT planning statute’s definition of affordable owner housing of up to 120% AMI. (c) Survey of Renters and Owners of Affordable Housing. Discussion: how do we reach these folks, sounds like a full committee project, what are criteria, CHT, Cathedral Square, others already do this, if quality of all rentals is focus, rental registry bill that Gov. Scott vetoed last year would have been helpful in addressing this. Town health officer (Fire Chief Terry Francis) already follows up on public-health- related complaints. Need to be sensitive to cultural competency issues in devising/carrying out this kind of survey. Where does this project fit in our work plan? Since Ariel proposed the survey, is not present at meeting, and many questions have been raised, this proposal needs to be revisited with Ariel present. (d) Form-Based Code (FBC). Suggestion is to expand Form-Based Code district for building infill on major arteries. Developers have mentioned Form-Based Codes as way to reduce barriers to creating affordable housing. Its use in Winooski mentioned. Monica: PC is working on Generic PUD regulations, a very streamlined approach for larger developments. Pomerleau-owned former Hannaford market building off Shelburne Road— would FBC make it easier for this property to be redeveloped as housing? What are the pros and cons of changing current zoning district rules for development on major arteries to FBC? Paul Conner might be the best person to provide answers to this question. Need to revisit this proposal at future meeting. 5. Discuss and possibly take action to approve text of committee’s request that Chittenden County Regional Planning Commission convene a regional gathering on “How to craft zoning regulations that promote equity and address both the climate and housing crises.” understand the impact to housing: Sandy moved and Darrilyn seconded motion that, on behalf of committee, Chris send the following email to Charlie Baker, executive director of Chittenden County Regional Planning Committee (CCRPC). Motion approved: 7-0-0 (Vince no longer present). Dear Charlie, I write on behalf of South Burlington’s Affordable Housing Committee (AHC). The AHC’s mission is “to increase the availability of safe and affordable housing in the city, particularly for households with incomes no greater than 80% of the median for the region. To this end, it provides guidance and policy recommendations to the Planning Commission and City Council, educates the community about housing needs, and collaborates with regional municipalities and housing partners.” (from the City’s Annual Report for FY20, the latest posted) We are mindful of our responsibility to carry out this mission holistically. As circumstances change, we face new challenges. Recently, we identified the need for clarity relative to integrating multiple objectives. Believing that housing advocates in other Chittenden County municipalities likely struggle with the same challenges, we write to request that the Chittenden County Regional Planning Commission (CCRPC) convene a regional gathering whose subject would be how to craft zoning regulations that promote equity and address both the climate January 24, 2022, SoBu Affordable Housing Committee Minutes – APPROVED Page 3 and housing crises. The AHC would be happy to assist CCRPC staff in organizing such a regional gathering. Should you wish to explore this subject further, we invite you to attend a South Burlington AHC meeting. I look forward to your reply. Best regards, Chris Trombly Chair, South Burlington Affordable Housing Committee 6. Report on Planning Commission’s response to AHC’s request that they plan the policy proposal to reduce the maximum density on small SEQ lots from 4 units per acre to 1.8 units per acre on the 1/25/22 meeting agenda (from Monica): The PC cannot act on AHC’s request since it is not taking up requests from others. It will be developing guidance as to what kind of input will be most helpful from each city committee; examples recommendations from Bike and Ped Committee on safety issues for cyclists in Transit Overlay District, from Natural Resources on mature tree removal, Monica wants AHC to weigh in on impact on developers of requiring provision of private or semi-private access to outdoor space (including balconies) for every housing unit. Sandy mentioned that it appears that all of the affordable rentals located behind Shaw’s shopping center have small balconies but that apartment buildings with high percentage of affordable units built since then do not have balconies. So, at least, at one time this was doable financially. Leslie will research whether later safety restrictions prohibiting balconies have been adopted. Monica would like to have this requirement applied to both rental and homeownership units. No action taken. 7. Adjourn: At 12:31 p.m. Leslie moved and Janet seconded motion to adjourn the meeting. Motion approved: 6-0-0 (Vince & Minelle no longer present).