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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - Affordable Housing Committee - 11/16/2022November 16, 2022, SoBu Affordable Housing Committee Minutes – FINAL Page 1 Approved on December 21, 2022 AFFORDABLE HOUSING COMMITTEE November 16, 2022, 6:00 p.m., meeting held online and at City Hall Members attending: Janet Bellavance (left a 7:55 p.m.), Vince Bolduc, Sandy Dooley, Emily Holt-Gosselin, Ariel Jensen-Vargas, Darrilyn Peters, John Simson, and Chris Trombly; members absent: Leslie Black-Plumeau and Tom Getz; also present: Jessie Baker, City Manager; City Councilor Meaghan Emery (CC liaison to AHC); public: Larry Kupferman (Housing Trust Fund Committee chair) (left at 7:11 p.m.), Ashley Adams (owner of rental property in Chamberlin neighborhood).(left at 6:30 p.m.) and James Leas (left about 6:45 p.m.). AGENDA 1. Call to order, approve agenda, approve minutes from 10/19/22 AHC meeting, approve agenda, announcements, public comment 2. City Manager Update 3. Discussion and possible action for City Council request for Committee feedback on ARPA funding 4. Receive updates on FY23 Policies, Strategies, Priorities work groups 5. Discussion of request from Planning Commission to contribute to the development of the Comprehensive Plan 6. Adjourn 1. Call to order, approve agenda, approve minutes from 10/19/22 AHC meeting, announcements, public comment Call to order: Chris called the meeting to order at 6:03 p.m. Approve agenda: Sandy moved to amend the agenda by adding approval of the 10/19/22 meeting minutes and Ariel seconded motion to approve agenda as amended. Approved: 8-0-0. Approve minutes: John moved and Darrilyn seconded motion that 10/19/22 meeting minutes be approved as drafted. Motion approved: 7-0-0. Announcements: Members who had attended the Housing Conference (earlier on same day) mentioned topics addressed during the conference: Racial Equality Toolkit, Zoning Modernization training from Vermont Department of Housing and Community Development, Investing in Infrastructure, from COTS representative’s input – protections for tenants are lacking, Zoning Atlas (13 states are participating) zoningatlas.org, Desegregate Connecticut, speaker with biracial children: only two VT cities in which she would live, Burlington and Winooski. Public Comments: Ashley Adams shared that he owns 14 affordable apartments in the Chamberlin neighborhood. All are negatively affected by noise from the airport and the F-35s. He urged committee to do what it can to preserve homes in the Chamberlin neighborhood and prevent further negative effects on quality on life in this neighborhood. Make sure these homes are included in efforts to make City more energy efficient to combat Climate Change. 2. City Manager Update: The staff’s proposed FY24 budget will be presented to the City Council on 12/5. The proposed budget will recommend funding the GIS position, which is currently unfunded. Having this position filled will likely increase the use of data in making decisions. The proposed budget will include information on cost and timing of implementation of Climate Action Plan. 3. Discussion and possible action for City Council (CC) request for Committee feedback on ARPA funding: John shared with committee his proposal to invest $225,000 in ARPA funds to incentivize the development of 10-15 Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs). He views this as a low cost means of increasing the number of affordable housing units in the City. The program would provide grants of up to $10,000 per household to develop an ADU. He has researched the program that Montpelier currently offers (they have five ADUs in the pipeline). According to his research, the average ADU is 500 square feet in size and the costs range from $55,000 to $100,000. He envisions this program as a pilot. If successful, the City may want to fund it on an ongoing basis. Members present expressed support for John’s ADU proposal. Darrilyn indicated that she also supports recommending that the CC allocate ARPA funding for a consultant’s report on the City’s current housing stock and housing needs and preferences. This report would include recommendations (opportunities) on what the City can do to eliminate barriers and promote the development of housing that best addresses the current housing shortfall. Leslie’s and Tom’s combined outlines cover what is needed except they do not include an estimated cost. Members also stated support for CC’s intent to allocate up to $1 million to (1) identifying ways in which ARPA funds might be used to strengthen the child care services that South Burlington residents use and (2) choosing one or more proposals from among these options to fund with ARPA dollars. Following discussion, Darrilyn moved and Vince November 16, 2022, SoBu Affordable Housing Committee Minutes – FINAL Page 2 seconded motion that the committee recommend that the CC invest (1) an amount up to $100,000 (or different amount based on Leslie and Tom’s input) to fund the preparation of an Assessment of Housing Needs and Opportunities; (2) $225,000 in a pilot program, consistent with John’s proposal, to promote the development of 10 to 15 ADUs in the City; and (3) an amount at the CC’s discretion (likely $1 million) to identify ways to strengthen child care programs that service South Burlington children and fund one or more of them. Approved: 8-0-0. 4. Receive updates on FY23 Policies, Strategies, Priorities work groups: Climate Action Plan work group has completed its work. Renter-focused group wants to focus on housing security/insecurity and proposed inviting local experts on this subject to the December meeting. Consensus was to have these folks come to January meeting as need to make recommendations on the Comprehensive Plan will take up most of December meeting. Janet asked that work groups, when they report to full committee, send their report to members one to two weeks ahead of committee meeting. 5. Discussion of request from the Planning Commission to contribute to the development of the Comprehensive Plan: Comprehensive Plan work group (Chris, Leslie and Sandy) will develop proposal for committee’s consideration regarding what to retain/delete from 2016 Comp Plan housing chapter and what to add. Sandy indicated that she already sees need to add information about housing security/insecurity to the housing chapter. Vince indicated desire to join this work group and was enthusiastically welcomed. All were encouraged to read the housing chapter in the 2016 Comprehensive Plan (link below) and submit comments/ideas to the work group. https://cms6.revize.com/revize/southburlington/document_center/planning/SB_Comprehensive_Plan_Complete_Adopted_2-1-2016.pdf 6. Adjourn: (8:02 p.m.) By members’ mutual consent (seven still present), meeting was adjourned.