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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - Affordable Housing Committee - 03/18/2019Approved on April 2, 2019 AFFORDABLE HOUSING COMMITTEE March 18, 2019, 10:00 AM, City Hall, Champlain Room Members attending: Tom Bailey, Leslie Black-Plumeau, Sandy Dooley, Michael Simoneau, and John Simson Member absent: Larry Michaels, Todd Rawlings Also present: Monica Ostby, Planning Commission liaison (arr: 10:40; Paula DeMichele, resident of Essex Town (somethinglikeastar@yahoo.com) Minutes by Sandy Dooley AGENDA 1. Call to order, emergency procedure, agenda review, comments from guests 2. Review and approval of minutes of 3/5/2019 committee meeting 3. Chair’s comments 4. Welcome Regina Mahoney from CCRPC to present her latest draft of inclusionary zoning regulations for Transit Overlay District 5. Discuss Planning Commission TDR subcommittee work to date – Tom Bailey 6. Reports and updates by committee members 7. Adjourn 1. Call to order, emergency procedure, agenda review, comments from guests: John called the meeting to order at 10:05 a.m. He noted how to exit from building. John welcomed Paula to the meeting. Paula said she would reserve her comments until later in the meeting. 2. Review and approval of minutes of 3/5/2019 committee meeting: Tom moved and Mike seconded motion that the minutes of the 3/5/19 meeting be approved as drafted. Motion passed 5-0-0 3. Chair’s comments: John brought to the committee’s attention Tom’s recent email and attachments about the Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) program that Montpelier is about to begin. It is limited to households having incomes no greater than 80% of AMI, or having a member with a disability, or the household head being 65 or older. The goal is to have retired folks that live in homes larger than they need build an ADU, move into it, and rent the primary dwelling unit to another household, thus creating additional dwelling units. Tom suggested reversing the order of agenda items 4. and 5. Due to priority placed on agenda item 4, the order was not changed. 4. Welcome Regina Mahoney from CCRPC to present her latest draft of inclusionary zoning regulations for Transit Overlay District: Regina distributed copies of the latest version of the Inclusionary Housing LDR package (which had been sent to committee members electronically on 03/14/19) to those present. Comments/changes to this package were made as follows: 18.01 B.(1) – Regina noted that this subsection now includes the land in vicinity of Hinesburg Road, north of I-89, and outside Transit Overlay District, as has been discussed previously and that references to this subsection appears subsequently in the committee’s proposal. Regina noted that it would be good to include a visual showing where these LDRs apply in package sent to the Planning Commission. 18.01 C.(2)(iv) – members agreed that developers should have flexibility vis-à-vis Inclusionary Units with respect to building type and number of bedrooms and asked Regina to modify the language to reflect this. 18.01 C.(2)(v) – following discussion members agreed to delete this subsection. 18.01 D.(1)(a) & (b) – members agreed with Regina’s re-ordering of (a) & (b) so that content sequence is from whole to parts rather than parts to whole. Members suggested that 18.01 D.(2)(a), (b) and (c) also be re-ordered to have whole to parts sequence. 18.01 D.(1)(b)(i) – members agreed to delete “(inclusive of any condominium or homeowners’ association fees)” from a. and “annual condominium or homeowners’ association fees” from b. 18.01 D.(1)(b)(ii) – in second line delete “calculates” and insert “estimates” and delete “all.” In line 5, delete “also.” 18.01 D.(1)(b)(iii) – considerable discussion of this Table. Make sure the Table Heading is on same page as Table. Group did not come up with an alternative to this table, which is currently in City Center Inclusionary Housing LDRs. 18.01 D.(2)(a),(b)&(c) – re-order to have whole to parts sequence. 18.01 D.(3) – members present engaged in wide-ranging discussion of this subsection. The suggestions included deleting entire section with exception of examples, incorporating some of the information in subsections (1) and (2), changing the heading name (Inclusionary Units Marketing) to something else, incorporating this content into the definitions of Inclusionary Housing, and removing references to entity that is renting or selling Inclusionary Units. Sandy expressed desire to have content stating that an eligible applicant household may rent or purchase a dwelling unit whose housing costs exceed 30% of the household’s income. Regina will develop proposal that addresses members’ discomfort with 18.01 D.(3) as currently drafted. Members were encouraged to submit suggestions for improvements to Regina. 18.01 D.(3) – regarding the examples, delete sentence “These examples do not represent situations that are approvable for all households having similar circumstances.” Leslie suggested adding the following example: “a three-person household may rent a one-bedroom apartment.” Deletion of the last example was suggested. 18.01 G.(1) – need to make clear that eligibility for the density bonus in dependent on extra Inclusionary Units meet the specified AMI target requirements (at least two-thirds no greater than 80% AMI for rentals and at least one-third no greater than 100% AMI for ownership units). Decision: add these requirements to the Inclusionary Housing definition (in Definition section) rather than here. 18.01 H.(1) – Regina will correct language in “Applicability” referencing where in city this section applies. It will not apply in the City Center FBC district as there are no density limitations in that district. 18.01 J.(3) – Regina will consult with Paul re how this should be worded. Article 17 17.03 (A)(1)&(2) Certificates of Occupancy – Regina will modify these subsections so that, in order to receive a Certificate of Occupancy, the developer is required to document that at least two-thirds of rents are no greater than that targeted to household-size-equivalent for 80% AMI and the remaining no greater than that targeted to household-size-equivalent for 100% AMI and at least one-third of sales prices are no greater than that targeted to household-size-equivalent for 100% AMI and the remaining no greater than that targeted to household-size-equivalent for 120% AMI. Monica suggested that memo to Planning Commission will include statement that adoption of these LDRs for Inclusionary Housing expansion will streamline the process for adding Inclusionary Housing LDRs to rest of City, once Interim Zoning is concluded. She mentioned that Planning Commission may want to delete part relating to Density Bonuses until Interim Zoning is done. 5. Discuss Planning Commission TDR subcommittee work to date – Tom Bailey: there was very little time for this agenda item. John indicated that his appointment to represent the Affordable Housing Committee on the TDR committee is on the consent agenda for tonight’s City Council meeting. This is effective April 1, 2019; however, John is unable to attend the April 3rd TDR committee meeting. Tom will attend the March 20, 2019, TDR committee meeting. John and Sandy attended the March 13th TDR committee meeting. Sandy learned that VT Statute requires that TDRs be used to increase density over what otherwise would be permitted under LDRs. 6. Reports and updates by committee members: no time available for this item 7. Adjourn: At 12:05 a.m. Tom moved and Leslie seconded motion that the meeting be adjourned. Motion passed 5-0-0. Bike rack: ● 1/8/19 Emails to K. Dorn and D. Young to be completed by 1/24/19 ● Keep and address at 1/24/19 committee meeting. Work on Committee’s page on the City’s website ● Combine with item immediately above. (Quoted from January 23, 2018, meeting minutes) “John asked Mike to prepare a work plan for the committee to collaborate with Coralee to enhance its effectiveness in communicating with residents via the City’s website and via other means. The plan should include specific assignments to be carried out by identified committee members. Mike accepted this assignment.” Homework (not yet reported on): All bike rack tasks should include date of assignment and date for task completion.