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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - Affordable Housing Committee - 05/01/2018Approved on May 29, 2018 NOTE: Date/time/place of next meeting: May 29, 2018, 10:00 a.m., place to be determined AFFORDABLE HOUSING COMMITTEE May 1, 2018, 10:00 AM, City Hall 2nd Floor Champlain Room Members attending: Leslie Black-Plumeau (left at 11:00), Sandy Dooley, Michael Simoneau, and John Simson (Chair); Members absent: Tom Bailey, Larry Michaels, Todd Rawlings, PC liaison absent: Monica Ostby Minutes by Sandy Dooley AGENDA 1. Call to order, emergency procedure, agenda review, public comments 2. Review April 17, 2018, minutes for adoption 3. Chair’s comments and discussion re “a penny for affordable housing” 4. Work on Special Urban Districts location and incentives 5. Schedule next meetings 5. Adjourn 1. Emergency exit, agenda review, public comments: John called the meeting to order at 10:00 a.m. and summarized emergency evacuation instructions. There were no comments from the public. 2. Review April 17, 2018, minutes for adoption: Mike moved and Leslie seconded that the draft April 17, 2018, meeting minutes be approved with this correction: Third paragraph (beginning with “The Committee then”), line 4, delete “120%” and insert in its place “100%” (correction noted by Nick Andrews). Vote to approve was 4-0-0. 3. Chair’s comments and discussion re “a penny for affordable housing”: John has discussed committee’s desire to have “penny for affordable housing” question placed on a City ballot with Helen Riehle, Tom Chittenden, Dave Kaufman (new City Councilor), and Kevin Dorn. All are supportive. Mike added that Tim Barritt is also on board. The anticipated schedule of new initiative ballot items is: August (primary election) – penny for recreation and parks November (federal and state election) – bond for new City Hall/Library/Senior Center March (Town/City Meeting) – penny for affordable housing John’s “vision” is that the first development to be built with the penny for affordable housing funds would be a small development (probably no larger than 12 houses and/or duplexes) consisting of cottage-style houses. Members present like the concept but want committee to explore how feasible it is. The idea is that the City would purchase the land and enter into a “partnership” with a private developer to build the development and sell the cottage units. Houses would need to be perpetually affordable. One suggestion for a location is lot off Shunpike Road. Another was lot to West of Guild Tavern (off Williston Road). Others were land at Orchard and Chamberlin schools and land owned by St. John Vianney. Question to be answered: Is this feasible economically? What would house unit price be? Is there a market for this type of housing? Sandy suggested that Amy Demetrowicz of CHT might be able to help us answer these questions. John will invite Amy to a future committee meeting. On another subject, John, Leslie, Mike, and Sandy discussed the April 30th CCRPC-organized meeting of housing committee/commission members, elected officials, and staff from Chittenden County municipalities. Attendees from South Burlington included Leslie, John, Mike, Sandy, Tim Barritt, Paul Conner, Larry Kupferman, and Ian Squirrel. It was an impressive turnout. All or almost all county municipalities were represented. Where each municipality is with respect to needs/focus on/actions taken vis-à-vis affordable housing varies. CCRPC meeting attendees described several approaches/strategies that were new to John, Mike, and Sandy. Committee members indicated interest in exploring some of them for implementation in South Burlington. Mike suggested that a presentation of the many affordable housing strategies and metrics identified at the CCRPC meeting be organized into a matrix for ease of use by local municipal staff and volunteers. Sandy recalled that, a few years back, Paul Conner had produced a matrix like what Mike described for the Affordable Housing Task Force. No specific follow-up was identified. 4. Work on Special Urban Districts location and incentives: Having limited time John, Mike, and Sandy examined the City Zoning District map and identified the zoning districts that allow residential development of 12 or 15 dwelling units per acre as having the greatest potential for designation as Special Urban Districts. These are the C1, C1-Auto, C1-LR, and AR districts. We circled these districts, where they occur in various locations in the City, on the map for further consideration and discussion at a future committee meeting. 5. Schedule next meetings: With only three members present (following Leslie’s departure), this item has been delayed until the May 29th committee meeting. 6. Adjourn: The meeting effectively ended at 11:00 when Leslie left as committee no longer had a quorum in attendance. John, Mike, and Sandy remained in meeting room and discussed locations for Special Urban districts “Bike rack” ● work on Committee’s page on the City’s website ● (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): ● Mike will consult with an accountant regarding what incentives the City might put in place to encourage owners of undeveloped property to sell land at a “bargain price” to private developers. ● Mike will seek Yves Bradley’s input regarding development of more housing along Shelburne Road corridor.