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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - Affordable Housing Committee - 08/21/2018Approved on September 11, 2018 NOTE: Date/time/place of next meeting: Tuesday, September 11, 2018, 10:00 a.m., place TBD AFFORDABLE HOUSING COMMITTEE August 21, 2018, 9:00 AM, City Hall, Summit Room (10:05 a.m. moved to Champlain Room) Members attending: Tom Bailey, Leslie Black-Plumeau, Sandy Dooley, Michael Simoneau, and John Simson (Chair); Members absent: Larry Michaels, Todd Rawlings; Others: Monica Ostby, PC liaison, also absent. Guest: Frank VonTurkovich Minutes by Sandy Dooley AGENDA 1. Call to order, emergency procedure, agenda review, comments from guests 2. Review and approval of August 6, 2018, minutes 3. Chair’s remarks 4. Welcome developer Frank VonTurkovich (1) Presenting plans for Swift and Spear Development re meeting affordable housing needs (2) Committee opportunity to receive feedback on draft city-wide Inclusionary Housing 5. Discuss and set out agenda requests for 8/28 joint meeting with Planning Commission (8/28) 6. New business 7. Adjourn 1. Call to order, emergency procedure, agenda review, comments from guests: John called the meeting to order at 9:04 a.m. and summarized emergency evacuation instructions. There were no changes to the agenda and no comments from the public. 2. Review and approval of August 6, 2018, minutes: Sandy offered an addition as follows, which she had sent to committee members the prior evening. Add the following paragraph to the draft minutes at the end of agenda item 4. This addition would appear on page 2 immediately before agenda item 5. “Sandy asked John whether he had heard from Paul regarding sharing the draft IZ rules with the Planning Commission, developers, and others. John indicated he had not heard from Paul on this subject. Re the draft IZ rules, Todd asked the committee to consider three additions to the errata list of corrections to the draft IZ rules: (1) On page 2 of version without highlighting, first sub-item (b), change “person” to “legal entity”; committee members agreed to this change; (2) On page 3 of version without highlighting, delete all of sub- items (d) and (e) as unnecessary; committee members did not concur in Todd’s view that these sub-items are unnecessary; and (3) On page 5 of version without highlighting, change sub-item “(d)” to “(e)” as there is already a sub-item (d) in this subsection; committee members noted that this needed change is already on the errata list.” Mike moved and John seconded motion that the August 6, 2018, minutes be approved as modified by the addition quoted above. Motion passed, vote: 3-0-2. Tom and Leslie abstained as they had not attended the August 6, 2018, committee meeting. 3. Chair’s remarks: John noted that the committee’s “review” of the VonTurkovich development plan is not a normal role for the committee. We are meeting with Frank and providing input relative to his plan at the request of the Planning Commission. Frank has been meeting with other SoBu committees (also at the request of the Planning Commission. John indicated that should there be time at end, Sandy will update members on events at recent City Council meetings. If there is yet additional time, committee members will provide feedback on Tom’s draft Summary. 4. Welcome developer Frank VonTurkovich: (1) Presenting plans for Swift and Spear Development re meeting affordable housing needs The VonTurkovich plan is to develop housing on the Edlund lot, currently owned by UVM, in combination with other adjoining lots. The Edlund lot has frontage on West side Spear St., North of Swift Street. One or more of the other lots have frontage on Swift St., West of the Spear/Swift intersection. In order to implement the plan Frank will be asking the Planning Commission to change the zoning of the Edlund property from Institutional/Agricultural to a Residential Zoning district. The plan includes two access points from Spear St., one of which will be opposite Songbird Rd. The plan includes four 68-ft. wide buildings built into the sloping hill; they will be two-storey buildings with a garage underneath. Each building would include 24 units, 12 on each floor. These four buildings comprise 96 dwelling units. The other 66 units, whose position would be perpendicular to the four 24-unit buildings, are composed of single-family, duplexes, triplexes, and/or quads. The plan is not yet fully defined regarding the type of dwelling units would be built in the 66-unit group. The development would include a total of 162 units. The acreage in the plan would permit a maximum of 262 units. The combined lots comprise 60 acres. The Edlund lot comprises 30 acres. The 24-unit buildings would be one- and two-bedroom rental apartments charging market rate rents. UVM affiliated households would be given preference whenever a vacant unit is available for occupancy. Frank said that having some of the units perpetually affordable would not require a change in his agreement with UVM. A development with 162 units would be required to have 24 inclusionary units under the committee’s draft inclusionary zoning regulations. If they are rentals, 16 would be required to be affordable to households having incomes no greater than 80% of AMI. The remaining 8 units would be required to be affordable to households having incomes no greater than 100% AMI. (2) Committee opportunity to receive feedback units on draft city-wide Inclusionary Housing Frank does not support Inclusionary Zoning, though he complimented the committee on its considerable effort in producing the draft IZ regulations. His main objection is that Inclusionary Zoning requires developers to include affordable housing in their developments. He urged the committee to revisit the draft rules, remove the requirement, and add “the right incentives” that will induce developers to build affordable units on a voluntary basis. Committee members asked Frank for examples of “the right incentives”—i.e. what these policies are and cities where their implementation has been successful. Frank had none to share. Committee members shared their goal of having SoBu be a City in which people who work here in middle- and lower-middle-income jobs can find housing that they can afford. It has been many years since a single affordable dwelling unit has been built in SoBu. Someone mentioned: “No pain; no gain.” Frank and committee members agreed to respectfully agree to disagree on this subject. Committee members also thanked Frank for sharing his views on the draft regulations. When asked, Frank pledged to have his development meet the inclusionary requirements included in the draft Citywide IZ regulations even if his preliminary plat application precedes their adoption. Frank pointed out that the current regulations for Residential 1, Residential 2, and Residential 4 districts do not allow a developer to include more than four dwelling units in a multi-family structure. These districts would not allow Frank to build the 24-unit buildings if the zoning were to be changed to R1, R2, or R4. He prefers not to have Edlund rezoned as R7. Committee members saw merit in Frank’s goal of having regulations modified to allow 24 units in one of these three districts when specific conditions are met. Committee members thanked Frank, he left the meeting, and members moved to the Champlain Room. 5. Discuss and set out agenda requests for 8/28 joint meeting with Planning Commission (8/28): Members proposed that John seek to have 1.5 hours allotted to discussion of draft Citywide IZ regulations. Members suggested that John have an opportunity to introduce the committee, when it was created (2016), the diversity of its membership, and its accomplishments (housing preservation regulations, proposed reduction of impact fees for nonprofit affordable housing developments, preparation of draft Citywide IZ regulations, proposal to Regional Planning Commission that Chittenden County municipalities with housing committees meet to share strategies and attend workshops [two meetings to date]. A prior Affordable Housing Task Force drafted the IZ regulations for City Center. Leslie agreed to prepare bullet points covering the draft IZ regulations for use with the Planning Commission. She will share them with Tom and Sandy for review and possible edits. Committee members present came to a consensus regarding whether to allow developers to make a $60,000 per unit contribution to the Housing Trust Fund in lieu of building an inclusionary unit in all City districts except the City Center district. To formalize this meeting of the minds, Leslie moved and Tom seconded that the Committee recommend to the Planning Commission that, with the exception of the City Center District, developers in all City districts have the option of contributing $60,000 per unit to the Housing Trust Fund in lieu of building an inclusionary unit. Motion passed: 5-0-0. Committee members had a brief discussion/explanation of how providing density bonuses for inclusionary units competes with a developer’s potential purchase of TDRs to obtain additional density. Recognizing the need to explore this situation further, Sandy moved and Mike seconded that the committee state its intent to give serious consideration to a regulation that would give a developer that purchases three TDRs credit for one inclusionary unit toward his/her inclusionary requirement. Motion passed on vote of 4-0-1 (Tom abstaining). 6. New business: Committee members present agreed to explore how they might support Frank in having a change relating to number of units allowed in multi-family structures in certain zoning districts adopted. Committee members want conditions attached to allowing more units; one condition would relate to provision of inclusionary units. Sandy shared that a many folks had attended the August 20 City Council meeting in order to express concern/opposition to the proposed Dorset Meadows development in the SEQ. They shared these sentiments during comments on topics not included on agenda part of the meeting. The City Council agreed to schedule a special “public hearing” on this topic (probably in early October). Tom acknowledged receipt of comments from Leslie and Sandy on his draft Summary. He will incorporate them and distribute Draft 2 to the committee for review at a future meeting. 7. Adjourn: Tom moved and Mike seconded motion to adjourn meeting at 11:05 a.m. Motion passed by vote of 5-0-0. “Bike rack” ● Tom will prepare a “Summary” of the proposed changes (from May 29, 2018, meeting minutes) ● 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.