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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - Affordable Housing Committee - 05/25/2021May 25, 2021, SoBu Affordable Housing Committee Minutes- APPROVED Page 1 Approved on June 8, 2021 AFFORDABLE HOUSING COMMITTEE May 25, 2021, 10:30 a.m., meeting held online Members attending: Leslie Black-Plumeau, Vince Bolduc, Sandy Dooley, Patrick O’Brien, John Simson, and Chris Trombly Others: Monica Ostby, PC liaison; Kevin Dorn, City Manager; Ariel Jensen-Vargas (joined at11:34 a.m.), Darrilyn Peters, and Minelle Sarfo-Ado, SoBu residents AGENDA 1. Call to order, agenda review, public comment, approval of minutes (05/11/21), announcements 2. Communications Update 3. Discussion and possible action regarding proposed Environmental Protection Standards regulations for South Burlington 4. Discussion/possible homework re preparation of welcome package for the new city manager 5. Discuss schedule for remainder of fiscal year 6. Discussion and possible action on inclusionary housing plan for O’Brien Bros. six multi-family buildings plus office space development at 255 Kennedy Drive (#SD-21-13) 7. Adjourn 1, Call to order, agenda review, public comment, approval of Minutes (05/11/21), announcements Call to order: Chris called the meeting to order at 10:37 a.m. At Chris’ invitation, those present shared a moment of silence in memory/honor of George Floyd, as May 25th marked the first anniversary of his murder by Minneapolis, MN police officers. Agenda review: Vince moved and Leslie seconded motions to approve the agenda as proposed. Motion approved: 6-0-0. Public Comments: None. Minutes: Leslie moved and John seconded motion to approve the 05/11/21 meeting minutes with the modification requested by Laura Lapierre (under agenda item 2. line 7, delete “presumed” and insert in its place “State”). Motion approved: 6-0-0. Announcements: The VT budget includes $190 million for affordable housing, though not all is targeted to housing construction. Leslie indicated more specific info should become available soon. Monica noted that, once info is known re the $190 million, she will share it with the Planning Commission (PC). The Rental Registry bill was not passed because House Republicans refused to allow suspension of the rules so bill could be sent to Senate for final passage. Several members had attended the May 17 City Council (CC) meeting and expressed their disappointment at some Councilors negative response to the Long family’s application to have its sketch plan proceed to the DRB under Interim Zoning. The CC closed the Public Hearing; will engage in an executive- deliberative session to discuss the application; and make decision, publicly, in a CC mtg. Members agreed that reaching out to Councilors that might change from negative to positive is appropriate follow-up. Monica reported having made contact with Minelle and shared her admiration for Minelle and Addie’s efforts to have book, The Color of Law, added to the curriculum in all Vermont schools. Minelle and Addie are part of the VT Student Anti-Racism Network. Chris sent link to Minelle’s presentation to the Vermont Bankers’ Association. In discussion of different housing types that might be included in Long family’s proposed development, Patrick shared that after studying the proposed new requirements that may apply to multi-family homes (duplexes or three or more units in one building) and which are not proposed to apply to detached single-family homes, he concluded that it will be less costly for him to build “cute, small single-family homes” than multi-family homes. Because of having reached this conclusion, he retracts prior statements that it is more expensive to build single-family homes than dwelling units in multi-family structures. Committee members expressed desire to hear more from Patrick about the provisions in the proposed new LDR requirements that led him to this conclusion. May 25, 2021, SoBu Affordable Housing Committee Minutes- APPROVED Page 2 2. Communications Update: Leslie plans to organize a meeting of the communications work group (Leslie, Vince, Chris, Monica, and Sandy). Meanwhile, working with Andrea Leo, she has had several documents and resources added to the committee’s webpage and she wrote a piece for the SoBu Newsletter about the availability of emergency assistance for payment of overdue rent or mortgage payments to households adversely affected by the pandemic. 3. Discussion and possible action regarding proposed Environmental Protection Standards regulations for South Burlington: Discussion focused primarily on fact that the definitions for Habitat Blocks and Habitat Connectors in the definitions section of the proposed regulations consist solely of the map of these areas prepared by Arrowwood Associates (with minor modifications by PC). The maps are not based on field delineation of any of these areas. In addition, due to removal of the narrative from the definition, there is nothing that describes what the map is intended to delineate. According to PC Chair Louisos’ testimony at the Public Hearing, the boundaries of the Natural Resource Protection (NRP) zoning districts are also based on a map prepared by Arrowwood Associates that was not field delineated. Vince raised concern that a map for which there is no field delineation cannot be independently verified. Patrick added that when the NRP districts located within South Village were “verified” by other entities, the boundaries were not the same as those indicated on the City’s map for the NRP districts. PC has asked Arrowwood to review the PC’s changes to the Habitat Block and Connector boundaries and provide input on changes’ impact on the Habitat Blocks’ core. Patrick said his goal is not to have less habitat protected but to have a map that developers can depend upon. Leslie added that we need a definition that helps us know how to determine the correct boundary. Informal decision to invite Paul Conner to next meeting to explore this subject with him. The other topic of major interest is grasslands, which some residents asked to be added to areas protected by the proposed regulations. One consideration is that grasslands are difficult to define. Another is that adding this category of resources at this late date will threaten to preparation of the proposed new PUD regulations in time for them to be acted upon before the expiration of Interim Zoning. 4. Discussion/possible homework re preparation of welcome package for the new city manager: Sandy did not have a specific package to propose; had hope there would be enough time for members to brainstorm this subject, but that was not the case. John proposed that he and Sandy meet before the next meeting to develop a draft proposal for committee’s review. Sandy agreed to this proposal and committee members endorsed it informally. 5. Discuss schedule for remainder of fiscal year: Group agreed to meet on the following dates (at 10:30 a.m.): June 8, June 22, & July 6. Assuming our new committee members have been appointed by July 6, the will be our annual organizational meeting at which chair, vice chair, and clerk are elected by committee members. Chris invited Regina Mahony to attend the July 6 meeting and do presentation on the latest update to the CCRPC’s ECOS plan (Regina accepted invitation). Committee will defer decisions on FY22 Work Plan and Goals until new members have been appointed and can participate in this process. Topics mentioned for consideration were: increased funding for Housing Trust Fund, ADUs, Cottage homes. Patrick O’Brien left the meeting. 6. Discussion and possible action on inclusionary housing plan for O’Brien Bros. six multi-family buildings plus office space development at 255 Kennedy Drive (#SD-21-13): Chris and Sandy had expected Andrew Gill to attend this meeting but this did not happen. Group agreed that they had enough information to pass two motions regarding this component of the O’Brien Farm development. These motions are as follows: Motion #1: Sandy moved and John seconded motion that the Affordable Housing Committee approve the O’Brien Brothers plan for the Inclusionary units in its development at 255 Kennedy Drive (#SD-21-13) citing the Committee’s support for the applicant’s plan to construct the Inclusionary units early in the phasing of the project and the O’Brien Brothers’ commitment to add Inclusionary Units in the final phase of the development, if necessary to meet the requirement that the average number of bedrooms in the Inclusionary units be no less than the average number of bedrooms in the Market units. Motion approved: 5-0-0 (Patrick O’Brien left meeting prior to this discussion). Motion #2: Sandy moved and Leslie seconded a motion that the Affordable Housing Committee endorse the O’Brien Bros.’ efforts to have two buildings in their development at 255 Kennedy Drive ((#SD-21-13, part of the O’Brien Farm Master Plan) consist of inclusionary units and support their goal to have these units count toward May 25, 2021, SoBu Affordable Housing Committee Minutes- APPROVED Page 3 any inclusionary requirement that occurs from future residential development in a contiguous PUD that is part of the O’Brien Farm Master Plan. Motion approved: 5-0-0 (Patrick O’Brien left meeting prior to this discussion). Subjects raised following action on motions included: we want to learn more about Patrick’s conclusion that single-family homes can built at lower cost that duplexes, triplexes, etc.; question: are PCs (in VT) required to take training? Answer: no. Members mentioned that training for PCs is required in Virginia and is about to be required in Connecticut. John mentioned that such training might be available from the VT League of Cities & Towns. This would be a good subject for discussion with the new City Manager. Vince had sent members an email shortly before the meeting articulating his concerns about the proposed Environmental Protection Standards and sought members’ input on whether he should sent these comments to the PC. Committee members encouraged him to do so. 7. Adjourn: At 12:32 p.m. Vince moved and Leslie seconded motion to adjourn. Motion approved: 5-0-0.