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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - Affordable Housing Committee - 05/24/2017Approved by unanimous vote (5-0) on June 6, 2017, committee meeting. AFFORDABLE HOUSING COMMITTEE May 24, 2017, 4:00 PM, City Hall Members Attending: Tom Bailey, Leslie Black-Plumeau, Sandy Dooley, Michael Simoneau, John Simson (Chair) Others Present: Larry Kupferman, Chair, SoBu Housing Trust Fund Board AGENDA 1. Call to order 2. Agenda Review: Additions, deletions or changes in order of agenda items 3. Comments and questions from the public not related to the agenda 4. Review and approval of minutes from the May 8, 2017 Committee meeting. 4A. Consideration of and possible action on amendment to LDR 17.03 B 5. Review of next steps with Housing Preservation amendment 6. Measures to incentivize private development of affordable housing 7. Schedule next meeting 8. Other business 9. Adjourn 1. Call to Order: John called the meeting to order at 4:04 p.m. 2. Agenda review: Sandy requested that consideration of and possible action on Tom’s proposed amendment to LDR 17.03 B be added to the agenda. The committee agreed to this by consensus. 3. Comments, etc.: There were no comments from the public. 4. Review and approval of minutes of May 8, 2017, committee meeting: Tom noted that the first motion by John under the heading “Housing preservation amendment” did not name the person that seconded it and the results of the vote on the motion. To address this, Sandy moved and Mike seconded a motion to approve the minutes of the May 8, 2017, committee minutes with the addition of Mike’s having seconded this motion and its having been approved unanimously. 4A. Consideration of and possible action on amendment to LDR 17.03 B: Sandy moved and Leslie seconded that the following provision be added to LDR Sub-section 17.03 B: “(3) Certificates of Occupancy are required for replacement dwelling units as required in Sub-section 18.03 F(3).” Motion approved unanimously. 5. Review of next steps with Housing Preservation amendment: a. John will be going to the Planning Commission on June 13 to present the committee’s draft Housing Preservation amendment. b. John brought to the committee’s attention that there are a few homes included in the “closed” Airport Improvement Plans (AIPs) that the airport has not purchased and asked the committee to consider adding these homes to the homes in the “open” AIPs that the airport has not yet purchased, which the committee has already exempted from the Housing Preservation requirement. Following discussion, Sandy moved and Leslie seconded that the committee request that the chair (John) request that City Attorney Andrew Bolduc review the “closed” AIPs and identify the addresses of the not-yet-purchased homes and provide the committee with proposed new LDR language that would exempt these homes. Committee approved the motion unanimously. The plan is to consider and possibly act on this language at the June 6th committee meeting. c. Tom proposed adding to the draft Housing Preservation amendment the draft of new zoning district for the area of the City located within the Airport’s map of land subject to noise levels at or above the 73.3 DNL and delaying the submission of the draft Housing Preservation amendment to the Planning Commission until the committee has completed this draft. The committee declined to act on this proposal because (1) this work does not fall within the Committee’s mission, (2) no one knows the methodology underpinning the choice of the 73.3 DNL, (3) defining a new zoning district for this area is not high on the Planning Commission’s priority list (P. Conner 5/19/17 email), and (4) there was some question as to whether a committee member that did not support the amendment may propose a modification to it. 6. Measures to incentivize private development of affordable housing: Committee members appreciated Mike’s, Sandy’s, and Tom’s emailed suggestions under this topic. Leslie asked whether SoBu’s density bonuses for Affordable Housing developments work such that the developer obtains the full effect of the bonus. Sandy suggested that looking at the density for the Farrell development behind Shaw’s might shed some light on this question. Other topics of discussion included having voters approve bonds for affordable housing (example: Seattle), question of which is more effective: using funds to subsidize consumers or to build affordable housing units, providing exemptions from Act 250 review for affordable housing developments (this is already the case under defined circumstances), what is happening with the CCRPC’s “Building Homes Together” initiative, review of BTV’s Inclusionary Zoning Report to get understanding of what, beyond inclusionary zoning, has worked and not worked there, and SoBu being the catalyst for addressing this problem regionally. John proposed that the committee identify areas of the City that are appropriate/suitable for affordable housing (he used the term overlay district) and develop a package of LDR incentives to encourage private developers to include affordable housing in developments in these areas. Suitable areas would be those near public transit, pedestrian and bike paths, and services (e.g. schools, grocery stores, drug store, and post office). Possible incentives mentioned were waivers to density, parking, height requirements, and reductions to or waivers of impact and/or permit fees. By consensus, the committee asked Leslie to invite Regina Mahoney of CCRPC to our June 6th meeting (to arrive at 5:00 p.m.) to provide input with respect to what might be best way to approach drafting an overlay or special district focused on incentivizing the construction of affordable housing. 7. Schedule next meeting: 6/6, 6/20, 7/10, and 7/25, all at 4 PM 8. Other business: Homework: a. John to follow up with Andrew re “closed” Airport AIPs (per motion) and draft article for TOP. b. Leslie to invite Regina to next meeting c. Mike to obtain Map from Paul Conner for use at next meeting and also contact Eric Farrell to determine dwelling units per acre in development behind Shaw’s on Shelburne Road. d. Tom to research the conditions under which housing developments are exempt from Act 250 review (e.g. priority housing projects). e. Sandy to explore (research) where in the US municipalities have effectively used special zoning districts to incentivize development of affordable housing. Announcement: John Simson to speak at VHFA-hosted press conference at Cathedral Square/Grand Way Housing on May 26th, 10 a.m. Committee members (and public) are invited. Information: Leslie distributed a one-page handout, South Burlington Housing Needs, 2017. Committee suggestion: use for a TOP article. 9. Adjourn – The committee adjourned the meeting at 6:00 p.m.