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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - Affordable Housing Committee - 09/11/2018Approved on September 12, 2018 NOTE: Date/time/place of next meeting: Tuesday, September 25, 2018, 10:00 a.m., place TBD. AFFORDABLE HOUSING COMMITTEE September 11, 2018, 10:00 AM, City Hall, Paul Conner’s office Members attending: Leslie Black-Plumeau, Sandy Dooley, Todd Rawlings, Michael Simoneau, and John Simson (Chair); Members absent: Tom Bailey, Larry Michaels; Others: Monica Ostby, PC liaison, also absent. Guests: Joey Waldinger, UVM student doing internship with The Other Paper (jwalding@uvm.edu), Denise Olsky (dolsky126@gmail.com) Minutes by Sandy Dooley AGENDA 1. Call to order, emergency procedure, agenda review, comments from guests 2. Review and approval of August 21, 2018, minutes 3. Chair’s remarks and Committee reaction to joint meeting with Planning Commission, Swift and Spear development (UVM/Von Turkovich) 4. Plan developer and public presentation of inclusionary housing measure 5. Discuss article, “Dynamic Planning for Affordability” distributed by Tom Bailey focusing on bullet points on pp. 4-6 for ideas for upcoming Committee work planning 6. Assign articles for The Other Paper and City Website, etc. 7. New Business 8. Adjourn 1. Call to order, emergency procedure, agenda review, comments from guests: John called the meeting to order at 10:05 a.m. and summarized emergency evacuation instructions. There were no changes to the agenda. Joey Waldinger introduced himself to Committee members present. He is a UVM Senior (from California) who is doing an internship with The Other Paper and is focusing on learning about Inclusionary Zoning. Denise Olsky, SEQ resident, attended the meeting to raise some subjects under the “comments from guests” provision of the agenda. Denise indicated her view that there is already plenty of affordable housing in SoBu. Therefore, why not fix up the affordable housing that is already here, rather than encourage or require that more affordable housing units be built? Committee members explained that we want people with moderate incomes that work in the City to have housing available that they can afford so that they can live in SoBu. Members cited the smaller carbon footprint of having denser housing development instead of having people have to live in Milton, Fairfax, or elsewhere and commute long distances to work in SoBu. Olsky questioned whether having denser housing development (paving open fields, cutting down trees, etc.) was less damaging from an environmental perspective than maintaining the open space and having less dense development in the SEQ. Leslie stated her understanding that density is better than having people commute long distances to work and obtain services and said she would send Denise some research-based information that supports this position. Denise also advocated that the City greatly restrict development or impose a moratorium. Committee members stated that, even if this were an objective, it would be a challenge to put in place due to property owners‘ right to develop their land under current LDRs. Committee members stated that the place to advocate for her goals is the Planning Commission and encouraged Denise to attend Planning Commission meetings and become acquainted with the Comprehensive Plan and LDRs. Members thanked Denise for coming to the meeting and sharing her views and concerns. 2. Review and approval of August 21, 2018, minutes: Leslie moved and Mike seconded that the August 21, 2018, minutes be approved with the following correction: add Todd Rawlings’ name to the list of committee members absent from the meeting. Motion passed, vote: 4-0-1. Todd abstained as he had not attended the August 21, 2018, committee meeting. 3. Chair’s remarks and Committee reaction to joint meeting with Planning Commission (PC), Swift and Spear development (UVM/VonTurkovich): John shared information about upcoming events as follows. (a) On October 29, 2011, the Regional Planning Commission (CCRPC) is convening another meeting of local officials/volunteers focused on promoting the development of affordable housing. Time unknown but likely to be in early evening. Location TBD. John will speak at this meeting on establishing a Housing Trust Fund. Larry Kupferman, chair of SoBu’s Housing Trust Fund, will be presenting along with John. (b) On November 14, 2011, VHFA is hosting its biennial Vermont State Housing Conference at the Hilton Burlington. John will also be a presenter at this conference. (c) On September 19, 2011, 10 a.m., CHT will host a ground-breaking for its 60-unit Garden Apartments development, Market Street, SoBu. Committee members are encouraged to attend. Neither John nor Sandy is able to attend. Leslie will attend but cannot stay long. Committee members found joint meeting with PC useful but perceive that the Planning Commissioners have a significant learning curve to become better informed about the need for more housing in the 80-120% AMI affordability range. Commissioners had varying levels of familiarity with the draft IZ proposal. Committee members see that a lot of work needs to be done on re-branding “affordable housing” and how people across the entire income spectrum and the community benefit from having a housing supply that is a better match to households’ needs than is the case with the current situation. Members see large task ahead of educating the community and its leadership about the need for a housing supply that includes more housing for households in the middle. Concepts/themes mentioned during this discussion: Moderately Priced Dwelling Units (MPDU), Affordable: these are your neighbor, Housing for the Missing Middle, a Balanced Housing Market, Housing Opportunities for the Middle. Written material needs to be understandable to folks that know next to nothing about the housing market and ways to address its shortcomings. We need to use a journalistic/marketing approach. Content needs to include some compelling examples. Committee members’ input on proposed development on Swift and Spear. Noted that VonTurkovich did not provide price points. Committee members support building housing at that location if development includes units that comply with committee’s draft IZ LDRs, including perpetual affordability. Committee members appreciate VonTurkovich’s promise to build development that complies with draft IZ document. Members are interested in how the development will place and structure four 24-unit buildings and provide parking for them. Members want to know more about how giving preference to households affiliated with UVM would work. Mike suggested members take a close look at Twin Oaks development where most buildings have eight units. Need to find ways to incentivize building smaller housing units—1,500 sq. ft. or less. A tax or impact fee on units larger than 1,500 sq. ft. was mentioned. Mike: Very few single-family houses in committee’s target price range come onto the market and when they do, they are bought quickly. 4. Plan developer and public presentation of inclusionary housing measure: Members discussed possible outreach to SoBu Business Association (SBBA) re need for more affordable housing and role of IZ. Question: what is SBBA’s experience with housing? Is affordable housing on the radar screen of any SBBA member? SBBA has about 100 members and a part-time executive director (Julie Beattie, former member of SoBu School Board). Mike suggested that, once we have the right materials, John and/or Sandy seek a meeting with the chair and executive director. Goal would be to get them interested in the issue and supportive of providing information about housing and IZ in their newsletter or via a separate mailing to the membership. Members also discussed meeting with developers, either individually or as a group. Pros and cons to both approaches. Developers mentioned were O’Brien, Art Klugo, Snyder-Braverman, Doucevicz, Eric Farrell, and CHT (Amy Demetrowitz). No specific plan was developed. John shared that it is unclear how current IZ rules in City Center are going to be implemented. He wants the IZ rules to be implemented consistent with the requirements of the regulations but understands that approaches that he does not support are being discussed. He has made his views clear to Paul. Sandy lamented the total lack of transparency in this process. Mike mentioned that the lack of transparency is the opposite of the process vis-à-vis Cambrian Rise in Burlington, in which it has been clear from the outset how inclusionary units will be shared among the private developer and the nonprofits, and the basis for the sharing. 5. Discuss article, “Dynamic Planning for Affordability” distributed by Tom Bailey focusing on bullet points on pp. 4-6 for ideas for upcoming Committee work planning: Committee did not have sufficient time to discuss this article. Sandy asked for context of this being on the agenda, as focusing on the ideas on pp. 4-6 seems to be continuing to focus on regulatory proposals. Her understanding has been that, once we submitted the IZ proposal to the PC, the committee’s priority is public/community education about housing, affordability, and ways to address the fact that too many folks that work in SoBu cannot find housing here that their family can afford. Members agreed that next on our project list is public education but see some of the ideas in the article as initiatives that the committee might work on in 2019. Sandy shared her expectation that working with the Planning Commission and City Council re adoption of the draft IZ rules is likely to be a lengthy process and questions whether there will be much time in next year for new regulatory initiatives. Discussion of this topic ended without identifying when committee would focus on the article. 6. Assign articles for The Other Paper and City Website, etc. Members discussed various topics for first article. Leslie volunteered to draft an article focused on “A Balanced Housing Market” and “What does affordability mean?’ Her plan is to send it to committee members about a week before the next meeting for their review and suggested edits. 7. New business: None. Todd left meeting at 11:45 a.m. 8. Adjourn: Mike moved and Leslie seconded motion to adjourn meeting at 12:00 p.m. Motion passed by vote of 4-0-0. “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.