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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - Affordable Housing Committee - 05/14/2019Approved on May 28, 2019 AFFORDABLE HOUSING COMMITTEE May 14, 2019, 10:30 AM, City Hall, Summit Room Members attending: Leslie Black-Plumeau, Sandy Dooley, Todd Rawlings, and Michael Simoneau Members absent: Tom Bailey, Larry Michaels, and John Simson Also present: Monica Ostby, Planning Commission liaison, Regina Mahoney, CCRPC, Paula DeMichele, from Essex Town Minutes by Leslie Black-Plumeau and Sandy Dooley AGENDA 1. Call to order, emergency procedure, agenda review, comments from guests 2. Review and approval of minutes of 05/08/2019 committee meeting 3. Vice Chair’s comments 4. Welcome Regina Mahoney from CCRPC to lead discussion of the latest draft of inclusionary zoning regs for Transit Overlay District 5. Set dates for June and July committee meetings 6. Discuss content options/suggestion for IZ “Handbook” for developers and folks seeking to rent or purchase housing in SoBu – Todd Rawlings leading discussion 7. Reports and updates by committee members 8. Adjourn 1. Call to order, emergency procedure, agenda review, comments from guests: Sandy called the meeting to order at 10:03 a.m. She reviewed the exit procedures and suggested adding setting future meeting dates to the agenda. No one else had any suggested agenda changes. There were no public comments. 2. Review and approval of minutes of 05/08/2019 committee meeting: Todd moved and Leslie seconded motion that the minutes of the 05/08/19 meeting be approved as drafted. Motion passed 4- 0-0. 3. Vice Chair’s comments: Sandy noted that Burlington will hold an afternoon and evening Housing Summit on June 11. ADUs is one subject that will be explored at the conference. Sandy will share more information about the Summit when she receives it from Gillian Nanton, who works for the City of Burlington. Todd and Leslie mentioned that they plan to attend. At the last meeting, the committee had asked Sandy to find out if new residents at Dorset Commons are income tested. Sandy reported that households in about half of the apartments are income tested due to VHCB funding. Households in the rest of the units are not income tested. Occupational information that these households provide indicate that their incomes are in the 80-120% AMI range. Todd then inquired as to the funding sources CHT used to purchase Dorset Commons. Mike and Sandy shared that the process before purchase was lengthy; some anticipated funds did not come through; and CHT received a unique combination of support from VHCB, beneficial arrangements with the seller, and other resources to finalize the purchase. Sandy also reported that while CHT’s primary target household income range will continue to be < 60% AMI, it will give additional attention to providing housing whose prices are targeted to the 60-80% AMI income range. This may be through additional purchase of existing developments similar to Dorset Commons. Sandy also shared input a comment from SoBu resident Leo Nadeau who attended the May 7 meeting. He would like the committee to consider that the developer of single-family homes has higher per unit infrastructure costs (street construction, plus water, sewer, and power connections) than for multifamily buildings. He suggested that the committee consider reducing the required percentage of units subject to IZ requirements for single-family-home developments. 4. Welcome Regina Mahoney from CCRPC to lead discussion of the latest draft of inclusionary zoning regs for Transit Overlay District: Regina passed out a revised version of the IZ proposal cover memo. She pointed out the additional language about the comp plan goals in the introductory section of the memo. Monica suggested adding more detailed information about the housing units lost and gained in South Burlington in recent years. Leslie and Mike agreed that reminding readers of the NOAH (Naturally Occurring Affordable Housing) homes lost from SB’s housing stock near the airport and in parcels along Shelburne road could help set the stage for considering IZ. Monica suggested that at a future meeting she and John walk the committee through the TDR map and indicate proposed zoning changes. Regina reviewed the market rent information she gathered from the December 2018 Allen, Brooks & Minor report and from the Internet about two other recent SoBu developments on pages 2-3 of the memo. The committee compared the target rent thresholds that the proposed IZ regs would trigger relative to the market rents available with no Inclusionary Zoning (IZ) intervention. Because the market is already producing some new units at lower rents than what is affordable at 100% of AMI, Leslie suggested that the group consider revising the proposed IZ regs to require that all IZ rental units be affordable at 80% of AMI (instead of some at 80% and some at 100%). A straw poll indicated that, along with Leslie, Sandy and Mike would support this but that Todd would abstain because he believes that IZ unit rent maximums should generate apartments with rent levels well below 80% AMI. He noted that this is supported by the lower average market rate rent among all new and existing units ($1,076 for 1 BR, $1,312 for 2 BR). Then Leslie shared this info on the prices of new homes currently on the market in SB: Bedrooms Median price Lowest price Median monthly fee # Homes 2 $ 329,900 $ 329,900 $ 185 1 3 $ 416,500 $ 339,500 $ 221 15 4 $ 534,900 $ 528,500 $ - 3 Total $ 416,500 $ 329,900 $ 195 19 Because the proposed IZ regs currently would set the maximum price of some 2-BR owner IZ units at $331,500 (120% AMI), which is fairly close to the lowest priced 2-BR home currently on the market, Leslie suggested that the group consider requiring all of the IZ owner units to be targeted at the 100% AMI level. This target for a 2-BR unit is $276,000. A straw poll indicated that, along with Leslie, Sandy and Mike would support this but that Todd would abstain because he believes that it may be hard to market these units if potential buyers can afford a slightly more expensive home that does not have strings attached at resale (e.g. shared equity). 5. Set dates for June and July committee meetings: June 18, July 9 and July 23 at 10 AM. 6. Discuss content options/suggestion for IZ “Handbook” for developers and folks seeking to rent or purchase housing in SoBu – Todd Rawlings leading discussion: due to insufficient time, delayed to future meeting 7. Reports and updates by committee members: due to insufficient time, delayed to future meeting 8. Adjourn: At 12:01 p.m. Mike moved and Todd seconded motion that the meeting be adjourned. Motion passed 4-0-0. Bike rack: ● 1/8/19 Emails to K. Dorn and D. Young to be completed by 1/24/19 City: DONE! ● Keep and address at 1/24/19 committee meeting. Work on Committee’s page on the City’s website ● Combine with item immediately above. (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): All bike rack tasks should include date of assignment and date for task completion.