HomeMy WebLinkAbout12-28-10 Community Affordable Housing Advisory Board Minutes
City of Bozeman
Community Affordable Housing Advisory Board (CAHAB)
Meeting Minutes
December 28, 2010
11:00 am – 1:00 pm
City of Bozeman Planning Department
Attending:
Brian LaMeres (City of Bozeman Finance Department), Kris Keller (Community
Representative), Mary Martin (Community Representative), Jan Bergman (Community
Representative)
Absent (excused):
Dave Magistrelli (Community Representative), Daniel Simonich (Community Representative),
Carson Taylor (City Commissioner)
Staff :
Tracy Menuez (HRDC), Tim McHarg (City Planning Department), Doug Riley (City Planning
Department)
Public:
None
A.Call to Order
Chairman LaMeres called the meeting to order at 11 am.
B.Changes to Agenda –
None
C.Approval of Minutes –
None
D.Public Comment
There was no public comment.
E.Action Items -
None
F. Work Session – workforce housing
Tracy M. discussed the process that the CAHAB could follow to make recommendations
to the City Commission. Originally, the CAHAB planned to have recommendations to
st
the Commission by January 31, however; it does not appear as though the Commission
will be taking the topic up any time soon. The CAHAB will continue to work on a bullet
list of recommendations to provide to the Commission in advance of any discussions
regarding the ordinance.
Tim commented that the planning board is primarily concerned with people using the
current ordinance to take advantage of the system by receiving incentives (parkland) that
do not result in affordable units. He recommended that the CAHAB put together a scope
of work to recommend to the Commission.
Mary commented that we need to start with what we know has not worked well. Tim
reviewed the presentation that he gave to the planning board regarding the ordinance
(attached). The primary points of weakness he finds in the ordinance are as follows:
Using a threshold of 5 acres for applicability – Tim feels that this is a high
threshold and that it will not capture many developments
Using a calculation based on “net buildable acreage” – this creates a cumbersome
calculation that could be improved by going to a % of units calculation which
should be tied to a needs assessment
Prices are too high for deed restricted units – need at least a 25% discount from
market
Delivery of a lot does not mean that a house gets built, but all incentives go out at
delivery of lot
Very administratively heavy to deed restrict both land and unit at separate times
Need to structure something that realistically allows for cash-in-lieu and land
donations
Ordinance has a lot of administrative language that would be better place in an
administrative manual that is easier to amend as economic environments change;
this could provide the trigger points discussed earlier.
Parkland is a difficult cost offset to recover if the project does not comply
Some incentives provided are not realistic (low interest loans for construction),
some incentives are allowed by right anyway
In short, Tim commented that he was doubtful if this ordinance would have ever actually
worked, given its complexities. He asked the CAHAB to consider what the goal of a
WFH program is and what is the CAHAB process for getting a program that meets that
goal?
The CAHAB agreed to meet again on January 6, 2011 to continue the WFH work
session, with the goal of creating a bullet list of recommendations and a basic set of
principles for the scope of work.
G.FYI/Discussion - none
H.Adjourn
Chairman LaMeres adjourned the meeting at 1:05 pm.