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HomeMy WebLinkAbout09-09-15 CAHAB Minutes draft Community Affordable Housing Advisory Board Wednesday, September 9, 2015, 8:00am, City Commission Chamber – 121 N. Rouse Ave. A. 08:04:24 AM Call meeting to order B. 08:04:29 AM Changes to the Agenda – the NCOD Presentation has been put on hold to next month. C. 08:05:28 AM Public Comment - No Public Comment Please state your name and address in an audible tone of voice for the record. This is the time for individuals to comment on matters falling within the purview of the Committee. There will also be an opportunity in conjunction with each action item for comments pertaining to that item. Please limit your comments to three minutes. D. 08:05:41 AM Approval of Minutes from August 5th, 2015 – Minutes approved. E. 08:06:06 AM Action Items 1. Final review of the Draft Affordable Housing Ordinance – Presentation by Wendy Thomas. Over the course of the next few days, the presentation is being made to a number of advisory boards for recommendation to the City Commission. 08:08:38 AM If you cannot provide homes for people who work in the community, it’s a detriment to the community. 08:10:45 AM Mrs. Thomas reviews the previous attempts at building work force housing. Previous attempts were put on hold due to a poor housing market. This ordinance was started as a result of the housing market being on the rise and a need to make previous ordinances more user friendly. 08:15:12 AM Mrs. Thomas reviews the homes that were built as a result of the previous ordinances and on the free market. Many of these homes, however, are in condominiums. Banks favor fee-simple housing, not homes with condo fees – so those homes can be difficult for individuals to acquire. 08:18:56 AM Wendy reviews the incentives proposed by SWMBIA and Werwath and what was actually included in the Ordinance. Mrs. Thomas included in the ordinance the incentives that the city commission favored. 08:21:09 AM Some incentives will be tiered – with regards to the impact fee reduction and the park land reduction. The lower the AMI the home meets the park land and impact fees are reduced further. 08:25:21 AM The funding will not be from the City alone. Some funding will come from other programs, but the City is offering saving through the incentives which will reduce the cost of creating these homes. 08:26:36 AM The Planning Board and Zoning Commission looked favorably on the Innovative Housing Ordinance. The Innovative Housing Ordinance has been included in the first phase of the UDC update which is beginning this week. Phase one should take approximately 4 months to complete. This will allow for changes in building codes to make it easier to build affordable units. 08:32:00 AM By pulling out some of the components of the ordinance and putting them into a manual instead of making them a part of the ordinance, it allows the program to be more flexible to the market. This is consistent with other programs that report to the commission. 08:36:18 AM For the 70% AMI, there will be more requirements to qualify for the program, and more incentives. The 80%+, there will be fewer qualifications, but also reduced incentives. 08:38:17 AM Mrs. Thomas provides price points for builders based on home size. 08:40:17 AM The City will be focusing on the 80%+ range. It will be hard to achieve the 70% AMI range, so the goal is to be realistic about the goals. 08:41:28 AM Mrs. Thomas discusses the phases of the program. By phasing in the number of affordable homes over 24 months, it allows time to adjust the program as necessary as it is put in place. 08:45:07 AM If the program is not met voluntarily, the program will then become required. 08:46:10 AM Mrs. Thomas advises the board that the task today is to vote in favor of or against the ordinance today. Notes will be taken about the board’s feedback, but the vote is if you are for or against the ordinance as it stands. 08:47:55 AM Mrs. Thomas reviews the suggestions for changes made by the Planning and Zoning Board meetings. 08:50:04 AM Presentation is concluded and open to the board for to question. 08:50:16 AM Anders provides questions and comments 08:52:23 AM Mr. Thane provides feedback on the ordinance. He expresses frustration in the incentives that were included. They spent a lot of time discussing the program and he does not feel their opinions were fairly represented – that it was largely based on SWMBIA and Werwath’s suggestions. 08:55:10 AM Mr. Thane also feels that we should not exclude the 70% AMI range. He realizes that it may be hard to reach those levels and it may be hard for individuals to receive funding in those ranges, but he does not think that we should rule those individuals out. He is also concerned that the ordinance only adjusts accordingly if the market increases. However, since the previous ordinance was put on hold because the market decreased, we should address that as well. 08:58:41 AM Mrs. Thomas provides feedback to Mr. Thane on his review of the program and his feelings that their opinions were not adequately expressed. 09:00:01 AM Mr. Thane responds to Mrs. Thomas’ feedback. 09:01:43 AM Mary responded to Mr. Thane with regards to not feeling adequately represented. She said that the final incentives appear to be a compromise of a number of suggestions. 09:02:55 AM Kris commented that she feels that these goals will not actually be reaching city workers. That based on the information she has about what city workers make and other individuals working at the university, it doesn’t appear that the 70 and 80% AMI homes will reach those individuals 09:05:43 AM Wendy responds to Kris’ concerns. She said that it will be hard to reach those in any community. That the goal is to try the best they can. 09:06:22 AM Mr. Thane adds a comment that he feels we should not ear mark the funds – they should be flexible between the various methods of funding within the affordable housing program. 09:09:20 AM Mr. LaMeres comments that he thought the goal was to give builders and option to do it voluntarily and if that doesn’t happen, then they should have and ordinance ready to go to enforce it. It appears that we were skipping that. Mrs. Thomas replies that they are actually doing that. They are providing voluntary incentives, but if those incentives are not met, they will make it mandatory for builders. 09:11:17 AM Open public comment 09:11:32 AM Heather – HRDC 32 S. Tracey. – Heather feels that it’s important to reach the 60-70% AMI. She commented that currently there appear to be units available in 2015 that are hitting the 80-90% AMI, so we should instead be focusing on the lower income levels if we are meeting those levels. She also commented that they should give builders the option to provide donated land to a program like habitat for humanity with a tax break. 09:14:16 AM Luke – Southwest Building Association – Commented that section 10 is concerning that the program will become mandatory if there is not adequate research as to why it may not have been effective. He is also concerned with the clock starting too early – that we are too far into the program before builders have an adequate chance to build and thus the program may be deemed unsuccessful prematurely. He feels incentives will be more successful than the inclusionary zoning which is not always successful in other areas. 09:18:20 AM Anders comments that he feels the incentives will be helpful, and that inclusionary zoning will hurt the affordability in Bozeman. 09:19:27 AM Anders moves to adopt the incentives lists only. Mr Thane seconds for the sake of discussion. 09:21:29 AM Mary feels that Anders thoughts are admirable, but that future builders may not feel the same way, and thus having this back up plan allows for easy inclusionary zoning to go into effect. 09:22:50 AM Board discusses further. 09:23:45 AM Carson comments that any future commission can add to or throw out this program. Should we suggest the back up for the commission to implement? Or should we have the backup plan in place? 09:26:16 AM Board continues the discussion on whether we should have the mandatory portion included. 09:28:38 AM Brian questions Wendy on when the Inclusionary Zoning will come into place. Wendy responds that it is in the ordinance that it will go into effect if the program is not effective. She said she would send along that suggestion, that there should be a hearing to implement the mandatory affordable housing. 09:29:31 AM Voting on the motion: The City Commission adopts the incentives list only. Anders Lewendal – in favor Kris Keller, Kevin Thane, Melvin Howe, Mary Martin and Sharon Southard – against. Motion fails. 09:30:18 AM Mr. LaMeres questions Mr. Taylor on the best way for the concerns of the board to get back to the City Commission if they vote on the original motion as presented by the staff. 09:30:28 AM Mr. Taylor said the best way to get concerns back to the Commission to have the discussion accurately depicted in the minutes and that he accurately recounts the discussion back to them. Also, that the individuals who have concerns can present those concerns to the Commission during public comment. The other alternative is to alter the motion – which Anders attempted, but was not successful. 09:31:28 AM Mary moves to adopt the ordinance as presented by staff: Recommended Motion: Having reviewed the staff report, considered public comment, and considered all of the information presented, I hereby adopt the findings presented in the staff report for application Z- 15358 and move to recommend approval of Ordinance 1922, creating an Inclusionary Housing Program. Kevin Thane seconds. 09:31:34 AM Opens motion to discussion. 09:31:47 AM Kevin moves to amend the motion to have a hearing before the City Commission before the mandatory inclusionary zoning piece goes into effect. 09:32:09 AM Motion was not deemed friendly. Anders Lewendal seconds the motion. 09:32:30 AM Discussion on the amendment. Anders Lewendal states that if it is not written into the ordinance, that staff should include language indicating a public hearing being required to implement mandatory inclusionary zoning. 09:32:50 AM Voting on the amendment to the motion. Mary Martin – Against Anders Lewendal, Kevin Thane, Melvin Howe, Sharon Southard and Brian Lameres – In favor Kris Keller - Abstains. Motion Passes 09:34:07 AM Voting on the original Motion: Having reviewed the staff report, considered public comment, and considered all of the information presented, I hereby adopt the findings presented in the staff report for application Z-15358 and move to recommend approval of Ordinance 1922, creating an Inclusionary Housing Program. Kevin Thane, Melvin Howe, Mary Martin, Kris Keller, Sharon Southard – In Favor Anders Lewendal - Against Motion Passes 2. 09:34:45 AM REACH – Request for Impact Fees – Wendy Thomas gives a brief presentation on a request for REACH to reduce impact fees. 09:35:47 AM Board discussion on the request. 09:36:24 AM Anders Lewendal moves to approve the REACH request. Mary Martin seconds the motion. Board votes unanimously to approve the request. F. FYI/Discussion 09:37:12 AM Kevin Thane sent out proposed changes to the board, and would appreciate the board sending back comments. 09:37:37 AM Adjournment For more information please contact Alicia Kennedy at akennedy@bozeman.net This board generally meets the second Wednesday of the month at 8:00am Committee meetings are open to all members of the public. If you have a disability and require assistance, please contact our ADA coordinator, James Goehrung at 582-3232 (TDD 582-2301).