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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAffordable Housing Board - Minutes - 09/07/2023AFFORDABLE HOUSING BOARD REGULAR MEETING 9/7/2023 – M I N U TE S Page 1 September 7, 2023, 4:00-6:00pm Colorado River Room, 222 Laporte Ave CALL TO ORDER At 4:06 PM the meeting was called to order by John Singleton. 1. ROLL CALL • Board Members Present: Bob Pawlikowski, John Singleton, Kristin Fritz, Sheila Seaver-Davis, Stefanie Berganini • Board Members Absent: Ed Hermsen, Jennifer Bray • Staff Members Present: • Sue Beck-Ferkiss, Staff Liaison – City of Fort Collins • Sylvia Tatman-Burruss, City Manager’s Office – City of Fort Collins • Noah Beals, Planning, Development & Transportation – City of Fort Collins • Tamra Leavenworth, Minutes – City of Fort Collins • Guests Present: • Diana Dwyer • Marilyn Heller • The Arc of Larimer County 2. AGENDA REVIEW – No changes. 3. CITIZEN PARTICIPATION Marilyn Heller announced that the League of Women’s Voters is hosting a Zoom meeting regarding Loveland’s Homeless Youth Shelter on Wednesday, September 20 at 7pm. Diana Dwyer is part of the observer core for the League of Women’s Voters and attended the meeting to observe and take notes. Recorded notes will be sent to members of the League of Women’s Voters, journalists, and any other interested parties. The Arc of Larimer County attended to be part of the conversation about how policy and affordable housing affects individuals with disabilities. 4. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Sheila Seaver-Davis motioned to approve the July 6 Regular Meeting Minutes. Kristin Fritz seconded. Approved 3-0. Bob Pawlikowski and Stefanie Berganini abstained due to absence at the July meeting. AFFORDABLE HOUSING BOARD REGULAR MEETING 9/7/2023 – M I N U TE S Page 2 5. NEW BUSINESS A. Housing Strategic Plan – Sylvia Tatman-Burruss, City Manager’s Office and Noah Beals, Planning, Development & Transportation • Sylvia Tatman-Burruss and Noah Beals joined the Affordable Housing Board to discuss proposed alternatives to the Land Use Code. The purpose of these updates is to align with adopted City plans and policies with a focus on housing-related changes, code organization, and equity. • The proposed changes are centered around five guiding principles confirmed by City Council in November 2021: increase overall housing capacity, enable more affordability, allow for more diverse housing choices, make the code easier to use, and improve predictability. Using these guiding principles as a foundation, staff proposed 33 code alternatives to City Council for consideration. The proposed alternatives include, but are not limited to, housing types and number of units allowed in certain zone districts, affordable housing incentives, how the code defines affordable housing, how code language affects private covenants and HOAs, parking recalibration for market rate housing, parking incentives for affordable housing, ADUs and short-term rentals, levels of review for residential development, and expanding the City’s affordability term. • DISCUSSION: • Can you discuss how the code balances density with incentives for developers? Through community engagement, we wanted to help people understand what is already allowed in the existing code. In a lot of ways, there is more density allowed in the existing code than people realize, except for in low-density residential areas. With things like ADUs and duplexes, there will only be so many parcels those will be allowed on in the revised code. So even if something is allowed, it may not be feasible on different types of lots. • How has the community responded to these proposed changes? City Council continues to receive feedback as we’ve brought these changes forward and we’ve received comments and questions we didn’t anticipate. We’ve received both positive and negative feedback, so it continues to be a balancing act for City Council. We anticipate receiving more feedback once we go to the Planning and Zoning Commission and when we go back to Council. • What is the process for adding a deed restriction to your home? You can voluntarily put restrictions on your home. It can simply be part of the transaction made between seller and buyer. You may choose to have an attorney write something up and record it with the County and put it in the title. More often, I think people sell their home at a lower rate to someone they think will benefit from it. AFFORDABLE HOUSING BOARD REGULAR MEETING 9/7/2023 – M I N U TE S Page 3 • Does the City have a database of deed-restricted affordable housing? The Social Sustainability department has a fairly accurate database. It’s not 100% accurate, but includes individual houses, duplexes, and developments. • Can you provide a more in-depth update on short-term rentals? City Council doesn’t think short-term rentals will increase housing capacity, so if they decide to allow ADUs, they don’t want them to be used as short-term rentals. The code language we are drafting states that any new ADUs cannot be used for short-term rentals. If there are current short-term rental licenses issued to ADUs that don’t yet have a kitchen, we don’t consider that a dwelling unit, so it can continue to operate as a short-term rental, but this is the only exception. • What occupancy term defines a short-term rental? Less than 30 days. • Who monitors short-term rentals? If it’s an HOA’s role, they monitor it. If the short-term rental is licensed by the City, we have Neighborhood Services and Code Compliance monitor it, in conjunction with Sales Tax, who collects taxes on it. • How will the City coordinate short-term rentals in ADUs? Currently, Sales Tax reviews applications in conjunction with Zoning, so Zoning can verify when the ADU was built. If they have a current license, they can renew; but if they don’t and just built the ADU, Zoning would pass that information to Sales Tax, and the applicant would be denied. • The Board discussed how the affordability term can be separate from the life of a deed-restricted affordable building. If affordability restrictions are in place for a longer amount of time, and the building is appraising at restricted affordable, there isn’t a risk of it being sold to the market and developers having to exhaust resources to preserve it as affordable. If the building must remain affordable, then resources go to rehabbing the building and keeping it affordable, versus competing with the market because affordability restrictions are burning off. So, when you reduce the affordability term, you’re going to use more resources within the life of that affordable housing project to preserve it as affordable or lose it to the market. Bob Pawlikowski motioned to have the board chair John Singleton write a clarifying memo to City Council reflecting the Affordable Housing Board’s position which is as follows: The Affordable Housing Board appreciated how the Land Development Code attempted to increase overall housing AFFORDABLE HOUSING BOARD REGULAR MEETING 9/7/2023 – M I N U TE S Page 4 capacity and choice which should positively impact affordability. Still, the Board supports all proposed affordable housing incentives for the Land Use Code. However, the Board would like the affordability term to be 99 years instead of 60 years because it shows a local commitment to affordable housing. Furthermore, the Board supports the availability of ADUs in the city. Sheila Seaver-Davis seconded. Approved 5-0. B. External Board Communications • John Singleton and Bob Pawlikowski shared that they attended a networking event with the Senior Advisory Council and Human Rights Commission. At the event, there was discussion about integrating and optimizing what Boards and Commissions across the City of Fort Collins organization do, as well as how Boards could work together to improve community outreach and engagement. • John and Bob will be presenting to the Senior Advisory Board at the Senior Center on Wednesday, October 11 to share what the Affordable Housing Board does and what their goals are. John requested all board members provide input on the presentation. C. Debrief Competitive Process – John Singleton, Board Chair • The Board agreed to further debrief the competitive process at their next meeting on Thursday, October 5. Bob Pawlikowski and Kristin Fritz will lead a discussion about important aspects to consider when evaluating affordable housing project proposals. D. Board Member Ideas • None. 6. BOARD MEMBER REPORTS a. Meeting Logistics • The Board will continue to have hybrid meetings for the remainder of 2023. • Sue Beck-Ferkiss announced that she will not be able to attend the November meeting and that someone else will lead the meeting in her absence. 7. OTHER BUSINESS None. 8. ADJOURNMENT Meeting adjourned at 6:03 PM.