HomeMy WebLinkAboutAffordable Housing Board - Minutes - 04/03/2003MEETING MINUTES
CITY OF FORT COLLINS
AFFORDABLE HOUSING BOARD
281 N. College Ave.
April 3, 2003
Kay Rios, Chair
Isabel Garity, Vice Chair
Ken Waido, Staff Liaison, 970-221-6753
Marty Tharp, City Council Liaison, 970-484-5711
Board Members Present: Kay Rios, Isabel Garity, Jon Fairchild, Joe Hebert,
Jane Phelan, Denise Rogers and Jeff Taylor
Advance Planning Staff Present: Maurice Head, Joe Frank
Council Members Present: Marty Tharp
Also Present: Cameron Gloss, Director of Current Planning
Kay Rios as chair called the meeting to order at 4:06 p.m.
New Business
Minutes
The minutes from March 6, 2003, were adopted as presented, on a motion
from Jeff Taylor, seconded by Jane Phelan. Motion carried unanimously.
City Budget Preparation.
Kay Rios distributed a draft memo to City Council for Board review. Members
felt the draft might be too general; Kay was concerned that restating the
obvious would make the memo too long.
In response to a question from Jon Fairchild, Marty Tharp suggested making
the memo as specific as possible, stating not only the Board's top priorities
but also the reasons why they absolutely must be funded. By the time the
actual budget comes before Council, members will need to be very specific.
Joe Frank suggested reviewing the Priority Needs Report and reminding
Council of the dollar amounts of commitments that have already been made,
for example, for the Land Bank Program.
Kay asked Maurice Head for figures on current needs and projections, and
will gather information on waiting lists from Julie Bowen at the Fort Collins
Housing Authority. Maurice added that the Community Development Block
Grant Commission is completely supportive of the funding recommendations
of AHB, and Kay should also coordinate with them.
Jeff Taylor moved that Kay Rios should update the budget memo,
based on Board input, so that it can be submitted to the City
Manager's office by April 28. Joe Hebert seconded; the motion
carried unanimously.
City Council Policy Agenda
Isabel Garity confirmed that she has forwarded the list of priorities reviewed
at the March 6 meeting to Ken Waido, for submission to Council prior to its
April retreat.
AHB Recommendations for Improvement
Cameron Gloss gave an update on efforts to streamline the permitting and
approval process for affordable housing projects. The City has hired
consultant Paul Zucker to begin a comprehensive update of the entire
Development Review Process over the next nine months. As part of this
process, the entire fee structure will be evaluated, something that has not
been done in a systematic way in over a decade.
Cameron asked for a member of the Affordable Housing Board to sit
on an advisory committee for the Development Review Update. Joe
Hebert volunteered to be the board's representative. In addition,
Paul Zucker will be invited to a future AHB meeting to talk about
alternatives for additional streamlining of affordable housing
projects.
Another recommendation from the AHB that will be evaluated during the
update is limiting the amount of time and/or number of reviews allowed for
approval of each project. Although Cameron reported negative feedback from
local developers on the idea, the City of Aurora has recently enjoyed great
success with a similar program. Local developers are afraid a limited review
process will result in a denial, which could taint a project. According to
Cameron, nearly 80 percent of all projects progress very predictably through
the system; a limited number of reviews would encourage developers to
bring more complete plans forward from the beginning.
In response to a question from Marty Tharp, Cameron said that with the new
database, it is now possible to run a reports on projects entering the system
over the last year and a half to determine where in the process delays
occurred. Mr. Zucker is expected to have more ideas and suggestions on the
most effective ways to track such information.
old Business
Sales Tax Revenue/Reduction of Affordable Housing Funding
Maurice Head reported that updated figures are not yet available.
City Plan Update
Kay Rios reported that Phase II of the City Plan/Transportation Master Plan
Update begins on Wednesday, April 9. During this phase, the Citizens
Advisory Committee will begin reconciling principles and policies of City Plan
with the characteristics developed in Phase I and adopted by City Council on
March 25. This includes developing criteria for modifying the boundaries of
the City's Growth Management Area.
Kay suggested the Advocacy and Policy Subcommittees meet after
the CAC meeting to look at the revisions and develop input on the
criteria.
Marty Tharp also suggested that once the Board has its recommendations,
individual lobbying of Council members inclined not to support the AHB's
positions would be a good idea. She also encouraged the Board to continue
sending recommendation memos directly to the Council; members read
them, and they do have an influence.
Update/Reports on Subcommittee Efforts
Kay Rios will be attending the Community Development Block Grant
Commission meeting directly after this meeting to answer any questions
CDBG members may have about the AHB recommendations on project
funding under the Competitive Process. She distributed copies of the memo
forwarded to CDBG.
Liaison Reports
None.
Other Business
Board Vacancies
Joe Frank reported that the City Clerk's office is recruiting interested parties
to fill the two vacant board seats left by the resignations of Mary Glode and
Kathleen Cherroff. The deadline for applications is April 4, 2003.
Next meeting
May 1, 2003, 4 p.m., at 281 N. College.
Meeting adjourned 4:46 p.m.
Respectfully submitted by
Kate Jeracki 7
April 18, 2003/� �7
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