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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAffordable Housing Board - Minutes - 12/07/2000CITY OF FORT COLLINS AFFORDABLE HOUSING BOARD MEETING MINUTES December 7, 2000 Bob Browning, chair (970) 225-0137 Kay Rios, Vice -Chair Ken Waldo, Staff Liaison (970) 221-6753 Chuck Wanner, City Council Liaison (970) 484-0810 Members present. Bob Browning, Stacy Overton, Isabel Garity, Dick Clark, David Danforth, Kay Rios, Bob Croissant Staff Present: Ken Waldo, Maurice Head City Council Present. Chuck Wanner Bob Browning called the meeting to order with a quorum present. The minutes from September 28`h were presented, Bob Croissant moved to accept as written, Stacy Overton 2"d, motion carried. Bob Browning reported to the committee that Felix Lee would not be in attendance but will present the new licensing regulations prior to their submittal to City Council. Bob Browning volunteered to review the set of regulations when presented. MOBILE HOME STUDY REPORT Kathy McCormick of McCormick & Assoc. presented her report on manufactured housing. She highlighted the following points: • 3200 spaces in Loveland, 1200 in Fort Collins with most newer parks accommodating double -wide units • she explained that a new park can have a negative impact on the rents older parks can charge because the newer parks are usually more expensive, therefore it can increase rents in all parks; however, the trend has been not to raise rents • rezoning has an unintended consequence; if you change the zoning to mobile home park then the park will have to make any necessary upgrades which can hurt its affordability • she will verify whether or not two mobile home parks in Fort Collins are in floodplains, Skyline and Poudre Valley • she will verify whether the park itself has an interest in your home which allows it to file a lien, will check with attorneys to find out if home is considered personal property or real property • the report should be finalized in the next couple of weeks h Affordable Housing Board December 7, 2000 Meeting Minutes Page 2 COMPETITIVE PROCESS DEBRIEFING Ken Waido asked the committee if they had any suggestions regarding changes to the process before the next cycle begins in January. Bob Browning questioned why the Affordable Housing Committee got off track with the CBDG last time and wondered why they should go through the process to make any recommendations if the CDBG wasn't going to act upon or respond to them. He was told that although the CBDG didn't end up dividing the funds in like manner, they definitely appreciated all the work done by the Affordable Housing Committee and chose the funding breakdown after further information provided by applicants in person. The following items were mentioned: Re: Northern Hotel — this project didn't receive funding because it provided affordable housing, but for a variety of other reasons; downtown redevelopment etc. Re: Land Banking — they didn't feel that this program would greatly affect current market prices for land The Affordable Housing Committee agreed that the element missing from the process was the opportunity to dialog with the CDBG regarding particular recommendations and to receive some feedback and/or reasons for the CDBG's ultimate funding decisions. WORK PROGRAM Due to a lack of time this issue was not addressed at the prior meeting. However, the Work Program needs to be finalized fairly quickly so it can be sent to City Council. Bob Browning suggested to clean up last year's work program, make any necessary additions or deletions and bring it to the next meeting for approval. APPLICATION FEES FOR RENTAL UNITS Kay Rios reported to the committee that the average application fee for a rental unit is $50. She suggested that if there was a way to have one credit report that all entities could access, the applicant could be saved hundreds of dollars. Ken Waido suggested that we involve people who are actually in the business and that if a program is implemented there should be a requirement that nobody who receives our funding will be allowed to charge an application fee. Kay Rios and Stacy Overton will work together on this issue. CONFLICT OF INTEREST In each committee member packet is a draft of code provisions from the city attorney for your personal protection. Staff is required to bring forms to every meeting for issues discussed by board. If any committee member has a conflict of interest with any issue, the form must be filled out, or a review board will decide for you if you are not sure. This is going to all boards and commissions and is standard procedure. Kay Rios asked about the comment on page 6 regarding the inability to talk about confidential Affordable Housing Board • • December 7, 2000 Meeting Minutes Page 3 material. She was told that everything discussed during the committee meetings was considered public information. AFFORDABLE HOUSING SYMPOSIUM/FORUM David Danforth invited the committee to attend an Affordable Housing meeting sponsored by John 23`d ,on December 13th at 7:00 p.m. He will notify by e-mail if there are any changes. Kay asked if there isn't a lot of crossover between the various groups and recommended that we ask somebody from John 23`d to apply for vacancies on this board. David Danforth responded that the group is faith based and was organized based upon the needs of members in their own congregation. The group believes there is a need in the community that needed to be addressed and pushed, and they will continue to do so. The intention was not to start another group but rather bring people together for discussion and ask City Council what they plan to do about the lack of affordable housing in Fort Collins. David Danforth then told the committee about the following organization. Congregations Building Community (CBC) — a group of 12 congregations in Northern Colorado with a staff located in Windsor. The group is faith -based and was organized for the purpose of addressing social justice issues, not limited to affordable housing. Bob Browning asked why there was a need for another group to address affordable housing when this committee already existed, isn't this re -inventing the wheel? David Danforth suggested that the Affordable Housing Committee invite the group to a future meeting to discuss these issues. Bob Browning felt like the City Council members who were present at the meeting at John 23rd were ambushed, Stacy Overton agreed. David Danforth challenged this observation stating that the council members were given the topics and specific questions 2 weeks in advance of the meeting and had every opportunity to prepare their responses. The Council was specifically asked to build 200 affordable homes by 2002 and they were unable to commit to this. Ken Waido suggested that any group will be more effective by fighting the battles where they need to be fought; i.e. building codes, site fees, etc. There will be a much greater impact on City Council if 150 people show up for the meetings, rather than one or two. David Danforth left the meeting early following discussion of this topic. SUBCOMMITTEE REPORTS Kay Rios reported that there is an advertisinging base for the brochures. The Bullhorn is interested in covering the affordable housing issue and suggested that the Northern Colorado Business Report is also a good avenue to pursue. Isabel Garity reported that the development of the new website is at a standstill until the City has new web person. Becca Henry was hired to fill this position just this week but will need a few weeks to familiarize herself with the job. The menus have been approved. Affordable Housing Board December 7, 2000 Meeting Minutes Page 4 NEXT COUNCIL RETREAT? - The next City Council retreat is sometime after the April election. Kay Rios would like to make some suggestions for agenda items at their retreat. IMPACT FEE REBATE PROGRAM - Bob Browning and Ken Waido have been meeting regarding the proposal and will discuss it at the next meeting. This is Bruce Croissant's last meeting and the committee thanked him for his assistance and wished him well in the future. LAND BANK STUDY REPORT — Maurice Head Maurice presented the Land Bank Study Report to the committee and made the following points: • the program was initiated by staff, various non-profit groups, and city council members • City has already committed $750,000, plus the amount from the HOME funds, for a total of $925,000 • There are 5,000 possible acres within t/2 mile of city services with the main concentration in the northeast area of town • In order to be successful new funding sources must be identified • Goal is to create 40 units per year in a systematic approach but must build up the land inventory to get the program started. • This program will not be competing with CARE, who looks for land ready for development. The land bank will look for land further out and let the development reach it. The meeting adjourned at 6:10 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Mary Beth Patrick