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Home My WebLink AboutEconomic Advisory Board - Minutes - 07/26/2023Page | 1 04/19/23 – Minutes Economic Advisory Board REGULAR MEETING Wednesday, July 26, 2023 – 4:00 PM 215 N. Mason 1. CALL TO ORDER: 4:00 PM 2. ROLL CALL a. Board Members Present –  Renee Walkup (Chair)  John Parks (Vice Chair)  Denny Coleman  Mistene Nugent  Richard Waal  Erin Gray  Braulio Rojas b. Board Members Absent –  Thierry Dossou c. Staff Members Present –  Jillian Fresa, Economic Health Manager, Economic Health Office  Katie Geiger, Sr. Economic Specialist, Economic Health Office d. Guest(s) –  Ann Hutchison, Fort Collins Area Chamber of Commerce 3. AGENDA REVIEW 4. APPROVAL OF MINUTES a. Board approved June Minutes 5. CITIZEN PARTICIPATION a. None 6. UNFINISHED BUSINESS 7. NEW BUSINESS Sustainable Funding: Ginny Sawyer, Travis Storin • Council changed things up at council on 7/25 o 3 mill property tax dedicated for affordable housing ▪ Estimated 12M revenue ▪ In perpetuity Page | 2 04/19/23 – Minutes o .5 dedicated tax for climate, transit, parks recreation ▪ Estimated revenue is 20M ▪ Running till 2050 • Working on deciding final ballot language • Are taxes bondable? o Specific rules in Colorado that are TABOR driven o It would have to be part of ballot language to be bonded ▪ Very unlikely to be paired on the ballot o Part of triple A bond category • How did it go from several buckets to two buckets o The original 4 buckets left a gap in funding ▪ Original proposal park maintenance was sitting at $11M and added an additional 2 mills for recreation and aquatics facilities, splitting housing, transit, and climate in the quarter cent o New plan ▪ Housing is getting 3 mills (so $11-12M) and instead of a 3 mill split between three buckets, there is $20M split between three buckets. o New plan generates $33M, previous plan generates $29M • Will there be polling on this? o No o Not enough time with the new voting date • Housing money o How will the housing money be allocated ▪ Relying on strategic housing plan • 10% by 2040 increase in affordable housing o How many housing units will this lead to? • Hard to say – no real way to figure this out o Are you looking to subsidize housing, or do you have a mix in mind of housing that would be subsidized for rental vs own? ▪ Not a known target as of now ▪ Potentially mostly rentals o Is the strategy to get more units using the same level of subsidy and progra that’s happening today? ▪ In an ideal world yes, we’ll see how this turns out in reality Page | 3 04/19/23 – Minutes o Are there specific geographic areas for this ▪ No ▪ Land banks – city can buy land at a cheaper price, sit on it for a while, then pass along a deeper subsidy • Staff cannot talk about this after ballot language is decided o 5 main talking points for talking to community ▪ Housing: • 6 fold increase in the money the city puts towards housing – direct increase in housing ▪ Transit • This could complete W Elizabeth rapid bus transit • N College rapid bus transit would be next ▪ Parks • 30 year need that has been coming up • Identified projects with higher need o Does not include new aquatics o New parks are paid by development fees o This is mainly maintenance and accessibility ▪ Climate • Electrification activities – fleet and vehicles o City side and incentives to folks to update housing ▪ Housing is 3rd largest emitter • Utilities programs • Recycling programs and services • All money spending is subject to the budget process so nothing is decided officially until it goes through the BFO process and council approves • How has the historical voting on this type of thing gone? o Approval record is very high • Fort Collins tax rate compared to others o Rank #6 ▪ Going from 7.55 to 8.23% • Will the two taxes be two separate ballot measures? Page | 4 04/19/23 – Minutes o yes • What do you need from EAB? o Make a recommendation to council if you have one o August 15th is when they are scheduled to refer ▪ Potential to call special meeting and push till September 5th Land Use Code: Clay Frickey • Current code adopted in 1997 with first City Plan o Updated incrementally since then • 2020 Audit o What is working and What isn’t - what is keeping us from meeting housing goals • Phase 1 – focus on housing o Passed in 2022 by council but repealed and put to ballot by community o Repealed by council and staff told to go back to community for feedback • Phase 2 – focus on commercial • Why the Land Use Code o To align the LUC with Adopted City Plans and Polices with focus on: ▪ Housing related changes • Housing Crisis • Equity – people being pushed out of community • 1/3 of total land area is single family only • Limited zones for ‘missing middle’ housing o Small multifamily buildings o Duplexes o townhomes • Outdated/ineffective affordable housing incentives ▪ Usability and Predictability of Regulations ▪ Equity in Processes and Outcomes o Make it an easier to document to use • Timeline o Currently ▪ working on drafting potential alternatives Page | 5 04/19/23 – Minutes ▪ doing Analysis and legal review o Next: ▪ Code drafting ▪ Recommendations and adoption • Key Topic Areas o Housing types and number of units allowed per lot ▪ In single family zone districts ▪ Old town areas o Affordable housing incentives o Affordable housing definitions and requirements o Regulations to enhance the compatibility in ▪ Residential single family zones ▪ Old town areas o Private covenants and HOAs o Parking ADUs and multi-unit development o Levels of review for residential development ▪ Projects that have little to no controversy o Basic development review process • Next steps o Community questionnaire exploring potential alternatives o Additional analysis of preferred alternatives o August 22nd work session: present draft code amendments • Questions & Discussion o What cities have adopted code like this and doing it successfully ▪ Its hard to pick comparable cities so finding ones that seem most relevant to ours and the code we are proposing o Preserve FoCo – are they engaged with city between now and going to council ▪ They are expected to be engaged but no engagement in the last few weeks o At the last adoption, did planning and zoning commission have different recommend ations ▪ Yes but not sure what their recommendations were ▪ They are very engaged and have been involved along the way Page | 6 04/19/23 – Minutes o Have the housing developers been engaged ▪ Yes they have been giving feedback but seem to be waiting to provide more feedback until there is a document to be reviewed o Is there a housing developer coalition ▪ No o Will the duration and cost of permitting be part of this code ▪ Yes ▪ Making the development review process a shorter and more predictable process – taking out need for public hearings every time o Who is on the team making these recommendations ▪ Planning office ▪ Social sustainability department ▪ City managers office ▪ Any department that touches housing availability o What might happen with ADUs – accessory dwelling units ▪ Most people are comfortable with ADUs but not duplexes o Does EAB want LUC to come back before adoption ▪ LUC can bring draft code to EAB after council work session Next Steps: • Revisiting last month’s discussion around influencing council and next steps o Looking at council’s agenda further than 6months out o New direction with new council ▪ New priorities will be decided around January o Discussion around Mike’s leaving and conversation with Shirley around Board expectations ▪ Clerks office already reached out and he did an exit interview ▪ Jillian and SeonAh met with Shirley to update her on why and how she can stay engaged with board o More engagement with council representatives is wanted o Discussion around engaging with council ▪ A board meet n greet ▪ Going to a council meeting as a group to introduce members ▪ Rotating going to council listening sessions Page | 7 04/19/23 – Minutes • Potential for good 1x1 time with low turn out • Public schedule online – Jillian to push this out o Discussion around providing feedback around information board has ▪ City staff and council have more details and EAB should provide feedback on the information given and if council wants more they should request it • Immediately discussing a presentation and developing recommendation for council ▪ Council members are busy and won’t go out of their way to ask for additional feedback o Board agrees on being more influential but How o How would the board like to engage Shirley? ▪ Shirley did attend some meetings • Shirley said if board wants her attendance on a specific topic to just flag her ▪ Invite Shirley to next meeting? o Movement to pick a date to go to council and introduce board members ▪ Date: August 15th at 6pm ▪ Denny, John, Erin, Mistene going ▪ Sign in at city hall day of 8. OTHER BUSINESS Next Agenda Items • Water allocation (requested by Mistene) • Mulberry Plan • Land Use Code draft in September 9. ADJOURNMENT a. (5:59 pm) - Minutes approved by a vote of the Board on XX/XX/XX