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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAffordable Housing Board - Minutes - 07/06/2000CITY OF FORT COLLINS AFFORDABLE HOUSING BOARD MEETING MINUTES July 6, 2000 Bob Browning, Chair (970) 225-0137 Kay Rios, Vice Chair Ken Waido, Staff Liaison (970) 221-6753 Chuck Wanner, City Council Liaison (970) 484-0810 The meeting of the Affordable Housing Board was called to order by Bob Browning beginning at 4:00 p.m., at 281 North College Avenue, Fort Collins, Colorado. A quorum was present. Board members present included: Bob Browning, David Danforth, Isabel Garity, Chris Martin, Dick Clark, Stacey Overton, Kay Rios, and Randy Rosenbusch. Staff present: Ken Waido, and Maurice Head. Council liaison Chuck Wanner was not present. Others present: Susanne Durkin, Parking Service Manager for the City of Fort Collins. Open Public Discussion There was no public discussion. New Business Minutes Minutes from the June meeting were presented. Changes include: Page 2 under Consolidated Plan, the following information should be added: "Ms. Rios gave Julie Smith some written suggestions for revision and editing that needed to be added." Page 4, second paragraph, last sentence is to read: "Someone wondered how the area's current residents would react to such development." Page 4, fifth paragraph, should read: "After being asked by Ms. Garity, Mr. Danforth stated that his personal interest in the Chateau transaction was the realty commission he could potentially receive." Page 7, fourth paragraph, should be changed to read, "Ms. Rios asked about the progress of the Northern Hotel renovations, expressing her desire to have some senior advocates on that design board, people who really know the arena. It is a historical preservation project, not a senior project, so we want to make sure seniors are accommodated and involved in the design process." Affordable Housing Board July 6, 2000 Meeting Minutes Page 2 The motion to accept the June minutes with the changes was made by Ms. Garity and seconded by Ms. Rios. Motion passed on a vote of 8-0. Mason Street Transportation Corridor Study Susanne Durkin, Transportation Planning and Parking Services Manager for the City of Fort Collins, and project manager for the Mason Street Transportation Corridor, provided a presentation regarding the on -going project. The project came out of a citizen idea to provide alternative modes of transportation to citizens of Fort Collins. The Transportation Board and City staff fleshed out the idea in 1997 and it was placed on the ballot referred to as "Building Community Choices." It was given funding for the initial planning and design phase as well as Phase One Construction, which should be a bike and pedestrian path from Prospect all the way to Harmony Road. The current level of funding which is an accumulative $9.2 million, will be exhausted at completion to this point in the year 2005. One of the components of this corridor is going to be transit - oriented development, which provides transportation options for people who do not have fairly high levels of income and are unable to drive a vehicle as much as those with a higher income. By providing transportation options, people have more opportunities to be less vehicle dependent and to use a corridor to get them to areas of employment. The corridor will be a bike and pedestrian path as well as transit system all the way from Cherry Street on the north to slightly past Harmony Road to the south, linking to the Fossil Creek Trail. It is intended to exclude automobile traffic where it currently doesn't exist from Laurel south along this corridor along the Burlington Northern Santa Fe right- of-way. The corridor reaches from the CSU Veterinarian Center paralleling the Center of Advanced Technology and back out to Prospect Road. Currently, there is no vehicle access in this area, and yet proposed development in the area includes high rise apartments, the NRCC federal buildings which are already built and operating and will be on line in 2001, will add 230 extra people to the corridor area. CSU's master plan for the new South Campus includes a probability of eight high rise dormitories on the west side of Center Avenue as well as a seventy-five percent increase in the Veterinary Hospital activity. The area shows a growth of activity that is considered a good prospect for transit -orient development. Work is scheduled to begin very quickly on the downtown transit center by the depot, but a component is needed on the south end for buses to turn around. The south end of town is becoming extremely congested as well. The property being considered for the southern transit site is the Old Fossil Creek Nursery. Local developers have expressed interest in using the area near the corridor because it seems very marketable and attractive for affordable housing as well as commercial development with the availability of the transit system so near. A master plan is being developed that includes two-way buses on the east side. Bikes and pedestrians would be on the west side with Affordable Housing Board July 6, 2000 Meeting Minutes Page 3 all road crossings underground, allowing bikers the freedom from having to stop for traffic until they got downtown. Mr. Clark asked about the use of bikes through the oval. Ms. Durkin said that bikes stay on the corridor. The university will still do some bicycle routing within the campus, but this corridor is a separate entity with provided opportunities for bikes to go off to the university routes. There will be a signal light at Laurel and Mason Street to correct problems in that intersection. Mr. Martin asked if the trains would still be in the same place or relocated? Ms. Durkin explained the Burlington Northern would like to be relocated to the east to miss the populated area, but cannot make the move themselves because of financial reasons. Ms. Rios noted that the Mason Street Transit Study would be on the schedule for the October City Council meeting at which point they will vote to accept the conceptual design. Ms. Durkin detailed the exact presentation to the City Council to include the conceptual design, an implementation plan, a funding program, a marketing program included in the master plan. The document will be used to begin the next phases of the project including, (hopefully) funding for the first phase of construction. It is necessary to actually fulfill the vision of this community. Mr. Martin asked how much land was actually acquired; did it include a half -mile buffer? Ms. Durkin's responded that it wasn't necessary to acquire any right-of-way because the easement could be used. Property would be only needed to build the south transit center at the end of the route and park'n ride needs that might occur along the corridor. Mr. Martin also inquired about the effects on the Bowling Alley. Ms. Durkin said that three options were being looked at to redesign the area. No houses or business would be affected by the project. Ms. Durkin said the actual conceptual design is nearly complete. The next step is to work on public outreach by having numerous public meetings in the next few months. Videos will be made that will air on Channel 27 and other cable channels and information on the Mason Street Corridor Project will also available on the City of Fort Collins web site. Mr. Waido asked about Laurel Street where the streets were one-way. Ms. Durkin replied that the City would like to fix that block, maybe undo the couplet and make the street a two-way street. Mr. Clark expressed concerns about the apartment buildings north of Prospect near the railroad. Ms. Durkin replied that CSU owns the property and they are working with them to make it a safer situation for everyone. Center Receiving will not have to be moved. Affordable Housing Board July 6, 2000 Meeting Minutes Page 4 Ms. Garity asked about the business reaction to the corridor. Ms. Durkin said that a lot of businesses see it as a plus and would like to have it for the safety lightening around their businesses and would appreciate the customers using the corridor. Others would rather not give up their access, and would rather not have their current customers unwelcome in the area. Ms. Rios said that bikers are pretty much limited to the northern part of town now, but with the corridor the southern stores would be accessible as well. Mr. Waido asked about the movement to retain automobiles in the corridor. Ms. Durkin said that it is no longer a problem. Ms. Durkin also addressed the huge demand on College Avenue. The corridor will not ease the congestion on College, but will help with traffic on Lemay and Shields. Ms. Rios commented that the traffic is not going to get better - and the Mason Street Transit can only help the situation. Ms. Durkin agreed and stated that the master plan has visions for more public transport that would provide transportation throughout Fort Collins without driving a car. This is only the first piece of the vision. Ms. Garity asked best case scenario to have this phase finished? Ms. Durkin believes that the community will support the project and said that current estimates of between $14 or $20 million will be needed, assuming that federal dollars would be available for the transit piece. The federal money would be about 80% of the total cost and the community would have to come up with the rest. The final cost would be around $100 million. However, if the project were bond financed, the cost would be about $200 million dollars. Ms. Overton asked how to find out about how the plan affects private property. Ms. Durkin said to call the planning committee and ask about specific property and they would be able to provide the information. Contractor License Ordinance Felix Lee came to update the Affordable Housing Board in regards to the Contractor License Regulations Task Group comprised mostly of people in the trade. A quick summery of changes was included in the board's packet. Mr. Lee noted the big changes in respect to housing issues relate to how contractors are regulated by the terms of their license. Current regulations requiring annual licenses would be changed to bi-annual or two-year licenses in which the fees for the two-year license would be less than the double year license. Currently, specialty fees for trades that involve heating, roofing, etc. have a lower fee. His group is proposing that everyone have the same $200 bi-annual fees. Fees charged now are $125 a year to a general contractor Affordable Housing Board July 6, 2000 Meeting Minutes Page 5 and $75 a year to a specialty contractor. This is one of the more sensitive areas of change. The other proposal is to be more aggressive about who are contractors and who are employees. The ordinance now addresses employees of contractors being exempt from licenses. However, many trades are hired out as independent workers and should be required to be licensed. They aren't getting licensed under the auspices of being a piece -worker for a minimal cost. Technically, that is considered a contractor and they should have licenses. Another controversy is the plan to formally acknowledge framing contractors. A year and one-half ago the City began licensing wood framing contractors who do work building homes. For the most part, the industry supports the licensing but there are some that feel the government has gone too far. The HBA supports it as well. Other issues include adding some new specialties. For example, right now, concrete specialists are not licensed. Those people and others like them would have to get the $200 license in which the fee would be spilled over to the cost of construction. The special trades would have to go through an examination program or a qualification program. The group would like to take this proposal before the City Council the last meeting in September and apply to have an open public forum with a larger audience. Mr. Lee wanted the Affordable Housing Committee to be informed about it. Mr. Danforth presented a letter to the Affordable Housing Board from the Home Builders Association of Northern Colorado. The HBA was concerned with the issue of the City's continued insistence that contractors and labors should be monitored closely and required to carry ID cards on job sites so that inspectors could verify their employment. The HBA board has decided to withhold it's support of the ordinance and other new proposals until an analysis could be taken to determine what cost and procedural impacts the proposals would have on the industry. The letter was signed by Kimberly Stenberg, Director of HBA. Mr. Lee agreed that the issue was still problematic. "If every contractor is not licensed, how can we know in the field who is a licensed contractor or not?" Mr. Browning asked how the Fort Collins fees compare to other cities in the state. Mr. Lee replied that Fort Collins fees were typically lower than most. Mr. Danforth expressed concern that Fort Collins was the only community in the state that chose to license framers at all. Mr. Lee replied that both Denver and Aurora have Affordable Housing Board July 6, 2000 Meeting Minutes Page 6 instituted a framing contractor license, however, he couldn't speak about their enforcement of the requirement. Mr. Browning asked Mr. Lee to explain what was broken that was trying to be fixed by this ordinance. Mr. Lee responded that there had been problems in framing caused by an influx unqualified workers in the City; construction quality in general has fallen over the past several years. A discussion about the concerns of the added cost of and need for the license continued. Mr. Lee felt that it was his job to track people who were doing the work. He would prefer to turn over the contractor licensing to the state like the electricians and plumbers are. "People are doing poor workmanship and are not being supervised responsibly by their employers. Basic things were wrong when houses were inspected, and it was taking so much of the inspector's time that the community wasn't being justly served." Mr. Lee said most support the framing license and the HBA did support it. We somehow have to have a method of identifying the contractors, the workers; otherwise, how will we enforce the ordinance? Mr. Danforth restated his concern about the rising cost of building a home. Mr. Browning injected that the regulations were going out to the developers and people who were targets to be attracted to do more business in Fort Collins. They were receiving material that lists extremely strict licensing and ID requirements, consequently becoming a 'negative' to those individuals. He commented about the contractor's use of illegal aliens in regard to the ID requirements, and felt that those contractors would go someplace else to work. He did not justify the fact that they were here, but that the potential of increasing housing costs and accomplishing nothing was great. Mr. Lee responded that inspectors thought licensing was a great idea and that they'd seen improvement since the start of the program. There was more accountability and better jobs. Illegal aliens were not the concern, something his office was not pursuing. Mr. Browning stated that the task group needed a reality check. Mr. Clark asked what kind of ID's were required for workers. Mr. Lee said that they were working right now with roofing contractors because they tend to be the most egregious. They would sub or triple -sub down to someone else. The permit would be taken out for roofing work and its workers would be unidentifiable. The job would be stopped and then the homeowners were inconvenienced. They are trying to identify the employees so this problem doesn't happen. They began identifying roofing employees about two years ago. The simple matter of a card issued with name without photo ID was a voluntary action by the contractor. Without the ID, the contractor would be prosecuted if not in compliance. Mr. Clark asked if an employer had to take all of his employees down to get a card? Mr. Lee stated that the employer merely sent down a list of his employees and the ID cards were printed and sent to him. Affordable Housing Board July 6, 2000 Meeting Minutes Page 7 A discussion ensued about the process of identification. Ms. Garity asked if they were licensed from a list or tested to make sure they have qualifications for their job. Mr. Lee said they were required to be supervised by a certified supervisor and must have experience as mandated by the ordinance to be licensed. Ms. Garity asked if each worker's name was checked for experience. Mr. Lee said they weren't checked, merely identified as employees. Mr. Lee said the real issue is worker's compensation. Many contractors were evading worker's compensation by hiring workers as independent contractors. There were no payroll taxes being paid. Ms. Garity asked what percent of jobs were red -tagged? Mr. Lee did not have an answer. "We rarely just say it's not being done right; the person is given the opportunity to make corrections. If a person hasn't made the corrections, they don't usually get their inspection rather than red -tag the project. To draw a parallel, the state already licenses plumbers and electricians. All their on -site apprentices have to have identification and a licensed plumber or electrician has to be on the job. There is a certain ratio of supervision to number of employees on the job. Certain trades are doing this, others aren't." Mr. Browning asked if there were any other questions. He stated that Mr. Lee had been coming to the board for seven years, and always questioned strongly because it had never been established that construction standards were 'shabby' in front of this board. "We're trying to make it easier to build affordable housing and yet we get another layer of bureaucracy and cost into it." Mr. Lee understood the concern and suggested that maybe if licenses were eliminated, the cost would go down. He thought it was still important to have them. He felt that it was his office's obligation to sift it out. The ordinance had not finalized the issue of the contractor ID, which was still the most controversial issue, and the proposal still needed to be worked out. Mr. Waido asked if the City Council had been told what this board had just heard? Mr. Lee said that the City Council would be told sometime in September. He will keep the board advised. Marketing Strategy Packet Maurice Head presented a Marketing Strategy Packet to the board to attract new affordable housing developers to Fort Collins. The packet was prepared as a result of a Council member's concern over finding creative developers for the City of Fort Collins. The packet is to be sent out to developers who fit our profile, or who express an interest in doing business in Fort Collins through our initial contact by mail or by phone. The packet is comprised of a community profile, affordable housing programs, a development review process, various development maps including street maps, zoning maps, and structure plan maps that gives an overview of our community. It also includes what land is available as well as a contact list of real estate companies E Affordable Housing Board July 6, 2000 Meeting Minutes Page 8 involved in raw land sales, major employers in the area, and a sampling of newspaper articles. This is the beginning of an aggressive campaign to identify developers who are interested in coming to town to build affordable housing. Mr. Head asked for input for other things to be included in the packet from this board. Ms. Rios commented that the packet was a nice effort and start. It included things that could really help a contractor get a good picture of our area. She could not find where it said that there was a need for affordable housing. There should be a clear distinction addressing affordable housing issues. Mr. Head said he would look into that issue and make adjustments. Ms. Rios asked the difference between the structure and the zoning plans. Mr. Waido explained that the structure plan is a general plan and the zoning plan is regulatory. Ms. Rios asked if there was information about the flood plane. Mr. Waido said that it was a separate group of ordinances and was not important at the first level of information. Ms. Garity asked if this information was on the website. Mr. Head stated that this information will be on the City's website. Mr. Clark suggested that the mean wage should include the lower end which would be at the $7.00-$8.00 range. Mr. Waido commented that even fast food was providing more than minimum wage because of the shortage of workers, even though it still wasn't a living wage. Ms. Rios suggested a chart that included an estimate or percentage of people in specific income ranges. Mr. Waido said that the median wage is known, but he didn't know the distribution about or below that amount. Mr. Danforth questioned how the impact on high fees in Colorado would affect the recruitment for developers. Next, having all the facts would be helpful and he presented a template that could be useful in the packet. Mr. Head said that much of the information needed for the template, including the impact fees, was identified in the packet and the facts were covered in the development review process, including a list of the current fees. Mr. Danforth questioned information about sewer, water costs, street over -sizing, and parks. Mr. Head would collect the information and compile it in the form to give an example using a project of a certain size, and list fees for each area. Ms. Rios and Mr. Danforth agreed that it would be helpful. Affordable Housing Board July 6, 2000 Meeting Minutes Page 9 Old Business Land Banking Mr. Head announced that the Land Banking Consultant would be here tomorrow. Bay Area Economics out of Davis, California would do the Land Banking study and will meet with the Land Bank Committee on Friday. Mr. Danforth will be representing this board. Mr. Head gave a general schedule about the day's activities. He will make a report to the board at the next meeting. Inclusion Zoning Mr. Waido presented an article from the June CIVIL Newsletter regarding the decision of the Colorado Supreme Court which held that two provisions of a Telluride affordable - housing ordinance operated as "rent control," and were thus pre-empted by a state statute prohibiting rent -control ordinances and were therefore illegal. The ordinance required developers to provide housing for 40 percent of their workers by restricting rent and land sales. This decision makes Fort Collins unable to use Inclusionary Zoning as a tool to get more affordable housing. A meeting with our attorneys will take place to look at options from their legal standpoint. For affordable housing purposes, the safest thing, from the legal perspective, is to vote on a sales tax by the citizens to support affordable housing. The attorney's also feel that an impact fee could be developed which would be legally defensible providing there were enough justifications from the development or retail stores, which create jobs that pay low wages. People across the country have done studies to justify the development of an impact fee. Ms. Rios was surprised by the home rule 'thing;' and commented that the state statue only came into play if there was a specific ordinance that the home -rule City hadn't placed. This is saying the opposite. Mr. Waido replied that there were certain laws passed at the state level that were matters of state-wide concerns which included everyone. There were other enabling legislation laws passed that allowed someone the opportunity to do 'it.' These were things that we derived our power from the charter. It was one of the arguments that Telluride was making: that they were a home -rule City and therefore, able to pass the ordinance. We will continue to meet at a staff level and will present information to the board. Education and Outreach Committee Ms. Garity spoke on the Education Outcome and Outreach committee about the web site meetings. She asked the Board if they would prefer to have an education subcommittee which would meet with the Home Builders Association and Larry Kendall from the Realtors and different agencies to determine what they would like to have on • 0 Affordable Housing Board July 6, 2000 Meeting Minutes Page 10 the web site; or would they rather have one or two guest speakers come to each meeting to with information about their specific area. Ms. Rios liked the idea of having a guest speaker at the meetings. Mr. Martin agreed with Ms. Rios that guest speakers would be helpful. Mr. Browning felt there should be meeting one on one. After further discussion, it was determined by unanimous vote that guest speakers would be invited to speak at the board meetings, with a time limit of 20 minutes. The next speakers invited would be Kimberly Stenberg, Director of Community Affairs and the Home Builders Association. Ms. Rios related information she has heard from Robert Thompson. He said that the county has no money for affordable housing because they have decided that it is illegal for a non-profit organization to make any profit. The idea of non-profit is that you don't profit personally but the money you get over and above goes back to the program. The county is saying that all our departments are non-profit and so we can use money for anything else. So there is no money for affordable housing at all. We will get some clarification when they meet with Frank Lancaster and find out where this is coming from. They said they got a legal ruling from their Council. We will be following up on that. Other Business Mr. Danforth reported that the First Congregation Building Community meeting would be held July 10 at John the XXIII at 7:00 p.m. Current issues are religious congregation buildings and individuals. There are three or four congregations in Fort Collins. Mr. Danforth also would like to put Dry Creek on the next agenda. Ms. Rios asked about the letters from Julie Love. Have they already been sent out to Creekside Gardens Investment Company, Continental Housing Partners, and Bethphage Housing Corporation? Mr. Browning responded that at the meeting Julie said that she had not had the opportunity to do them. Ms. Rios had a question about the agenda from June 20, 2000. Did the Fort Collins Housing Authority become approved by HUD to purchase affordable housing? Mr. Martin announced that he would be taking a retreat on July 19 until the and of the year, so he would no longer have an active part on the board. He expressed the opinion that the Affordable Housing Board was the most important board the City had and would like to be a part of it when he returned at a later date. He asked the board to please accept his resignation. 11 • Affordable Housing Board July 6, 2000 Meeting Minutes Page 11 Mr. Waido passed out the final version of the attendance policy adopted by the City Council. He had given the Board information about the impending policy in the last meeting. The Council liaisons to the board asked the Board to read the policy. He also announced that the second cycle of the Competitive Process for allocating affordable housing money, the fall cycle, had started and applications were being accepted. Training sessions are scheduled for Monday, July 17th and will be a staff - conducted training which will cover the application form and scheduling, how to fill out the form, what to look for, etc. The next week, July 24, will be the Enterprise Foundation's training session. If you have an opportunity to talk to someone who doesn't understand the process, contact us so we can help them fill it out. Mr. Waido also said that on Monday, July 17, there was a strong possibility that there would be a neighborhood meeting regarding the Fox Meadows Apartment Project. This may be a "defusing" public meeting. The president of the Home Owners Association has called several times to get information about the project and there are people in the neighborhood who are saying they don't want those people in the neighborhood because they are all drug addicts. Mr. Waido is 90% sure that the meeting will be Monday night, but didn't know the time. He will inform the board as soon as he knows. It would be a good idea if some of the board members attended the meeting to get a flavor of the kind of statements that are made by people in opposition to the project. Mr. Browning also encouraged everyone to attend the meeting. Mr. Browning thanked Mr. Martin for his service on the board and wished him good luck. Mr. Martin made a motion that the meeting be adjourned. Ms. Rios seconded the motion. Vote was unanimous. Meeting adjourned at 5:50.