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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAffordable Housing Board - Minutes - 02/07/2008CITY OF FORT COLLINS AFFORDABLE HOUSING BOARD MEETING MINUTES 281 N. College Ave. Fort Collins, Colorado February 7, 2008 Denise Rogers, Chair Ken Waido, Staff Liaison, 970-221-6753 City Council Liaison: Lisa Poppaw Board Members Present: Denise Rogers, Pete Tippett, Robert Sullivan, Marie Edwards, and Ben Blonder. Board Members Absent: Dan Byers and Ashley Monahan. City Planning and Community Development Department Staff Present: Ken Waido Council Members Present: None. Board Chair Denise Rogers called the meeting to order with a quorum present at 4:05 PM. Onen Public Discussion The Board was reminded that former members had attended the Affordable Housing Coalition meetings held on the P Wednesday of every month from Noon until 1:30 PM at the CARE Offices across from Rocky Mountain High School on Swallow Road. The meetings are a good opportunity for communications between the Board and the Coalition. Jeff Scheick, the City's new Executive Director of Planning, Development, and Transportation was introduced to the Board. Approval of the Minutes of the December 6, 2007 Meeting Robert Sullivan moved that the minutes of the December 6, 2007, meeting be approved. Ben Blonder seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously 5-0. Private Activity Bonds Staff reported that the City of Fort Collins receives an allocation of $5.5 million from the State of Colorado in Private Activity Bonds (PABs) which can be used to help finance the development of multi -family rental affordable housing projects and economic development efforts. Due to recent market conditions, i.e., higher vacancy rates, there have been no requests for the City's PABs for a couple of years. If the City does not allocate the funds, they go back into a state-wide pool and are then allocated by the Colorado Housing Finance Authority (CHFA). The City has received a request from a smaller manufacturing firm for a portion of the City's 2008 PAB allocation to assist in an expansion and relocation project. The firm is currently in the Fort Collins area, but not inside the city limits. The request is for economic development purposes and is thus a legal use of PABs. Staff has contacted local affordable housing agencies to see if they have any plans to use PABs and none have indicated they will have a need for their use this year. This was a FYI item for the Board and no formal action was taken. The PAB request will be decided by the City Council in the near future. Competitive Process Point Chart Staff gave a brief history that when the Competitive Process was formally established by the City Council in 2000 as the method for the allocating the City's financial resources to affordable housing and community development activities, the Council adopted a "Ranking Criteria" point chart as a tool to help prioritize applications. The point chart was not designed to be a decision making devise, but rather a tool to help to begin to evaluate and separate good proposals from the not as good applications. Over the years, the chart has been misunderstood and has had some controversy, especially with applicants who did not receive funding (or had reduced funding) but scored higher than a proposal with a lower score that received funding. The chart has been equated to a "staff recommendation" which it is not, mainly because staff also has proposals being reviewed and any recommendation would be a conflict of interest. In summary, staff believes the chart is just one factor that the AHB and CDBG Commission should consider when reviewing funding requests. Some of the criteria in the chart are objective (e.g., the percentage of families below certain levels of income) and some are more objective (e.g., is the level of subsidy needed). Staff is staring an analysis and discussion with both the AHB and the CDBG Commission to see how the chart is being used, which criteria are objective and which criteria are subjective for potential changes, if any. This process will likely take some time. Staff is asking the Board and CDBG Commission to appoint members to a sub -committee to work with staff on the project. Any official changes will need to eventually be approved by the City Council. The Board selected Denise Rogers and Marie Edwards to serve on the sub -committee with staff. Proposed Property Maintenance Codes The Board reviewed a final draft memo created by Ben Blonder. The scheduled Council public hearings were also noted from the 6-month calendar and Densie Rogers and Ben Blonder indicated they would attend the February 19, 2008, Council meeting to present the Boards memo. Denise also indicated that she would send Lisa Poppaw, the Board's Council liaison, an email regarding the personal appearances before the Council. OTHER BUSINESS Liaison Reports Pete Tippet reported on the January 29, 2008, meeting of the Board of Realtors where the proposed Exterior Property Maintenance Codes were discussed and passed out a summary of the meeting. Open Board Discussion Staff presented an update on the process to fill the Affordable Housing Planner position. Election of Officers Denise Rogers was nominated for another term as Chair and ben Blonder was nominated as Vice -Chair. Robert Sullivan made a motion to accept the nominations with a second by Pete Tippett. The motion passed unanimously. Special Meeting In preparation for the spring cycle of the competitive process, the Board selected March 27 as the date of a special meeting to review the affordable housing proposals and prepare a priority ranking of applications for the CDBG Commission and the City Council. The meeting adjourned at 5:05 PM.