HomeMy WebLinkAboutHousing & Redevelopment Authority Minutes 01-24-2013APPROVED MINUTES
PLYMOUTH HOUSING AND REDEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY
January 24, 2013
PRESENT: Chairman Jeff Kulaszewicz, Commissioners Paul Caryotakis, Carl Runck, Bob
Stein and Jim Willis
ABSENT: None
STAFF PRESENT: Housing Program Manager Jim Barnes and Office Support Specialist
Laurie Lokken
OTHERS PRESENT: Toni Jelinek and Grace Management Representative Jody Boedigheimer
1. CALL TO ORDER
Chair Kulaszewicz called the Plymouth Housing and Redevelopment Authority meeting to order
at 7:00 p.m.
2. CONSENT AGENDA
A. Approve October 25, 2012 HRA Meeting Minutes.
B. Plymouth Towne Square. Accept Monthly Housing Reports For October 2012,
November 2012 and December 2012.
C. Vicksburg Crossing. Accept Monthly Housing/Marketing Reports For October 2012,
November 2012 and December 2012.
Commissioner Stein stated it was nice to see that both buildings are still full.
MOTION by Commissioner Willis, seconded by Commissioner Stein, to approve the consent
agenda. Vote. 5 Ayes. MOTION approved.
3. NEW BUSINESS
A. Senior Buildings.
Chairman Kulaszewicz introduced the request to change the process for opening and closing of
wait lists for Plymouth Towne Square and Vicksburg Crossing.
Housing Program Manager Barnes gave an overview of the staff report.
Commissioner Runck asked what the average time is that someone is on the wait list until they
are offered a unit. Housing Program Manager Barnes replied it depends because there are so
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many different factors. He said there are five priority categories on the preference lists for low
income units at both buildings. He said if an individual is 62 years of age or older, their income
is 50% of median income or below and they are a current resident of Plymouth, they get priority
one. He said if an individual is low income and over 62 with a family member living in
Plymouth, they would get priority two. He said a lot of times we will go through the wait lists
and even though people are up at numbers 1-20, they aren't ready so they will decline the offer
of the unit and then we keep going down the list until we find somebody that is ready. He said
there are some people who are on the list for 4-6 months before their name comes up, especially
if they are on the two bedroom wait list for Plymouth Towne Square. He said if an individual is
on the lowest priority (under the age of 62, not a resident of Plymouth, they don't have any
relatives in Plymouth and they are not low income), they probably are not going to be served any
time soon. Grace Management Representative Boedigheimer added that is especially the case
when they are on the one bedroom wait list because we so often fill our one bedroom vacancies
internally with requests to change from a two bedroom to one bedroom.
Commissioner Stein asked if current residents are given priority to move to a one bedroom from
a two bedroom unit. Grace Management Representative Boedigheimer responded our occupancy
standards require us to. She said we try to give them a respectable amount of time after a loved
one passes to ask them if they would like to move. She said if they choose to stay in their two
bedroom then they have to pay full rent.
Commissioner Stein asked if a couple is living in a two bedroom and a one bedroom becomes
available, do they get priority or do they go on a waiting list. Grace Management Representative
Boedigheimer replied they would go on an internal wait list but it would be pretty unlikely that
they would be offered a unit.
Commissioner Stein asked if they would have to go through the five priority categories on the
preference list before going to the internal wait list. Housing Program Manager Barnes
responded that they don't normally get the request from a couple to move to a one bedroom.
Commissioner Caryotakis asked if there has been anyone from Vicksburg Crossing who has
wanted to move from the moderate income housing to affordable housing. Grace Management
Representative Boedigheimer replied that we have had people move from Vicksburg Crossing to
Plymouth Towne Square. Housing Program Manager Barnes added that they have moved within
Vicksburg Crossing as well.
Commissioner Stein asked if they are given preference. Grace Management Representative
Boedigheimer responded that they get put on a list and if they are ready to make that move when
their name comes up, they move.
Commissioner Caryotakis stated that they are probably more inclined to make that move rather
than someone outside who has more complications. Grace Management Representative
Boedigheimer replied probably, but in one instance that was not the case.
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Housing Program Manager Barnes stated that we do have the policy in place that if someone
refuses an offered unit three times, they are removed from the list. He said they would have to
reapply to get back on the list. Chairman Kulaszewicz stated that is a good policy.
Commissioner Caryotakis stated that housing is picking up and if they are inclined, there is a
greater ability to make a decision. Grace Management Representative Boedigheimer stated that
every year, we send out notices to all of those on the wait list and ask if they still want to be on
it. She said that they purge more than 10% on the list annually.
Chairman Kulaszewicz asked what time of year they do that. Grace Management Representative
Boedigheimer responded that it is usually around April. Chairman Kulaszewicz asked if there
would be a need to do that twice a year. Housing Program Manager Barnes responded that it
really doesn't serve us any purpose.
Commissioner Runck asked if we are proposing that if there is a high priority person and they
come in first on the list, do we tell them to contact us again in six months and see if they can get
in. Housing Program Manager Barnes replied that they are just told that it's a long list, they are
welcome to contact us if they want to know where they stand on the list at any given time and we
will contact them if something comes up.
Housing Program Manager Barnes confirmed for Commissioner Caryotakis that we close the list
at 100 names and we would tell any inquiries that our waiting list is currently closed and to
check back or check our website.
Housing Program Manager Barnes confirmed for Commissioner Runck the list would remain
closed even if the person calling qualifies as high priority over others that are on the list.
Toni Jelinek asked with there being 176 people on the waiting list right now for Plymouth
Towne Square, closing the list at 100 would not force anybody off the list. Housing Program
Manager Barnes responded affirmatively. He said we would naturally through attrition bring it
down and won't reopen the list until it gets down to 50 names.
Commissioner Stein asked what would be covered on our website. Housing Program Manager
Barnes replied we would put a banner on the website stating the waiting list is currently closed or
waiting list is open. He said we have been working with Housing Link to advertise through
them, especially for Vicksburg Crossing.
Commissioner Willis asked if the Plymouth Towne Square list gets down to 50 names, about
how many of those people would be in the top priority because of low income as compared to
people who are only thinking about getting ready to move. Grace Management Representative
Boedigheimer responded that it is fairly evenly distributed between the five priority categories.
Housing Program Manager Barnes responded further to Commissioner Willis that when the list
gets down to 50 names, it will more likely be that more in priority categories four and five will
be on the list at that point. He said he would presume that there will still possibly be 20 in the
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lower income priority categories one, two and three on the list and then when we open the list,
those three categories are going to fill up again.
Commissioner Willis stated that he is concerned about any consequences and we don't
inadvertently screen out people who might otherwise be in more need and have a higher
threshold. Grace Management Representative Boedigheimer replied the only way an individual
would be in priority category five is if they are not a resident of Plymouth nor do they have any
family members as a resident of Plymouth and are income disqualified (make more than 50% of
the median). She said by enlarge, the first four priority categories are those that are low income.
She said it is just a matter of whether they are age 55 or age 62 and whether they have lived in
Plymouth at some point in their life or they have only had immediate family living in Plymouth.
Housing Program Manager Barnes and Grace Management Representative Boedigheimer
responded affirmatively for Commissioner Willis that there are not very many individuals in
priority category five that end up in the building.
Chairman Kulaszewicz stated that his concern is that one of our mandates is to serve the
residents of Plymouth and that in most cases, a resident who either lives in Plymouth, has been in
Plymouth or has family in Plymouth gets priority over someone who hasn't. Commissioner
Willis stated that was the original intent. Chairman Kulaszewicz stated that he would not want
to see an unintended consequence of ending up with a list of individuals in priority category five.
Grace Management Representative Boedigheimer replied the only times we really achieve 50
and 100 names on the lists are on the one bedroom list. She said we have not been that high on
the two bedroom lists in probably eight or nine years.
Commissioner Stein stated there are separate lists for one bedrooms and for two bedrooms.
Commissioner Willis asked if an individual can be on two lists. Grace Management
Representative Boedigheimer responded they could if they wanted. Housing Program Manager
Barnes added they could request either/or. He said if they are single, they would be informed
that if a two bedroom came up they would pay the maximum rent for the building. He said if
they are a two -person household and they said they would take whichever comes up first, they
could be on both. Grace Management Representative Boedigheimer added the likelihood of a
one bedroom coming up is not very good as a two bedroom will come up sooner.
Commissioner Stein asked if you have somebody that is single and willing to pay full price for a
two bedroom and they are ahead of a couple on the list who is low income and wants a two
bedroom, would the single individual get first priority. Housing Program Manager Barnes stated
that he did not recall ever having anybody who was single ask to be on a two bedroom list. He
said they would have to discuss that scenario if it ever came up. Commissioner Stein asked
doesn't the mandate provide affordable housing in the city if the person is able to pay market
rate. Housing Program Manager Barnes stated typically we don't. He said there are less than
five people right now in Plymouth Towne Square that pay market rate. He said some have been
original residents and due to their pensions or other income, they pay the maximum rent.
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Commissioner Stein asked if the criteria set up are mandated by law or something we came up
with. Housing Program Manager Barnes responded this Board created the criteria with a lot of
guidance from HUD. HUD was involved because they were very concerned that we would
violate fair housing. He said with the population of Plymouth and with this criteria set, we are a
very white community and by de facto we could potentially violate fair housing laws.
Commissioner Stein asked if we were to change the criteria, would we have to go back to HUD.
Housing Program Manager Barnes replied we wouldn't necessarily have to go back. He said we
would have to consult with our attorney to make sure that they were comfortable that any criteria
we created would not violate fair housing laws.
Commissioner Stein stated that maybe we need to rewrite the criteria that when the list gets
down to 50 names, a Plymouth resident is the first priority and low income is a second priority.
Commissioner Caryotakis asked if it would make sense to put this in place and see how it works
for a period of a few months. He said then if you find the list fills up with priority categories
four and five and we have it closed to people who would have higher priority, then we would
revise it. Housing Program Manager Barnes responded that we could bring this back to the
Board for a policy change if staff noticed it was not working as intended. Grace Management
Representative Boedigheimer added that we are not going to get down to 50 names on the one
bedroom wait list until very far out into the future. She said we aren't going to have to cap or to
have to close the two bedroom or even the Vicksburg Crossing's affordability lists any time soon
either.
MOTION by Chairman Kulaszewicz, seconded by Commissioner Caryotakis, to approve the
requested change to the manner in which staff manages the wait list for Plymouth Towne Square
and Vicksburg Crossing. Vote. 5 Ayes. MOTION approved.
Commissioner Willis stated he appreciated this being brought forward as it helps us to manage
the expectations of those folks who are looking for housing.
B. HRA Strategic Plan.
Chairman Kulaszewicz introduced the request to review current HRA Strategic Plan and provide
input on update process and changes.
Housing Program Manager Barnes gave an overview of the staff report.
Commissioner Willis stated it is a good thing for us to look at and he would like to study it for a
period of time. He said in looking forward at the life -cycle housing and trying to ensure that
people want, afford and continue to live in their homes as long as practical and hopefully,
thereby, maintaining the integrity of the homes so that the upkeep keeps the ravages of
obsolescence from overwhelming us. He said Plymouth is starting to face that issue now and we
are going to have to be doing something about it. He said we don't have a point-of-sale program
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in the city like they've had for years in St. Louis Park where you need to have your house
inspected and brought up to critical codes. He said that is a very controversial program but it
could probably be something that the city council would have to address at some point in time.
He said the HRA might have a hand in that if it became a point of trying to fund it.
Commissioner Willis stated that redevelopment is something that the HRA needs to start
investigating and thinking about. He said he does not believe we need to get proactive in a
sense, because this is going to have to be driven first by the market. He said there is going to be
demands for public assistance and financing but some of these areas are becoming commercially
obsolete, perhaps more so than physically obsolete.
Commissioner Stein stated that the city council discussed point-of-sale several years ago.
Housing Program Manager Barnes asked if Commissioner Willis was asking that they look at
other changes to the Strategic Plan, add things or just have simple discussion on it.
Commissioner Willis responded he is asking for simple discussion that may lead to modest
change but not radical changes. He said we have no idea whether or not the federal government
is going to continue to support some of these existing program efforts. He said he would guess
that there will be restriction of funding some place in the current programs and if that happens, it
may mean we will have to think of a different way to address the problem.
Commissioner Caryotakis stated the market has changed quite a bit and he is not sure where it's
going to go. He said we are dealing with a very different environment than we had in 2008 and
that may mean that our approach might be somewhat different in certain areas. He said he was
not sure if we have been able to do anything with land banking. Housing Program Manager
Barnes responded that over the past four years, we have looked into the idea of land banking at a
staff level. He said before the housing market crashed and the economy went down, land prices
in Plymouth were out of reach for us unless we were able to get an outlot from the city or acquire
a portion of a site like we did to build Vicksburg Crossing. He said when the economy went
down, we were seeing landowners unwilling to face the realities of a changed market and
unwilling to realize that their properties weren't worth what they might have been worth in 2003
or 2004. He said a lot of the private developers were seeing that as well. He said landowners are
starting to realize the changes in the market and the city is now seeing an increase in
development as land is more accurately priced.
Commissioner Runck asked if land has gone back to the lender and the lender wants to get rid of
it. Housing Program Manager Barnes replied we have not seen a lot of that. Commissioner
Willis stated not on tracts of land. Housing Program Manager Barnes added that in northwest
Plymouth, much of the land is not developer owned yet but still family-owned land and they are
waiting for that market to return because this is what they have been banking on to fund their
retirement.
Commissioner Willis stated there is no declining value. He said most of the land left to develop
residentially in Plymouth is predominantly located in the Wayzata school district. He said a
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small portion is in Osseo school district and essentially none in the Hopkins and Robbinsdale
school districts. He said the people who have over 1,000 acres of land to develop can afford to
sit there as development is coming.
Board discussed development within Plymouth and encouraged staff to explore opportunities for
the HRA to purchase and develop additional affordable housing.
Chairman Kulaszewicz stated he would also like more time to think about the Strategic Plan. He
said we have talked about other possibilities over the past few years and about what types of loan
programs, foreclosure programs, etc. that we might like to take a second look at. He said he
would like to take a look at some of the programs that other HRAs and cities are involved in.
Housing Program Manager Barnes stated that HRAs do things really different and a lot of it
depends on their size, but not always. He said Minnetonka and Eden Prairie offer similar
programs that we do. He said Bloomington is a lot larger and has more staff and programs for a
city HRA. He said they put more local resources into their programs. He said Dakota County,
one of the largest CDAs, own over 2,000 units and has many programs. He said they actually
issue their own bonds to do first mortgages, which is usually only done by the State. He said
Hennepin County's HRA offers a lot of federal programs but they do not operate many programs
with local funding. He said instead, they provide funding through the issuance of RFPs to
private developers for projects and they become financial partners. He said we can look at all
different sizes and all different programs or we can concentrate on things that are more similar to
what we're doing.
Chairman Kulaszewicz stated he was interested in similar communities to ours and if there are
other programs they are adopting or using that provide more affordable housing or some other
services at not too high of a cost. He said he thinks it is prudent of us to occasionally take a look
at what else is out there.
Commissioner Willis stated from his recollection, most of Dakota County is work force housing.
Commission Runck added they also offer senior housing. Housing Program Manager Barnes
stated it is probably about 50150 between work force and senior housing as they do a lot in
various cities in both of those programs.
Chairman Kulaszewicz recommends that staff come back to the Board with a list of things other
HRAs are doing so we can spend a little time to study what our current goals are, discuss what
other HRAs are doing and what other possibilities there might be for us and then proceed to
continue to work on our Strategic Plan. He asked what kind of timeline we should be looking at
in adopting this. Housing Program Manager Barnes responded we are looking at a four year plan
coming in to 2013. He said we took six to seven months to create this in 2003. He said outside
individuals provided feedback on what they, as a community, wanted us to do. He said the
Board took all that information and created this plan. He said one of the things we want to be
sure about the Strategic Plan is that it is a Strategic Plan and we are not getting into program
design. He said we need to look at increasing available resources and preserving existing
housing. He said that is what we will be doing throughout this plan and in bringing information
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back to the Board for discussion. Housing Program Manager Barnes asked the Board to think
about the Strategic Plan, the vision and goals, to see if they are still as relevant today as they
were in 2008.
Commissioner Runck asked if there is a separate document that tracks results, that talks about
each of the goals and what has happened to date. He asked how many affordable units we have.
Housing Program Manager Barnes responded that is in our annual report that's put together by
the Community Development Department. He said it not only talks about what we did as far as
affordable housing in that given year but it also provides information about what the Planning
and Building departments accomplished throughout the year.
Commissioner Runck asked if there is detail of the First Time Homebuyer program and how
many people were using the program. Housing Program Manager Barnes replied that
information comes to you in another method twice a year. He said it comes once in February in
our Action Plan when we are proposing to allocate for next years funds and we let you know
where we are to -date. He said in June we are required to submit a lengthy report to HUD, called
the Consolidated Annual Performance Evaluation Report, which talks about not only Plymouth's
goals and our accomplishments but it includes the entire Hennepin Consortium, which we are a
member of with Hennepin County, Minnetonka, Eden Prairie and Bloomington. Chairman
Kulaszewicz added that on the social services side, they come once a year and they report to us
how many Plymouth residents they have served.
Commissioner Runck stated it is nice to know where there is more demand for services we can
provide.
Housing Program Manager Barnes stated that this item will be continued to the March meeting.
C. HRA/City Loan/Assessment Program.
Chairman Kulaszewicz introduced the request to discuss a loan/assessment program for
apartment fire suppression system installations.
Housing Program Manager Barnes gave an overview of the staff report.
Chairman Kulaszewicz stated first of all, regardless of how it was financed, a property owner
would have to want to increase their rent a couple dollars a square foot over time. He asked what
their motivation to incur that cost would be: is it from a marketing perspective of having
sprinklers in our buildings; is it to safeguard their residents; or, is there an economic motivation.
Commissioner Runck asked what would be a possible trigger. He asked if you get a permit for a
certain extent of renovations only if you put in sprinklers, too, because you can't build new
construction without sprinklers. Housing Program Manager Barnes responded that we can't
mandate the sprinklers be installed in existing buildings and we can't require them to install as
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part of their renovation. Commissioner Stein stated if they exceed a certain dollar amount you
can. Commissioner Willis added if a certain percentage of the building is damaged, for example.
Housing Program Manager Barnes stated that insurance is a big incentive for them. He said if
they are a sprinklered building, they are going to get a reduction on their insurance rates. He said
it is also a marketing aspect for that property as well to say they are a sprinklered building
because if a fire would occur, there's a much better likelihood that it will be put out immediately
with that system.
Chairman Kulaszewicz stated if it was truly an economic incentive (insurance savings) wouldn't
all of the buildings all ready have them. Housing Program Manager Barnes replied it is an
expensive cost and property owners choose not to make the investment for various reasons.
Commissioner Stein asked what would be the advantage of Plymouth offering this to property
owners versus them going to the bank and getting it. Housing Program Manager Barnes
responded the HRA or city could offer it at a lower interest rate than a bank.
Chairman Kulaszewicz asked what would be the amount of time that would be needed on an
assessment before you'd get to a point where it saves on insurance. Housing Program Manager
Barnes replied everybody we've talked to are offering 10 year assessments. He said he wasn't
sure if law allows us to go out further than 10 years. Commissioner Willis added you can, it gets
to be a practical period of what the interest rate is going to be on your principal balance.
Commissioner Caryotakis asked for clarification that we can't mandate sprinklers on an existing
building but if they have a fire or they are doing renovations, then they have to consider
installing sprinklers. Commissioner Willis responded if it reaches a certain threshold, they are
required to install sprinklers.
Commissioner Caryotakis asked if it is possible that property owners are discouraged from doing
renovations because it would incur the additional costs of sprinklers. He asked if there are any
original buildings that would be renovated if we could provide the incentive by offering subsidy
for sprinklers. Housing Program Manager Barnes replied he didn't know if that would be a
trigger for a property owner to go through with the renovations or not. He said their bottom line
is the market and if their property value is declining because they have only updated their
common areas, their units or their appliances, they are going to feel the pressure from the market
and they are going to have vacancies.
Grace Management Representative Boedigheimer stated to actually trigger the need for updating
to city ordinance would require a bigger renovation than those updates.
Commissioner Stein stated that he can't imagine an apartment building adding sprinklers unless
they are converting to condos or something like that.
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Commissioner Runck stated building trading cap rates are really low right now and his company
looked at buying an apartment building in St. Paul and they would have been required to put in
sprinklers. Grace Management Representative Boedigheimer stated change of ownership or
changes in type of use are other triggers.
Commissioner Runck asked if that would be something our city could do if it's not doing it now.
Commissioner Willis stated he didn't know but that's something to explore. He asked staff to
talk to the landowners/property owners and see what their view of such a program would be.
Housing Program Manager Barnes stated we identified about 37 out of 54 properties on our
apartment list that have five units or more that do not have sprinklers. He said we could create
and mail a survey asking for feedback that we are interested in creating a program as an
incentive and asking if they would be interested in such a program.
Commissioner Stein stated to send out a letter before we craft a full program to see if there is any
interest. He said he would be interested in it if it's something that isn't going to cost the city any
money. He said if we used our reserves and we are getting 1%, it doesn't matter if we get 1%
from the property owner or the bank.
Chairman Kulaszewicz asked if we could make the incentive good enough to entice them to also
offer affordable housing. Grace Management Representative Boedigheimer stated their first
thought is always if I do this, how much more rent can I get. Housing Program Manager Barnes
stated it could be a tool for negotiation.
Commissioner Stein asked if we could restrict our Housing Choice vouchers to buildings that are
sprinklered. Housing Program Manager Barnes stated we wouldn't want to do that as we are
always looking for more buildings to accept the vouchers as it is.
Commissioner Runck stated it might be effective to have a case study in the letter that shows an
example of the insurance savings versus a 10 year assessment.
Commissioner Runck asked how many deaths are from fires in Plymouth. Commissioner Stein
stated none; we haven't had a death in a number of years. Commissioner Willis stated it was in
the early 70's when a family of three died in a fire.
Commissioner Stein stated our on call fire department is remarkable. Commissioner Willis
stated they do a good job.
Housing Program Manager Barnes stated staff will send a letter to various apartment owners and
ask them if they would be interested in this program, staff will research what kind of average
savings insurance companies offer and then report back to the Board.
Grace Management Representative Boedigheimer stated insurance companies usually have a
standard rate for sprinkler versus non sprinkler, combustive versus not, etc. She said she would
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check with their agent to see if they could get a MN per foot rate in the Hennepin County area.
Housing Program Manager Barnes stated staff would look at the League's insurance as well.
Commissioner Stein asked if buildings have smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors.
Housing Program Manager Barnes stated that smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors
are required by law.
Commissioner Stein asked if a program for hard wiring systems would be worth looking into.
Commissioner Willis asked if either of our buildings have problems with carbon monoxide.
Grace Management Representative Boedigheimer responded that there is potential for issues in
Vicksburg Crossing but in Plymouth Towne Square there is no potential for carbon monoxide
due to the type of heating system.
Housing Program Manager Barnes stated staff would look at the possibility of creating a hard
wired program. He said they would have to talk with fire safety inspectors first.
Commissioner Stein stated if they are opening up walls and ceilings, they might as well pull the
wire for the smoke detectors.
Commissioner Willis stated he thought it was a good idea to follow up on as well.
4. ADJOURNMENT
MOTION by Chair Kulaszewicz, without objection, to adjourn the meeting at 8:13 p.m.