HomeMy WebLinkAboutHousing & Redevelopment Authority Minutes 10-26-2023APPROVED MINUTES
PLYMOUTH HOUSING AND REDEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY
OCTOBER 26, 2023
MEMBERS PRESENT: Chair Michelle Soderberg, Commissioners James Williams, Ronald Kelner, Joel Spoonheim
and Kim Vohs
ABSENT: Commissioner Wayne Peterson
STAFF PRESENT: HRA Executive Director Grant Fernelius, Housing Manager Steven Schmidt, City Attorney
Soren Mattick, and Permit Technician Michelle Bast
OTHERS PRESENT: Mayor Jeffry Wosje
1. CALL TO ORDER
Chair Soderberg called the Plymouth Housing and Redevelopment Authority meeting to order at
7:01 p.m.
2. PUBLIC FORUM
Chair Soderberg opened and closed the Public Forum as there was no one present to speak.
3. APPROVE AGENDA
MOTION by Commissioner Williams, seconded by Commissioner Kelner to approve the Agenda.
Vote. 4 Ayes. MOTION passed unanimously.
4. CONSENT AGENDA
4.1. Approved minutes from September 28, 2023.
Commissioner Vohs arrived.
MOTION by Commissioner Williams, seconded by Commissioner Spoonheim to approve the
Consent Agenda. Vote. 5 Ayes. MOTION passed unanimously.
5. PUBLIC HEARINGS
No public hearings.
6. NEW BUSINESS
6.1. Discussion and Recommendations for an Inclusionary Housing Policy
HRA Executive Director Fernelius gave an overview of the staff report.
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Plymouth Housing and Redevelopment Authority
October 26, 2023
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Commissioner Williams stated a redline version will be helpful to track the changes. He noted there are
some typos and grammatical edits. He stated consistency is needed throughout the document related to
units. He did not believe that single family homes were to be included but noted a portion of the
document that relates to single family dwellings.
HRA Executive Director Fernelius replied this applies to new developments creating at least ten dwelling
units that request city financing and that would include single family homes.
Commissioner Williams provided some grammatical suggestions.
Chair Soderberg directed the commission submit grammatic changes to staff via email.
Commissioner Williams referenced the discretionary triggers and asked why some of those were
removed when most communities surrounding Plymouth have that type of trigger.
HRA Executive Director Fernelius replied this was a topic discussed with the City Attorney and while he
understands what the commission would like to do, it is the responsibility of staff to take into
consideration potential legal issues. He stated that those discretionary triggers were then edited based
on the legal guidance received.
Commissioner Vohs asked staff to review the changes that were made as a result of the legal review.
HRA Executive Director Fernelius replied most of the feedback was related to those discretionary triggers.
City Attorney Mattick replied he has worked on other inclusionary housing policies and is aware of the
policies adopted by other communities. He said the devil is in the detail on those policies. He urged
caution and provided more information on authority. He commented the city is using a policy to
influence the city code as it relates to zoning and provided additional details on the authority given
through statute 462.357 related to zoning. He referenced Bloomington and the additional work that has
been done by that community through a study, which is updated annually, as well as incentives that are
provided; those are absent in the Plymouth policy. He did not see an issue with having a trigger when city
financing is requested, but did have an issue with several of the discretionary triggers outside of the PUD.
He stated this policy reads as more of a requirement whereas some other communities use their policy as
a guiding document.
Commissioner Vohs asked if the City Attorney would recommend only using the PUD as the discretionary
trigger.
City Attorney Mattick confirmed that he would not advise using zoning changes or a comprehensive plan
amendment as a trigger.
Commissioner Vohs asked if the reason for that recommendation is because it is untested, noting that
four other communities have those types of triggers.
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Plymouth Housing and Redevelopment Authority
October 26, 2023
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City Attorney Mattick replied that the policies or ordinance adopted by other communities are not the
same as this city/policy. He stated his advice is not based on whether something has been challenged,
noting that his perspective goes back to the initial comment on where the city receives authority to do
something. He also stated, from his perspective, there needs to be statutory mention of how to handle
zoning type decisions; he could not find that in the statute provisions for the city zoning authority.
Commissioner Vohs noted three communities which include the zoning and comprehensive plan
amendment triggers and asked if those cities are then open to challenge based on those triggers.
City Attorney Mattick replied that Bloomington has an ordinance while others are policies. He stated the
policies are not mandated by those other communities and are essentially a trigger for a discussion.
Commissioner Williams asked if the City Attorney could speak with the City Attorneys for the other
communities to gain insight on the pushback that they may or may not have received.
City Attorney Mattick replied that he could respond on four of the five communities listed, noting he has
spoken with the Bloomington City Attorney today and previous to today. He noted that community did a
comprehensive study before implementing the policy and they went forward in a manner different than
this. He stated he spoke with the Minnetonka City Attorney today who relayed that is a policy with
limited enforceability and therefore it is more a suggestion. He said he represents St. Louis Park and his
colleague in the office next to his represents Edina. He said he had not yet spoken with the Golden Valley
City Attorney.
Commissioner Spoonheim commented his understanding is that the comprehensive plan has bearance
on zoning decisions and the expectation of the zoning code is not to incorporate every policy idea as
stated within the plan. He was confused at the suggestion that a policy, which clarifies the comprehensive
plan, would create an issue with discretion.
City Attorney Mattick replied there are specific statutes related to the mandate for the city to adopt a
comprehensive plan and that zoning must be updated to implement that plan. He stated the city is to
then use its zoning ordinance to provide more clarification on implementation, while the comprehensive
plan may include more aspirational elements. He said this policy reads similar to performance standards.
His concern is that this would be using a policy which has not been codified as an ordinance and there
would be no link to the zoning standards as to why this is being required. He stated that is a legal concern
that he would have with this policy as it is.
Commissioner Spoonheim commented throughout his tracking over the past two years he has not seen
that specific outcome debated. He does not feel this should be an optional guiding document as the
previous discussions were clear that this would be required. He stated they were also clear in the last
discussion that there should be variance/exemption options. He believed some of the discretionary
language could be tightened up. He said that based on the comments of legal counsel, he feels the HRA
would be well served to have the City Attorney redline the document and bring it back to the HRA, rather
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Plymouth Housing and Redevelopment Authority
October 26, 2023
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than having that edit occur before this goes to council as that could be a vastly different document. He
asked if the City Attorney would have a number of other suggestions if he had time to review the
document.
City Attorney Mattick confirmed he would have a number of other suggestions. He stated his first review
was just a broad review related to authority.
Commissioner Spoonheim commented he would prefer to follow that path, of having the legal review
and then reviewing the document prior to submission to the council.
Chair Soderberg commented that she would still like to get this on the council schedule as this has been
going on for two years and the council will most likely have edits as well.
Mayor Wosje stated he would recommend a well vetted document before bringing it to the council,
rather than rushing this.
HRA Executive Director Fernelius commented that he would need to speak with the City Manager about
the council schedule. He agreed the first review would be done through study session where policy
direction could be provided by the council along with any questions they may have. He did not anticipate
that would happen this year and believes 2024 would be more likely.
Mayor Wosje said the second meeting in February would be the earliest meeting this could appear on an
agenda.
Chair Soderberg asked if this item could be placed on the agenda for that meeting without having the
completed document at this time.
Mayor Wosje commented that would be a decision of the City Manager.
Commissioner Vohs agreed that this document should be tightened up with the input from legal counsel
before presenting this to the city council.
Commissioner Spoonheim noted the written comments that were received from the public for this
meeting. He asked if the new developments over the past three years were done through PUD.
City Attorney Soren Mattick replied that he did not recall but staff could look into that.
Commissioner Spoonheim commented that is a huge bearing, as he believed those large developments
were done through rezoning rather than PUD and therefore many developments will continue to move
forward without the requirement for affordable housing. He stated he would like to find a path that falls
within the law and also achieves the goals of the comprehensive plan.
MOTION by Commissioner Williams, seconded by Commissioner Kelner, to request that the City
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Plymouth Housing and Redevelopment Authority
October 26, 2023
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Attorney review this document along with the input received thus far and provide a redline version
to the commission to continue to review.
Further discussion: Chair Soderberg said that while legal counsel is doing its review, she would also
like staff to consider some of the comments that were received from the public. Additionally, the
commission will send in editorial/wordsmithing comments. She stated that would allow for all of
this input to be evaluated and incorporated before the next review.
Commissioner Vohs stated he would like to have some sense of the percentage of projects that
would be missed by only having the PUD trigger.
HRA Executive Director Fernelius confirmed he will research for that information.
Vote. 5 Ayes. MOTION passed unanimously.
Commissioner Kelner asked if there would be benefit to doing this through ordinance versus this
policy.
City Attorney Mattick replied there are different options. He stated part of his review will be to
create multiple paths forward, whether that is through policy or ordinance.
7. UPDATES
HRA Executive Director Fernelius provided his written report.
Commissioner Williams asked if this information could be provided in an ongoing basis prior to the
meetings.
Chair Soderberg confirmed that this would be provided at each meeting.
HRA Executive Director Fernelius commented that there will not be a November meeting and
highlighted the items that would be on the December agenda.
Commissioner Vohs noted an article that he recently read which proposed to increase the HRA levy
increase. He commented that is something that he should have known about prior to reading about it in
the newspaper.
Chair Soderberg said typically the HRA would have that information earlier, recognizing the impacts of
being short staffed. She noted historically the HRA levy increases in proportion to the general fund levy.
Commissioner Spoonheim recapped that the budget would be on the December agenda along with the
revised policy. He asked if the group would like to begin discussion on the Strategic Plan in a study session
prior to the regular meeting.
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Plymouth Housing and Redevelopment Authority
October 26, 2023
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Mayor Wosje noted the council will be interviewing candidates for boards and commissions in December
and the new person would join the HRA in January.
Chair Soderberg suggested that the group wait until January to begin discussion on the Strategic Plan so
that the new member could be a part of that.
8. ADJOURNMENT
MOTION by Chair Soderberg, with no objection, to adjourn the meeting at 8:04 p.m.