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HomeMy WebLinkAboutHousing & Redevelopment Authority Minutes 10-11-2018APPROVED MINUTES PLYMOUTH HOUSING AND REDEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY October 11, 2018 MEMBERS PRESENT: Chairman Michelle Soderberg, Commissioners Robert Huddleston, Jeff Kulaszewicz, and Matthew Plec MEMBERS ABSENT: Marty McCarthy STAFF PRESENT: HRA Manager Jim Barnes, HRA Executive Director Steve Juetten, and Office Support Representative Michelle Rumrey OTHERS PRESENT: LaDonna Hoy, Executive Director Interfaith Outreach and Community Partners, and Ed Goldsmith 1. CALL TO ORDER Chairman Soderberg called the Plymouth Housing and Redevelopment Authority meeting to order at 5:34 p.m. 2. PUBLIC FORUM No one was present to speak. 3. NEW BUSINESS A. 5070 Holly Lane North #6. Request to remove restrictive covenants HRA Manager Barnes summarized the background. He stated additional information was submitted and was available for review. Commissioner Kulaszewicz stated at the last meeting the Board chose to continue the decision to the next board meeting. He asked if it was okay to bring it up earlier. HRA Manager Barnes responded yes. Chairman Soderberg added that we now have criteria under the hardship policy that we did not have before. MOTION by Commissioner Kulaszewicz, seconded by Commissioner Plec, to approve the removal of restrictive covenants from the property located at 5070 Holly Lane North #6. Vote. 4 Ayes. MOTION passed unanimously. B. Discuss Comprehensive Plan - Housing Approved Minutes Plymouth Housing and Redevelopment Authority October 11, 2018 Page 2 HRA Manager Barnes and Executive Director Juetten presented an overview of the Housing Chapter of the Comprehensive Plan. HRA Executive Director Juetten provided an overview of the staff report and the proposed new MXD-R guiding designation. Commissioner Plec asked if 100% of the units would be affordable housing. HRA Executive Director Juetten answered no, you could have a mixed income project. Commissioner Plec said this just says what could be the density. HRA Executive Director Juetten clarified that the area could be affordable housing if MXD-R guiding was implemented. Chairman Soderberg inquired how the idea for MXD-R guiding came about. HRA Executive Director Juetten replied the concept was devised while considering the available options to meet the number of affordable housing units specified by the Met Council. Chairman Soderberg asked if staff could provide some examples of how dense some of the City’s current multi-family projects are and how that might compare to the new MXD-R guiding. HRA Executive Director Juetten said that Cranberry Ridge development has 19 units per acre while the Axis has over 30 units per acre. Commissioner Kulaszewicz asked about The Waters. HRA Executive Director Juetten said it was developed with a Planned Unit Development (PUD) so it is not an applicable comparison. Chairman Soderberg asked about the impact this re-guiding would have on the businesses already on the site. HRA Executive Director Juetten answered if the land was re-guided the business presently onsite would operate as it currently does until such time that buildings are removed. Chairman Soderberg stated the concept of MXD-R guiding is very creative. She asked if the guiding would be advantageous, unfavorable or neutral for the business. Approved Minutes Plymouth Housing and Redevelopment Authority October 11, 2018 Page 3 HRA Executive Director Juetten said having the residential component would make a developer ’s numbers work and would allow them to come up with a plan that is market driven. Commissioner Kulaszewicz commented that the concept is outside the box in terms of vision. He asked if the MXD-R guiding was adopted would the area be rezoned. HRA Executive Director Juetten answered the land would be re-guided, not re-zoned. It would only be re-zoned if it was sold for redevelopment. Commissioner Kulaszewicz inquired if there are any downsides to having too many of these re-guided parcels. HRA Executive Director Juetten said the downside would be if all the re-guided parcels were sold at the same time and there was not market for that much housing . Commissioner Kulaszewicz asked if the re-guiding would help developers with financing. HRA Executive Director Juetten replied PUD flexibility helps not hinders developers from obtaining funding from other sources. Commissioner Kulaszewicz stated so long as you have the appropriate amount of housing you can also have many other uses, such as a bus stop. Commissioner Plec asked if the re-guiding changes height. HRA Executive Director Juetten said the re-guiding in the Comp Plan does not address height; height requirements are contained in the zoning code. The PUD would allow flexibility to modify the heig ht depending on the location. Commissioner Plec stated he can see this helping with purchase offers. HRA Manager Barnes said the flexibility of the PUD allows the Council to have more control over what uses will be developed on the site. Commissioner Plec asked if the amount of affordable units the Met Council wants to see have to be implemented now or if it just has to be shown the housing can be available. HRA Executive Director Juetten explained that State law says cities have to show how they can accommodate a certain number of affordable units through guiding enough land at high densities. Chairman Soderberg asked if property owners have been contacted about the potential re- guiding. Approved Minutes Plymouth Housing and Redevelopment Authority October 11, 2018 Page 4 HRA Executive Director Juetten responded that they have not been contacted yet . Commissioner Kulaszewicz asked how frequently the Met Council changes the numbers. HRA Executive Director Juetten said every ten years per state statute. HRA Manager Barnes asked the commissioners about their thoughts on the parcels presented and for suggestions on other parcels in the city for this new re-guiding classification. Commissioner Kulaszewicz answered he likes the concept and would defer to staff to determine the parcels to implement the re-guiding. HRA Executive Director Juetten asked if 25 units is too high of a density. Commissioner Plec commented he envisions what is in Minnetonka with housing on the upper levels of the building and business es on the lower level. Commissioner Huddleston asked for clarification on how much housing could be on the site. HRA Executive Director Juetten stated only half of the site could be developed with residential housing. Chairman Soderberg asked for opinions on the 20-25 units per acre. Commissioner Plec responded from between 20-25 units per acre would benefit certain sites with higher density and provide a greater variety of housing options. Commissioner Kulaszewicz asked when the city received the current numbers from the Met Council. HRA Executive Director Juetten responded in 2015. He believed if the numbers were recalculated the City’s total would be lower due to less land being available now. . Commissioner Plec asked if we have to choose either 20 or 25 now. HRA Executive Director Juetten said no, they are looking for advice. Commissioner Huddleston expounded on how the height of the building changes the density. Approved Minutes Plymouth Housing and Redevelopment Authority October 11, 2018 Page 5 HRA Manager Barnes provided an overview of the matrix summarizing the suggestions and information received in the letters from Interfaith Outreach, PRISM, Jewish Community Action, and Housing Justice Center. He asked the commissioners to recommend which ideas they would like to present to the City Council for consideration. HRA Manager Barnes reviewed the first question regarding Naturally Occurring Affordable Housing (NOAH). Commissioner Huddleston asked if the Naturally Occurring Affordable Housing units can be homesteaded properties. HRA Executive Director Juetten responded yes. Commissioner Huddleston said he was thinking about if an apartment complex needed help and was sold that then could be changed to affordable housing. HRA Manager Barnes stated it would most likely be cost prohibitive to turn a market rate apartment complex to affordable housing. Mr. Goldsmith added a comment suggesting to develop an implementation plan to acquire market rate properties and convert them to affordable housing. HRA Executive Director Juetten said that is another way to look at it, but the possibility of us converting 679 affordable units is going to be difficult. Mr. Goldsmith commented that during the next 10 years the Met Council is going to ask the city what has been produced and any extra units would help. HRA Executive Director Juetten and Manager Barnes concurred. Chairman Soderberg said that NOAH is a n obvious choice. She is interested in pursuing the line of credit. Commissioner Huddleston said the line of credit was recommended by the Justice Housing Center. HRA Manager Barnes explained the process to create a tax increment district can take 60 days or longer. If we had dedicated source of fund then we have the ability to take quick action. Mr Goldsmith commented the City of Plymouth has done a lot for affordable housing. Plymouth has been intentionally quiet about their contributions and projects get done. Approved Minutes Plymouth Housing and Redevelopment Authority October 11, 2018 Page 6 HRA Manager Barnes discussed the second idea and indicated this item will be added to the Comp Plan. He then went on to the third idea of amending the City’s Rental Licensing code to provide notification prior to the sale of certain properties and add some tenant protections. Commissioner Kulaszewicz said he has a problem with rent control. HRA Manager Barnes said last year a property in Richfield only gave 30 days for a household currently living in affordable housing to find new housing. This simply is not an adequate amount of time particularly in a low vacancy period. HRA Manager Barnes discussed the fourth item and told the Board that staff was already looking into using excess TIF as a result of the Ehlers report. HRA Manager Barnes discussed the fifth item relating to the Sun Valley mobile home park. Chairman Soderberg recalled the bus tour to Sun Valley Mobile Home Park and asked if this land cannot be redeveloped. HRA Executive Director Juetten responded the land can be redeveloped but it would be complicated because of the notification period of 12 months and other laws that come into play when a mobile home park is closed. Commissioner Kulaszewicz asked if a mobile home is affordable housing. HRA Manager Barnes replied yes, it is the most affordable housing there is. These units are already counted as NOAH properties in the city. Chairman Soderberg stated if we lose them then we want to make sure they could get replaced wit h other affordable units. Commissioner Kulaszewicz suggested a program could be developed for residents in the mobile home park similar to the emergency repair grant programs in place for homeowners. HRA Manager Barnes acknowledged we could look into t hat type of program. It would have to be locally funded. HRA Manager Barnes discussed the sixth idea regarding what the City of Minneapolis is doing in requiring properties to accept Housing Choice Vouchers (HCV). Chairman Soderberg said she would like to see what happens with the Section 8 HCV litigation in the Minneapolis courts. Approved Minutes Plymouth Housing and Redevelopment Authority October 11, 2018 Page 7 HRA Manager Barnes clarified we will keep this out of the Comp Plan for now as we wait for the court decision. HRA Manager Barnes co ntinued with details on items number seven and nine on the matrix related to mixed income and inclusionary housing policies. HRA Executive Director Juetten stated the four most recent apartment buildings constructed in the city have included between ten percent and 100 percent of their units as affordable housing. This has occurred without such a policy in place. There is a possibility if the city puts money into the development and through the negotiation process we get affordable housing without having a policy in place. Commissioner Huddleston commented the Met Council would say it should be policy. HRA Manager Barnes agreed adding that was suggested in the letters also. Commissioner Kulaszewicz suggest ed that rather than a policy, perhaps a positive affirmation could be done in such a way saying if you provide affordable housing we will give you this. Commissioner Huddleston said conversely, if it was a policy, then developers would not consider Plymout h. Chairman Soderberg stated even if we do not put this idea into the Comp Plan we can still continue to look at it , which does warrant monitoring other communities to see how their policies are working. HRA Executive Director Juetten asked if the commissioners are supportive of mixed income housing. Chairman Soderberg replied we would like a statement expressing our interest that does not tie our hands. Commissioner Huddleston said he would like to monitor how effective these types of policies are in other cities before considering a formal policy. HRA Manager Barnes stated staff will add a statement the city is interested in mixed income and inclusionary polices and will be following the development of this in ot her cities. HRA Manager Barnes informed the commissioners their limited resources would be used to consider developments offering affordable housing. He said they will recommend staff’s comments on number eight and number ten listed on the matrix to the council. He stated Approved Minutes Plymouth Housing and Redevelopment Authority October 11, 2018 Page 8 when criteria is specific and rigid you can be limit ed in how flexible you can be. He stated it is better to be able to react to each individual project as each is unique. HRA Manager Barnes continued with item number eleven on the mat rix and said this idea depends on what you foresee the need to be. The downside is you can possibly be sitting on land and have to pay the holding costs. Therefore, we would need to decide what the forward thinking plan is. He reminded the commissioners that Plymouth has at times bought land. He does not think this needs to be formalized, but perhaps when opportunities arise we can evaluate the benefits of each project. HRA Manager Barnes discussed the twelfth item in the matrix related to a Fair Housing Policy. He stated we need to have a Fair Housing Policy by January 1 in order to receive any future funding from the Metropolitan Council. He indicated a draft is being prepared and will come before the Board in November. 4. ADJOURNMENT MOTION by Chairman Soderberg, with no objection, to adjourn at 7:34 P.M.