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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2013-01-23 Housing MIN ASHLAND HOUSING COMMISSION MINUTES January 23, 2013 CALL TO ORDER ChairRegina Ayarscalled the meeting to order at 4:10p.m. in the Siskiyou Room at theCommunity Development and Engineering Buildinglocated at 51 Winburn Way,Ashland, OR 97520. Andrew Ensslinintroducedhimself as the newSOU Liaisonto the Housing Commission. He is aPolitical Science andHistory Major with a Minor in Psychology. Ensslin is very interested in politics and the public service process. He is currently doing aninternship with Congressman Walden. Commissioners Present:Council Liaison Regina AyarsCarol Voisin Brett Ainsworth Barb BarasaSOU Liaison Evan LasleyAndrew Ensslin Michael Gutman Staff Present: Commissioners Absent: Linda Reid, Housing Specialist Ben Scott, excusedCarolyn Schwendener APPROVAL OF MINUTES Lasley/Barasam/s to approve the minutes of the October 22,2012regular Housing Commission meeting. Voice Vote: All Ayes;minutes were approved as presented. PUBLIC FORUM No one spoke UPDATE ON FUNDRAISING EFFORTS OF ASHLAND EMERGENCY FOOD BANK Ward Wilson from the Ashland Emergency Food Bank (AEFB) waspresent to give an update. Wilson distributed to the Commissioners two different types of brochures. One brochure targeted the largedonorsthe smaller brochure was intended for a wider distribution;two thousand of whichwill be going out to the Ashland Food Project volunteers. Wilson acknowledged they did not get started very quickly with their fundraising. He attributed this to three things; theyare not fundraising professionals, the three primary members of the board have had a difficult time getting together and they had not put together any brochuresuntil recently. Wilson pointed out they received what they call a “lead donation”of $50,000 from a high profile local individual. That donor would like to work with the board and help solicit similar individuals.They also were interested in talking to them about how much money the AEFB would require for a gift that would result in naming their building. Currently AEFB has a total of $176,000 in pledges and gifts including the funds that were awarded from the City of Ashland. The Commissioners had some questions for Wilson. 1 Originally AEFB stated that they were expectinggifts last year, one in May and onein December. Were there delays with those gifts? Yes, we only received one. We attribute this to the fact we have never done fundraising before and didn’t aggressively seek out those gifts. You mentioned last year that the bank might consider extending the deadline for the purchase of the property. Is this still a possibility? Peoples Bank of Commerce owns the property through bankruptcy. The bank is still very supportive. They have leased the building to us at 18 cents a square foot. The deadline for purchase is August 31.At that time we can discuss that possibilityif necessary. Who is the point person responsible for fund raising? Initially it was Greg Lemhouse but he found he didn’t have enough time so he asked me to help.I declined though offered my support to the others who would be doing the fundraising. We do not have a point personbut are doing the fundraising together as a group. The campaign committee consists of four individuals;Greg Lemhouse, Kate Jackson, Pam Marsh, George Kramer and myself. How many donors make up the $176,000? Our goal is $600,000. We have approximately thirty donors two of which make up $137,000. One donor is the City of Ashland and the other is the private donor who gave the $50,000. Are you planning on asking for CDBG funds again this year? Yes. We are hoping to have made more progress by the time of application. The Request For Proposal (RFP) closes on February 15, 2013. Reid pointed out that staff will review applications making a recommendation to the Housing Commission. At February’s meeting the Commissioners will hear the presentations and then make a recommendation to the Council. The Council will make the final determination at their Aprilmeeting. Reid implied that the City is obligated to hold the awarded funds from last year until August 31. The City does have the ability to re-award those funds should the AEFB not make their ultimate goal to purchase the property. UNIFIED LAND USE CODE UPDATE Maria Harris, City Planning Manger, gave an update on the progress of the Unified Land Use Ordinance Project. The Planning Commission has been reviewing the draft of this reorganized code. Most of the amendments being made have been housekeeping issues and policy issues from the 2006 Analysis. Harris briefly described some of those changes. Accessory Residential Units (ARUs)ARUs currently require a conditional use permit in the single-family zones and a site review in the multi-family zones. The proposed amendment discussed by the Planning Commission is to make ARUs a permitted use in all zones and removing the conditional use permit requirement. This still requires a planning action with noticing to the neighbors. This change does not take away the neighbors ability to make comments. Manufactured Homes on Individual Lots-There were four recommended changes.Three were revised for consistency with the Oregon Revised Statutes (ORS) regarding placement of manufactured homes on individual lots. Thoseamendments included the deletion of the requirement that a home be 20 feet in width, a change in wording for exterior building materials and the maximum height above grade. The ORS does allow jurisdictions to require a garage to be constructed with manufactured homes on individual lots. The Planning Commission concurred with the Housing Commission regarding this requirement suggesting using the same requirements as single-family homes which in Ashland are to provide the required number of off-street parking spaces, but not requiring a garage or carport. 2 Affordable Housing Density Bonus –The current ordinance allows for an equivalent density bonus for every percent of units that are affordable. The 2006 Land Use Ordinance Review recommends doubling the density bonus for affordable housing to provide a greater incentive for affordability. Cottage Housing or Pocket Neighborhoods –This description is typically used to describe a type of development involving relatively small homes (750 to 1250) clustered around a common open space. The Planning Commission directed staff to pursue revisions to the code to promote the development of pocket neighborhoods. Harris will email Reid the list of Cities with cottage Housing or Pocket neighborhoods. . Harris went on to say that after the first draft has been completed the next piece is the evaluation of some green codes incentives and evaluation of procedures based on two of the Council goals. Will be doing a series of public meetings in late spring. These meetings will be focus group format where we try to cluster proposed amendments in areas where people might be interested. Harris would like to havea final draft and formal adoption process in late summer or early fall. VACATION RENTAL DISCUSSION AND RECOMMENDATION Reid explained that Staff is looking for some feedbackfrom the Housing Commission mainly regardinghow changing the rules around the vacation rentals could impactthe housing availability. The Planning Commission reviewed this last nightand it will begoing to the City Council soon. Ainsworth commented that by allowing houses to be used for short term rentalthey are then no longer available for long term rental for families nor are available for saleto those who work in Ashland and wish to live here.This doesn’t necessarily support the mission of what the Housing Commission has for providing a long term housing solution for all residences. While I applaud the enforcement andits increasing need I don’t necessarily think the solution is to relax the rules in order to receive more tax revenue, stated Ainsworth.It was commented that theBed & Breakfastowners believe that the City could in fact receive an increase in tax revenue by not allowing those illegal rentals which would increasethe occupancy of the legal unitsprovidingmore revenue. Voisin inquired,since the City no longer has a compliance officer how are they going to monitor this and enforce it. Reid explained that the planners have taken on the code complianceresponsibility and duties along withpoliceand fire. This particular issue will stay within the Community DevelopmentDepartment. This issue came beforethe City Council due to a complianceletter that was sent out to property ownersregarding the illegal units. One of the recipients of the letter appeared before the Council inquiring about the opportunity to make illegal units legal. Reid said staff is working on compilinga list and making an effort to gain compliancethough this is quite time intensive. This effort has been put on hold because Council directed staff to look at options.The end result could be a citation and court. Generally speaking with code complianceitisthe neighbors who monitor the situation. Gutmanfelt that by allowing people toapply for vacation rentals some applicants will not do so due to the cost involved.If it becomes a regulated process it will take a lot of people out of it. Due to the price. Some considerations the Council is looking at are: Make No changes Expanding the Conditional Use Permit to include the entire multi-family district Allowing them within 200 feet of any arterial street Barasaagrees that by allowing more homes to be used for short term rental use it takes them out of the housing pool. She does understand why because ifyou own an investment property you could perhaps see more revenue by doing the short term rental. If housing stock becomes less and less for students to access which could raise the price. Ayars believesit will negatively impact long termand affordability. The recentCity survey showed that the top concern was the reason for not livablewas the lack of affordable housing followed byunemployment. 3 Ainsworth/Lasley m/sthat the commission recommends that we not modify the current policies regarding short term rentals.Voice Vote: all ayas. LIAISON REPORTS Council –Voisin said the recentcitizen survey mentioned affordable housing as a concern with a number of citizens acknowledging they would be willing to assist financially to help meet the goal of affordable housing.Voisin announcedthat the Cottonwood at 380 Clay Street is no longer being considered for removal.The tree will remain and be part of the future development of the property. The Council goal setting is Saturday February 2, 2013 between 9:00am and4:00 p.m. The Council will be takenthrough a process by the City Administrator of setting a goal and establishing a strategy.Thisis a public meeting and everyone is welcome. Staff–Reid clarified that the Cottonwood tree at 380Clay Street will not be part of the current partition that the City is in the process of doing. The tree removal is not going to be processed as part of the partition at this time. The City is seeking an arborist report on the tree. The tree consumes a large amount of the land area. Reid announced the City has issued the RFP for the Community Development Block Grant Funds. Reid remarked that the City has not received any final notification on the fund allocation at this point. Staff has moved forward with the assumption the Citywill receive the same amount upon direction from our HUD CDBG representativethat they expect the amount to stay the same.Reid said at this point they have not received any applications. The Point in Time Homelesscount will be happening next week, said Reid.The Countyreceivesfunding from HUD to do homeless servicesand homeless sheltersand activities. Many of those serviceswe receivehere in Jackson County are funded out of that. The Point in Time Homeless Count is required by HUD. Each community goes out the last week in January and does a count. Two types of counts;one is anovernight night shelter count, theother a street count for places like Ashland who do not have a shelter, volunteer count people on the streetorwhere people are congregatingsuch as at community meals. 2012 GOAL REVIEW AND APPROVAL The Commissioners discussed which goals individual commissioners were mostinterested in then the goalswere assigned. Commissioners won’taddress thesegoalsuntil after the CDBG awards are completed. Establishment of Rental Registry –Gutman Preservation of vulnerable properties –Ayars Housing Trust fund-identify three options –Ainsworth Develop a Landlord Tenant Brochure –Barasa Support the implementation of specific potential strategies identified in the Housing Needs Analysis –pending Council approval Explore and potentially implement a Student Fair Housing Plan –Lasley and Ensslin TH FEBRUARY 272013 MEETING AGENDA ITEMS Student Fair Housing Survey CDBGpresentations UPCOMING EVENTS AND MEETINGS Next Housing Commission Regular MeetingWHERE 4:00-6:00 PM; February 27, 2013 -The meeting was adjourned at 5:45.m. ADJOURNMENT Respectfully submitted by Carolyn Schwendener 4