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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2012-10-24 Housing MIN ASHLAND HOUSING COMMISSION MINUTES October 24,2012 CALL TO ORDER ChairRegina Ayarscalled the meeting to order at 4:10p.m. at theCouncil Chambers located at 1175 East Main St. Ashland, OR 97520. Commissioners Present:Council Liaison Regina AyarsCarol Voisin Ben Scott Barb BarasaStaff Present: Evan LasleyLinda Reid, HousingSpecialist Carolyn Schwendener, absent Commissioners Absent: Michael Gutman Brett Ainsworth APPROVAL OF MINUTES Lasley/Scottm/s to approve the minutes ofthe September 26,2012regular Housing Commission meeting. Voice Vote: All Ayes;minutes were approved as presented. PUBLIC FORUM No one spoke VACATION RENTAL DISCUSSION Bill Molnar, Community DevelopmentDirector was present to brief the Commissionon an issue that has come before theCity Council. Molnar asked the question “What impact does the way the City treats vacation rentals in the community have on our housing inventory?”Council has directed staff to look at possible changes to the zoning. Because there is an impact on housing the Council would like the Housing Commissionto participate and weigh inon this discussion. The purpose of this presentationis to give the HousingCommission some background. Short term accommodations traditionally are themotels, hotels, and bed and breakfastswhere a guest can stay lessthan 30 days.Ashland has prohibited the renting out of homes in single family residential neighborhoods on a short term basis. It is prohibited by the land use ordinance. Aspart of the Community Development Department we also addressCode Compliance as it relates to zoning violations, stated Molnar. Wehave seen an increase in activity not only from complaints but from looking atinternet sites. The department took an aggressive compliance effort in the summer and sent out forty tofifty code compliance lettersto those properties they were aware of that did not have a land use permit andwere not paying transient occupancy tax. This created some frustration from those individualsbringing about the question;shouldwe create some flexibility with the zoning code?There is also the issue of fairness for those who follow the guidelines and rules. Molnar stated the key issuesfor future discussion are:Whatis the impact on available housing in the community due to this circumstance? Does this increase the cost of housing? Ultimately these homes are taken out of the rental market. 1 The longterm history in Ashland as a community has been the concernabout growing outward.Thedesire has beentomaintain a compact community that promotes alternative modes of transportation. The City has taken a position in the region where they adopted theCity Urban Growth boundary(UGB)thirtyyears ago(1981)being one of thefew citiesif not the only cityin the state who has never increased the UGB. The City chose not to identify future areas to expand the UGBbut offered to developmore innovative land use strategiesto accommodate future business,employment andhousing over the next twenty years using the currentland base. Molnar explained that the next step will be,after the first of the year the staff will knowwhat direction the Planning Commission would like them to take. Ultimately before theywrite any specific ordinance language staff will bring suggestionsfrom both the Planning Commission and the Housing Commission back to the Council. The Commissioners asked for a profile of the rental houses. They were curious ifpeople are renting high end housing or inexpensive housing. Molnar conveyed that the preliminary internet searchesfor code compliance showed rentals for smaller inexpensive homes within walking distance to the downtown. The proximity to downtown seemed to out weight the amenities that might be offered. AbiMaghamfarowner ofAbigail’s Bed & Breakfast(B&B)located onNorth Main Streetspoke.Maghamfar explained that he understands the situation that has arisenregarding theproblem with illegal units being rented. Maghamfar stated he is justlooking for a fairness level playing field. As long as the houses operating as a vacation rental are permitted properly and provide adequate insurance and safety features just the way Bed & Breakfast and hotels offer he hasno concern.Competition is a good thingas long as it’s an even and fair playing field. Though forty to fifty letters went out to properties that the Planning Department was aware of,Maghamfar stated there is evidence that as many as one hundred and fifty housesare actively beingrented for vacation rentals. With that number of units being out of the short term housing market it is his opinion it does make a difference to the City’s housing inventory. These are homes that would otherwise be available to those wishing to live in Ashland.People coming into town do have a place to stay as the Bed & Breakfasts in town are not 100% full. Ellen Campbell,Campbell addressed the question of what the typical profile of the rental houses is. She stated that they are not just second homes for people it’s an entire rangeof scenarios.In the last twelve years the industry has seen aneighteen percentdecrease in the number of B&B’sthat are operating inAshland. Though it would make sense thatthe current B&B’swould absorb that increase in occupancy the opposite has happened. In the last ten years the occupancyhas either been stable or declined due to the increase of illegal units in town. Campbell commented that it might be tempting for the City to allow these additional vacation rentals in order to receive the Transient Occupancy Tax. She believes that the Citycould in fact receive an increase in tax by not allowing those illegal rentalswhich would increase the occupancy of the legal units. PROPOSED CHANGES TO UNIFORM POLICIES FOR COMMISSIONS AND COMMITTEES DISCUSSION AND RECOMMENDATION Reid pointed out that City Recorder, Barbara Christianson andCity Attorney Dave Lowman tookthe information provided to them by the Commissions and created three options for the Commissioners to vote between. After the discussion the Commissioners made the following recommendation. Lasley/Scott m/s to recommend Section 2.10.025 of Option Two with Section 2.10.040 of Option Three and Section 2.10.050 of Option Three with the definition of excused absence the same as defined adding the following (“An excused absence is defined as an urgent personal or job related matter or a matter where the member has no control over their ability to attend a meeting.”) Ayars made an amendment to the motion adding the following sentence after the definition of excused absence to say “also a Commissioner is allowed a single annual excused absence for a vacation” The Commissioners’ voted on the amendment. Voice Vote: All Ayes, amendment passed unanimously The Commissioners voted on the original motion. Voice Vote: All Ayes. Motion passed unanimously to include the amendment 2 COMMISSIONER AND SOU LIAISON RECRUITMENT DISCUSSION Lasley announced the Commission will soon have a new SOU Liaison.He spoke with thePresident ofASSOUand there is a freshman who is interestedin the position. Lasley sent the personan email for confirmation and the Commission would like to have them onboardby the Januarymeeting. The Commission is down one member and each Commissioner agreedto make an effort to try and recruit someone as soon as possible. LIAISON REPORTS Council –Voisin acknowledged that Reid did an excellent job presenting the Fair Housing Ordinance to the City Council. Staff–Reid reported theFair Housing Ordinancepassed first reading at Council and will be going to second reading on the sixth of November along with the first reading of the Housing Needs Analysis. The Fair Housing Council of Oregon has hired a three quarter time person, Louise Dix, to serve the Jackson, Josephine, Curry, Coos and Klamath regions. She will be stationed at ACCESS and is expected tobe down next month. Ms Dixrecently left the city of Greshamthough prior to that she was the CDBG administratorfor the City of Medford.She was on the Medford Housing Commission, Chair of the Homeless task force as well as the Chair of theSouthern Oregon Housing Resource Center. Reid gave an update from the Homeless Steering Committee. A joint meeting was held withmembers ofthe faith based community. Good things came out of the meeting; Trinity Episcopalannounced they will add a weekly shelter night onWednesdays starting Thanksgiving week. The Universal Unitarian Church is considering also hostingaweekly shelter night; they are continuing to takeup a special collection to provide materials like sleeping bags. A shelter training is being organized. thth General Announcements–The Council meeting may change from November 6to the 7due to the general election.Councilman Chapman has resigned and there is a process for appointing a new Council person. The City has sixty days to appoint a new person. GOAL SETTING RETREAT AGENDA DISCUSSION Voisinwill not attend the goal setting retreat. She did encourage the Commissioners to send their suggested goals to the Council no later than January. Suggested topics were: Co-housing ordinances and zoning issues. More and more seniors are considering co-housing experiences. Review the recommendations in the Housing Needs Analysis. Review the 2012 goals to see what has been accomplished and what may need to carry over to 2013. A more in depth look at the Housing Trust Fund. Still need a revenue source. Dot Exercise/Goal prioritization Discussion of Fair housing for students UPCOMING EVENTS AND MEETINGS th Normal Avenue Neighborhood Design Workshop –October 25, Ashland Middle School 7:00 –9:00 P.M. th Public Hearing –First Reading Housing Needs Analysis –November 6, City Council Chambers 7:00 –10:00 P.M. rd Discussion of policy changes for commissions and committees –December 3City Council Study Session, Community Development Building 5:30-7:00 P.M. Next Meeting-Housing Commission Retreat th 9:00-12:00 PM; November 17(Lunch included from 12:00-1:00) ADJOURNMENT -The meeting was adjourned at 5:50p.m. Respectfully submitted by Carolyn Schwendener 3