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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2017-09-28 Housing & Human Services MIN Ashland Housing and Human Services Commission Minutes September 28, 2017 CALL TO ORDER Commission Chair Rohde called the meeting to order at 4:30 pm in the Siskiyou Room at the Community Development and Engineering Offices located at 51 Winburn Way, Ashland OR 97520. Commissioners Present: Council Liaison Tom Gunderson Traci Darrow, absent Rich Rohde Heidi Parker SOU Liaison Michelle Linley Gina DuQuenne Linda Reppond Staff Present: Linda Reid, Housing Specialist Commissioners Absent: Carolyn Schwendener, Clerk Sue Crader The Commissioners introduced themselves to new member Linda Reppond. Ms. Reppond explained she is a Minister and for a number of years has worked with young adults. She has been involved in a ministry called Launching Pad which has been active in Ashland for about four years. Ms. Reppond and her husband recently purchased Ann Hathaway’s cottage on East Main. She is hoping there is an opportunity on this Commission to be a bridge between the hospitality people and the community. APPROVAL OF MINUTES DuQuenne/Linley m/s to approve the minutes of the July 27, 2017 regular Commission meeting. Voice Vote: All Ayes, motion passed. PUBLIC FORUM Susan Berryhill introduced herself. She has lived in Ashland for almost forty years. She referred to herself as a “Climate Change Pilgrim.” Ms. Berryhill explained that two years ago when the valley experienced a large amount of smoke it came into her house and trashed it. State Farm Insurance has not paid the claim at this time. Ms. Berryhill explained they cannot reside in their house due to allergies so they have become short term renters in Ashland. This has proved to be a difficult task. One issue is very few home owners who rent allow pets. Ms. Berryhill conveyed that any kind of new innovative housing such as cottage housing, tiny houses etc. is very exciting, adding that cottage housing still seems to be expensive. Ms. Berryhill concluded with the statement, one step away from being homeless, is real. Phil Miller introduced himself commenting that he and Susan have lived in about twenty-five different places in the last two years. His motivation for smaller units is affordability. Mr. Miller had three questions regarding the new Cottage Housing Ordinance.  If we were able to construct three cottage housing units on our property would we have to rent them or would there be the possibility of individual ownership?  Would the Cottage Housing Ordinance allow for the use of nightly Vacation Rentals rather than long term rentals? What we are really lacking, stated Mr. Miller is long term affordable rentals.  Has NIMBY (not in my backyard) been addressed? COTTAGE HOUSING ORDINANCE City Senior Planner, Brandon Goldman, gave an overview of the updated Cottage Housing Ordinance. Goldman explained that the Planning Commission has held seven different meetings to iron out the details regarding size of units, number of units, heights of the buildings, design standards as well as issues related to parking. Cottage Housing could be applied within Single Family Residential Zones but would not apply within Multifamily Zones. The general objectives of the Cottage Housing Standards is to provide alternative types of housing for small households; provide high quality infill development which maintains traditional cottage amenities and proportions; contribute to neighborhood character; efficiently use residential land supply; and meet regional plan commitments through consideration of innovative land use strategies to accommodate future population growth. Goldman addressed Mr. Millers questions.  Because Cottage Housing developments are in Single Family Residential Zones, Traveler’s Accommodation, VRBO’s and Bed and Breakfasts are all prohibited in those zones. We would not envision any of the cottage housing to be vacation rentals, stated Goldman.  Because the cottage units would have a zero lot line beneath them they would likely be geared towards ownership however property owners could develop them and use them for rentals.  Regarding NIMBY; Goldman acknowledged there have been concerns expressed with regard to the compatibility of the cottage housing developments within neighborhoods. Goldman remarked that because the City has chosen to not increase the Urban Growth Boundary it’s necessary to figure out how to infill with existing lands within the city limits and do so in a way which is minimally intrusive in existing neighborhoods. Rohde remarked the newspaper articles implied the cottage units would be affordable but that is not necessarily the case. Goldman explained that by merit of their size the units would be less expensive than larger homes so they do provide an ownership opportunity to people who could not afford larger homes. Unless a cottage housing development was actually proposed by an affordable housing provider it’s not likely to have the private market sell for less than they could actually get at the current housing market, added Goldman. This ordinance would provide developers a different housing option to consider but it would most likely still come in at what the market would bear. Reid commented that workforce housing is a definite need within our community citing the 2012 Housing Needs Analysis. Gunderson elaborated in talking to others the prices seem extraordinarily high. He recently sold a three bedroom two bath rental house for under $300,000. In the last two years’ home prices have crept up to record highs in Ashland. It would be much easier and cost effective to find a full size home to purchase in West Medford, Talent or Phoenix than a smaller home in Ashland. An example in Ashland of a development similar to a Cottage Housing Development is Creekside cottages on Siskiyou Boulevard. The difference is it’s developed on a multi-family zone. Parker thanked Goldman expressing her appreciation that staff took into consideration the Commissions feedback from the first reading and made changes. The Commissioners concluded by saying there is a Housing Trust Fund available now for developers. What we need is some creativity from our nonprofits and other groups to come forward. Rohde added we need to incentivize some of the affordable housing developers. th The first reading of the Cottage Housing Ordinance will go before Council at their November 7 meeting. Second reading will be in December. BUS TOUR UPDATE The Commission has scheduled an Affordable Housing Bus Tour for Wednesday October 11, 2017 between 4:00 pm and 6:30 pm. The tour will accommodate approximately thirty people. The Commissioners discussed the logistics’ of the tour. The tour will begin at Snowberry Brook located at 2261 Villard Street. First stop will be at Access’ Hyde Park Development where Tamara Foley from Access will talk about that development and Access’ programs. Then to Garfield and East Main, Access’ Parkview Apartments and Habitat’s two ownership units. Then on to Rice Park where a resident will talk about that project. Then back to Snowberry for a tour of one of their units followed by a question and answer session and wrap up. CDBG CAPER PUBLIC HEARING REVIEW AND APPROVAL Reid gave an overview of the CAPER. The City of Ashland is an entitlement city under the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) CDBG Program. The City of Ashland receives approximately $158,000 each year from HUD to apply toward housing and community development projects that benefit low and moderate income persons in Ashland. The Consolidated Annual Performance Evaluation Report (CAPER) summarizes the individual project status of those improvements funded with CDBG funds for the program year 2016. The CAPER reports the accomplishments generated by the activities funded in the Program Year 2016 and how those activities allow the City to make progress in meeting the outcomes and goals identified in the 2015-2019 Consolidated plan. Opened for public testimony. No one in the audience spoke. DuQuenne/Linley m/s to approve the CAPER for the program year 2016. Voice Vote: All ayes, motion approved. HOUSING ELEMENT DRAFT POLICY REVIEW AND RECOMMENDATIONS Reid explained as part of the Housing Element Update staff would like this Commission to discuss and recommend any further revisions. The purpose of the City’s Comprehensive Plan is to have a document which sets forth general, long-range policies on how the community’s future development should occur. The Comprehensive Plan was adopted in 1982 and covers twelve individual areas such as Transportation, Parks, Environmental Resources, Public Services, etc. Individual sections of the plan are updated over time; the Housing Element was last updated in 1989. The goal is to make this document become timeless by making the language broader. The Commissioners discussed the document and made the following comments. Commissioners liked the goals, especially number two as it reflects the HHS goals. (Support the creation and preservation of housing that is affordable to low and moderate income households.) If the City decided to expand inclusionary zoning to the entire city rather than just annexations is there anything that addresses that in the document. Didn’t see anything in the document that would preclude that. One goal is to provide land that is available for affordable housing. Given that land values are continually going up inclusionary zoning is one way, if you have it in the city, it would facilitate that. Since its impossible to accurately predict how the marketplace will allocate housing units. What are we doing to assure that the housing needs can be met? We don’t have policies set aside, we don’t land bank? Lofty goals but what are we actually doing to accomplish them? Reid reminded that Commission this document sets a vision but it’s not an action document. As a planning document this provides the language to allow those things to happen so that people can point to it as a justification of undertaking an action. On Clay Street across from Snowberry Brook is vacant land that is soon to become a Dog Park. The question is why isn’t this land utilized for more housing units as opposed to a Dog Park? Could the dog Park be put somewhere else and this land become available for housing? The State of Oregon passed a law 29.12 that allows Cities to utilize State money to do land banking. This law allows cities to buy land for affordable housing with no payments on either principal or interest for five to eight years while looking for developers for the land. This could allow us to acquire land if some became available, stated Rohde. With the cost of housing being so expensive manufactured homes are more affordable, they have become greener and not so objectionable. The Commission agreed it’s important to maintain the housing manufactured stock that the City has. Encouraging residents to purchase Mobile Home Parks can help preserve affordable housing. Does policy 11 allow tiny houses? Yes. The Commissioners agreed that if they have further comments regarding the Housing Elements they will send them to Reid through email. GENERAL ANNOUNCEMENTS Rohde announced the Oregon Housing and Community Services is having Strategic Planning Forums around the State during the months of October and November. The Forum closest to our area is in Grants Pass on th November 6. The forums will be talking about their strategic vision on how we can be more effective with housing developers. How can we work more in partnership? th Parker announced that the Winter Shelter is opening the week of November 12 offering five shelter nights per week. She needs to speak with the city Administrator regarding the use of Pioneer Hall. Training for volunteers th will be on Wednesday November 8 at the Presbyterian Church between 6:30 to 8:30. All are welcome to attend. rd Friday November 3 is Pasta with a Purpose. ORHA is putting on a pasta feed to raise money to help with the expense of the shelters. th This year’s Sleep Out is on November 4 in the evening on Lincoln school property. Find out what it’s like for the homeless. OCTOBER 26, 2017 MEETING AGENDA ITEMS Quorum Check- All everyone should be here. Discuss the November and December meeting dates. UPCOMING EVENTS AND MEETINGS Next Housing and Human Services Regular Commission Meeting – 4:30-7:00 PM; October 26, 2017, in the Siskiyou Room at the Community Development & Engineering Department located at 51 Winburn Way. ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at 6:30 p.m. Respectfully submitted by Carolyn Schwendener