HomeMy WebLinkAbout2008-05-08 Housing MIN
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May 8, 2008
CALL TO ORDER
Bill Smith called the meeting to order at 4:00 p.m. at the Ashland Civic Center, 1175 E Main St., Ashland, OR 97520.
Commissioners Present: SOU Liaison Alexandra Amarotico
Carol Voisin
Richard Billin Council Liaison: Alice Hardesty
Steve Hauck
Aaron Benjamin Staff Present::
Graham Lewis Brandon Goldman, Housing
Nick Frost Specialist
Regina Ayars Carolyn Schwendener, Account
Bill Smith Clerk
PUBLIC FORUM
No one came forth to speak
CLAY STREET LAND ACQUISITON PROPOSAL
Staff Presentation
Goldman explained that this action is coming to the City Council in two parts. The first aspect of the project is the acquisition of
the property for affordable housing. The second being the acquisition of the property for parks purposes. Goldman noted that
if the original proposal for the 10 acre property has an annexation approval for 107 Units, 17 of which would be affordable.
Goldman said that the City Council had previously identified the sale of three lots on Strawberry Lane, and specified that the
proceeds from those lots are to be used in support of affordable housing. The Strawberry Lane site itself it is not well
designated to have affordable housing units so the intention was to sale the property in order to support affordable housing
somewhere else in the City.
Goldman explained that for housing to be considered affordable people cannot be spending more then thirty percent of their
total income on housing costs. The 10 acre property on Clay Street has been envisioned to be a site for provision of housing to
people that make the median income and below. Goldman said that the Clay Street property would not be purchased in its
entirely for housing development, they envision sixty homes, with a number of them being rentals, put on five of the 10 acres.
The remaining 5 acres would be developed as a park.
Goldman showed pictures of affordable housing located in Ashland pointing out how indistinguishable they are from the market
rate housing around them. The City looks to see that affordable housing is built with longevity in mind and that it’s built to a
higher standard so that the replacement costs don’t negatively impact the project explained Goldman.
ACLT Presentation
Evan Archerd, 550 East Main explained why the City should consider building affordable housing on this particular site. Mr.
Archerd said what makes this a good value is that the property has a number of qualities that make it suitable for mixed
affordable and workforce housing.
It’s hard to find this large of a piece of property in Ashland that is zoned for multi-family housing.
It’s very flat; topography is important making it much cheaper to build on.
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This property has the City services necessary; water, sewer, storm drain, city streets.
The location is great. Residents would have the ability to walk to the market, drug store, YMCA, parks, restaurants and
it is close to schools. Archerd stated: You can pretty much do all you need to do by foot, or bike, or the bus on Ashland
Street, making it possible to live on this property without the need of a car.
Public Comments
Darren Borgias, 503 Strawberry Lane, spoke representing the Friends of Westwood Park. Mr. Borgias read his letter in
opposition of trading this dedicated park land for acquiring land for affordable housing. He gave a copy of his letter to each
Commissioner.
Keith Baldwin, 1176 Beswick Way, spoke as a friend of Westwood Park. Mr. Baldwin explained his main mission was to ask
the Commissioners to either delay or recommend against the park land swap portion of the project. His reasons were:
Decisions regarding park land should be separated from those decisions related to affordable housing, they are two
separate subjects. By Co-mingling these the community is faced with a choice of affordable housing or to protect park
land.
The park land swap portion of the deal breaks the trust the community places in the City to protect and preserve
existing park land.
Westwood Park is part of a Community that was negotiated over a period of eight years between the then land owners
and it involved all the existing lots in the area as well as the open spaces and Westwood Park.
Scott Dixon, 838 Blackberry Lane, spends time walking on that property. Mr. Dixon said he believes it is a bad precedence to
establish that the City is going to begin to sell off parks, even for affordable housing which is an honorable objective. The
citizens want to have affordable housing but if it was offered to them as a ballot measure he questioned whether they would
agree with the selling of the park. Of course affordable housing is worthwhile and it’s a question of how do we fund it and where
does the income come from stated Mr. Dixon. He objects to the idea of selling parks and encouraged the group to scale back
the project and see what they can fund without selling off the park.
Gaia Layser, 503 Strawberry Lane, thanked the Housing Commission members for all the public service they do. Ms. Layser
read her letter and gave the Commissioners a copy regarding her concerns related to the proposed land trade.
Ron Roth, 6950 Old Highway 99 South has worked in downtown Ashland for thirty-one years. Mr. Roth believes if any city is
going to do affordable housing they need to recycle existing premises and challenge existing regulatory barriers. Mr. Roth has
seen the small affordable units in the downtown disappear. Years ago people could work downtown and afford to live there.
The best planning process Mr. Roth has seen in the Community was North Mountain Park. This land trade would provide a
park for people living at the Clay Street end of town as well as providing five acres of high density housing. Mr. Roth strongly
recommends that the Housing Commission support this proposed land trade.
Robert McLellan, 500 Strawberry Lane, said they purchased their property in 2000 at which time they believed the two acres of
City owned land at the corner of Westwood and Strawberry would be dedicated to park land. Shortly after purchasing their
property the City was planning to subdivide the land into four lots and sell them for affordable housing. Because the property
was put up for sale Mr. McLellan and the neighbors formed an organization called the Ashland Woodlands and Trail
Association. This organization was intended to look at situations like this and at the parks land that we have collected and
continue to collect in order to provide parks and connect them with the trail system. Mr. McLellan encouraged the
Commissioners to re-think the selling off the land as it sets a precedence for future actions. This is land not just for the residents
in the Strawberry Westwood area but for citizens of Ashland, it’s irreplaceable. Reconsider keeping it as Parks land and find
other ways for affordable housing.
Lance Thompson lives a half mile away from Strawberry Park. Mr. Thompson shared about his experience with the park.
Every day he hikes on a trail neighboring the park and always assumed it was land being prepared for development. Mr.
Thompson confirmed he shares the sentiments of the Friends of Westwood Park. Mr. Thompson looks forward to exploring this
park more. People do need to know its public park and not private land. It’s a beautiful piece of property.
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Krista Bolf, 190 Oak Street confirmed that this Commission was here to deal with the Housing portion of the trade not the land
swap. Her understanding is that currently there is 10 acres on the Westwood Park and two of those acres will be traded for five
acres of Park Land on Clay Street increasing the total number of Parks land by three acres. Eight acres on Westwood would still
remain Parks Land and the three additional acres on Clay Street will probably get more use because it’s centrally located where
more families exist and use park land, stated Ms. Bolf. The affordable housing element of the trade is being paid for out of the
sale of Strawberry Lane property which is designated for affordable housing. At least 45 affordable homes will be built on the
Clay Street project. Ms. Bolf wanted to be sure that the public is aware there is no sale; it’s a trade with a net gain of three
additional acres of park land.
Catherine Dimino recommended to Commissioners that even though they aren’t allowed to consider this she would still like
them to recommend to the City Council that the swap not include the dedicated park.
Commissioners discussed the proposal
Billin asked Goldman how fundamental is the Westwood Park swap to the overall project? Goldman responded that under the
City as well at State rules any proceeds from the sale of Park property must be dedicated 100 percent to benefit Parks
purposes. With that division whether or not the Westwood property is included or excluded it won’t have any barring on the
number of affordable housing units that can be created. If the Westwood property goes away the City is still looking at the sale
of the Strawberry property in order to support affordable housing noting that the funding for each was distinct “Parks for parks,
housing for housing”.
Mr. Archerd explained that the property is zoned R-2 which currently allows density of thirteen and a half units per acre. The
developer can get a twenty-five percent bonus density if they develop it all as affordable housing. Theoretically they could have
over seventy units of affordable housing on the five aces. Mr. Archerd said that if that is what the Commission in conjunction
with the Council and the Community decides is in the community’s best interest it could be done.
Goldman explained that the City acquired the property, approximately 12 acres, for the purpose of putting a water tank on it.
The water tank was relocated to another site on Hitt Road. A resolution was then passed by the City Council dedicating 10
acres of it for Parks Land. Goldman is not aware of any specific agreement that the City was obligated to maintain the two acres
as Strawberry Lane properties dedicated to open space.
The Commissioners commended the eloquence of the neighborhood group in defending the existence of Westwood Park but
wanted them to remember they testified before the Housing Commission. The Commissioners also commended Mr. Archerd
with the ACLT for their efforts regarding the City’s affordable housing and workforce housing goals in relations to this project.
This is one of the best sites that have ever been presented to the City and the Housing Commission for development of
affordable and workforce housing that would serve the entire community, stated Benjamin.
Amarotico commented that as a representative of students in Ashland the housing costs in Ashland make it literally impossible
for students to live in Ashland and at the same time afford school. She believes this is one of the best pieces of properties the
City has seen for a long time and the parks land is available for others who could utilize it. Amarotico said this is a good
allocation of the trade of properties, because it important to pay attention to the people who cannot afford to live here.
Hauck/Ayers m/s to recommend to the City Council that they proceed with swapping the land on Strawberry, the three
lots, for property in the Clay Street project. Voice Vote: All AYES. Motion passed.
Ashland Community Land Trust - Bridge Street Property discussion
The Commissioners reviewed the scope and timeline for the project at 404-408 Bridge Street
ACLT’s representative, Steve Ennis, explained that there are two two-bedroom units in front of the property at 404-408 Bridge
Street that were there when they purchased the lot. ACLT’s proposal is to work with Habitat for Humanity to construct two new
three bedroom units in the back portion of the property. Currently ACLT is working on the Planning Application. Habitat for
Humanity board confirmed that they are not prepared to start construction until 2009. The existing two units will have funds
allocated for their remodel . The front two units will be condos and they will give first right of refusal to each of the tenant to buy
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them. If the existing residents can’t purchase them due to their income, or other issues, they won’t be evicted and can stay as
long as they want and the units will be used as rentals.
Goldman explained that ACLT is presenting this project to the Commission as part of their Planning Pre-application review
process.
Annual Retreat
Goldman suggested that the Commissioners email him with the dates they will be gone and then he will provide the possible
dates for the Annual Retreat .
ADJOURNMENT – The meeting was adjourned at 5:50 p.m.
Respectfully submitted by,
Carolyn Schwendener
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