Hinesburg Affordable Housing Committee
Meeting Minutes
Committee Members Present: Donna Constantineau, Rocky Martin, Carl Bohlen, Julie Pierson, Alan Norris, Andrew Burton, Dale Wernhoff.
Also Present: Kirsten Deluca of Champlain Housing Trust (CHT).
The meeting came to order at approximately 7:10 PM.
Discussion of if Affordable Housing Committee (AHC) is still in favor of Inclusionary Zoning (IZ). Talked about voluntary programs such as those in California and Washington but members agreed that IZ needs to be mandatory for it to work. It was mentioned that it will be important to get the balance of the pros (incentives) and cons (costs) of IZ correct so that building in Hinesburg will still be attractive to a developer. Towards this end it was suggested a cost analysis be done to see how many and which incentives should be included in any IZ ordinance. Consensus of group was for IZ.
Review of Hinesburg Inclusionary Zoning Provision, Draft 1 – 1/19/07, by Alex Weinhagen.
Comments (refer to pages 1 through 5 of draft) –
Page 1: AHC still agrees 10 unit trigger is best; good idea about smaller projects voluntarily using IZ ordinance; discussed if 5-year period should be reduced.
Page 2: Need to clarify Income Eligibility section.
Page 3: Leave bedroom mix info in; livable floor area square feet in question; withholding of Certificate of Occupancy okay; believe bonus beyond allowed base density should be increased.
Page 4: On items 5, 6, and 7 prefer to see 100% reduction of fees but only on units mandated by IZ ordinance; add back in option of donating land to another group; leave in 1.5 times rule; 2 times the number normally required should go to 1.5.
Page 5: 180 day purchase option is considered too long by Planning Commission but Kirsten of CHT says this matches all their other options and allows marketing/transaction time.
Summary: Items above need clarification and, as stated above, an affordability study would be good to have done to see what scenarios work best. We need to put in the time up front to get a well crafted ordinance.
Discussion of Vermont Interfaith Action (VIA) Presentation. Julia Curry of VIA has prepared a PowerPoint presentation on affordable housing. AHC would like to see the presentation first, either via a meeting or e-mail, and then, if we agree with it, schedule a meeting with community leaders to present it to them.
Planning Commission meeting on 2/28/07 would like to have AHC members in attendance to discuss IZ ordinance.
Next Meeting –
March 1st – Kathy Beyer of Housing Vermont
Respectfully submitted
Dale Wernhoff