Hinesburg Affordable Housing Committee

Meeting Minutes

July 7, 2010

Committee Members Present:  Carl Bohlen, Kellie Stoll, Bruce Wheeler, John Bethune, Dale Wernhoff.

Also Present:  Alex Weinhagen (Director of Planning and Zoning for the Town of Hinesburg)

The meeting came to order at approximately 7:05 PM.

Housing Needs Assessment Review: We reviewed the final version of the Housing Needs Assessment prepared by Peter Richardson of Housing Strategies, Inc. and John Ryan of Development Cycles.  Various ideas were discussed on how to make use of it, with the main ones being:

Make the assessment readily available to any interested parties:  town committee members, neighboring towns, regional planning commissions, home builders associations, etc. Distribute via email or by a link on the HAHC's web page.

Make a highlight list to attach to the assessment for sending to Hinesburg town committee members, pointing out information that may be pertinent to their particular committee.

Submit a series of articles to the Hinesburg Record with each article covering a different topic from the assessment.  Kellie has volunteered to write the first article.

Shelburnewood Project: This is a project in neighboring Shelburne that would replace the Shelburnewood Mobile Home Park with affordable single family homes for the current residents of the park.  Earlier this year the plans had fallen through but now Housing Vermont, Champlain Housing Trust, and Cathedral Square are all looking into the viability of the plan.

Triple L Mobile Home Park: The park's owners have put it up for sale.  Arthur Hamlin, Housing Program Coordinator for Mobile Home Parks of the Vermont Department of Housing and Community Affairs, is going to organize an informational meeting for the residents to discuss their options.  Shaun Gilpin, Program Director for CVOEO's Mobile Home Project, will be invited along with any interested non-profit organizations.  The meeting will tentatively be later this month.  The HAHC will help out in any way we can.

Lyman, Milot (Kinney Drugs) Project: Housing Vermont, a non-profit development company,  has hired an architect to review the project with the intent being to increase the number of affordable housing units from the 15 shown to a total of 20, which Housing Vermont sees as a more feasible number for them to get involved.  The HAHC would like to get the developer (Milot Real Estate), the town, and the non-profit together to make sure they do what has to be done to have 15 or 20 affordable units, not just two out of 15.

The meeting was adjourned at approximately 8:30 PM.

Next Meeting: August 4th – Review Kellie's article, discuss the Triple L meeting, and update the Kinney Drugs Project.

Respectfully submitted,

Dale Wernhoff