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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2023-10-19-CPC-min1 Minutes of the Community Preservation Committee Thursday, October 19, 2023 Remote Zoom Meeting Meeting ID: 948 2903 5881 4:00 PM Committee Members Present: Marilyn Fenollosa (Chair); Jeanne Krieger (Vice-Chair), Kevin Beuttell (arrived at 4:10 PM), Robert Creech, Lisa O’Brien, Robert Pressman, Mark Sandeen, Melinda Walker. Administrative Assistant: Thomas Case Other Attendees: Melissa Battite, Director of Recreation and Community Programs (arrived at 4:24 PM); Sandhya Beebee, Liaison, Capital Expenditures Committee; Michael Boudett (arrived at 4:23 PM), Capital Expenditures Committee; Caileen Foley, Executive Director, Lexington Housing Authority; Rodney Cole, Capital Expenditures Committee; Margaret Heitz, Housing Partnership Board; David Kanter, Vice Chair & Clerk, Capital Expenditures Committee; Carol Kowalski, Assistant Town Manager for Development; Carolyn Kosnoff, Assistant Town Manager for Finance; Charles Lamb, Chair, Capital Expenditures Committee; Wendy Manz, Chair, Housing Partnership Board; Sarah Morrison, Executive Director, LexHAB; Linda Prosnitz, Affordable Housing Trust; Lisah Rhodes, Capital Expenditures Committee; Kathryn Roy, Town Meeting Member; Elizabeth Rust, Director, Regional Housing Services Office; Elaine Tung, Chair, Affordable Housing Trust; Betsey Weiss (arrived at 4:08 PM), Vice-Chair, Housing Partnership Board. Ms. Fenollosa called the meeting to order at 4:04 PM. Community Housing Funding Discussion- The Committee discussed Community Housing funding with the Capital Expenditures Committee (CEC), the Affordable Housing Trust (AHT), the Lexington Housing Partnership Board (HPB), the Lexington Housing Assistance Board (LexHAB), and the Lexington Housing Authority (LHA). Ms. Tung gave a presentation on the AHT that addressed what an affordable housing trust can do; why, how, and when the AHT was created; the AHT’s relationship with LexHAB, LHA, and other developers; the AHT’s accomplishments to date; and the AHT’s FY25 CPA goals (see Affordable Housing Trust CPC Presentation dated 10-19-2023 for more information). The presentation noted that Community Housing has received the least amount of funding compared to the other CPA buckets and advocated for making-up the difference over the coming years. She anticipated that funding requests to the AHT for the period FY25 through FY29 could total $40.37 million. Ms. Fenollosa commented that despite Community Housing receiving the least amount of funding, the CPC has almost never turned down a Community 2 Housing request and that it is the responsibility of the housing community to present the CPC with funding opportunities. Ms. Fenollosa requested that Ms. Tung send a copy of the AHT’s funding guidelines and asked if the AHT would be the project manager for their larger construction projects. Ms. Tung said that she could send the guidelines and that the AHT would only be a funding entity and would not be a project manager. Mr. Pressman commented that CPA funds will not be able to cover all of the AHT’s projected funding needs for the coming fiscal years, but hopes that a real estate transfer fee and Governor Healey’s new housing bond bill will provide other sources for funding. Mr. Creech asked about the AHT’s process for development of the Lowell St / Parcel 68-44 project. Ms. Prosnitz explained that the AHT would seek a request for proposals (RFP) and could make an award based on the selected developer’s final package. The funding could cover pre-development and construction, and there would be strict restrictions around the affordability element. Mr. Creech asked about the difference in process between this project and a previous proposal where developers had not requested town funding and proposed making 25% of their units affordable housing. Ms. Kowalski explained that any action to turn town land into affordable housing would go through Town Meeting and a warrant article would ask to give the Select Board authorization to enter into a land disposition agreement and to issue an RFP with the AHT meeting certain criteria, in this case 100% affordable housing project. Ms. Kowalski shared that there are many subsidy opportunities for 100% affordable projects in addition to the AHT. The project could also receive a deed restriction to restrict the parcel to affordable housing in perpetuity. Ms. O’Brien asked Ms. Tung about the AHT’s current balance and asked about any overlap with the AHT’s capabilities and LexHAB’s operations. The balance of the Trust is slightly less than $2 million and the AHT is strictly a funding entity. Ms. Walker thanked Ms. Tung for the presentation on the AHT, then stated that the purpose of this meeting was for the CPC to develop a policy regarding pre-funding and the ability for non-AHT housing entities to apply for funding and expressed a desire to refocus the meeting on that topic. Mr. Kanter asked about the cause of the Town’s affordable housing losses in the past decade. Ms. Rust answered that the Subsidized Housing Inventory includes confidential units from the Department of Social Services and Department of Mental Health that have decreased over recent years. Ms. Morrison explained LexHAB’s plan to continue seeking funding from the CPC for the preservation, rehabilitation, and restoration of affordable housing properties and to seek funding from the AHT for property acquisitions. LexHAB does not plan on requesting pre- funding from the CPC. LexHAB also supports the AHT receiving as much pre-funding as possible to help address the ongoing affordable housing crisis. Ms. Morrison also shared that LexHAB plans to requests about $470,000 in CPA funding for FY25. Mr. Pressman commented that the CPC has never declined to consider a request eligible for CPA funding, and that while LexHAB can choose not to seek pre-funding, they and the LHA should remain eligible for pre-funding should they ever apply. Ms. Morrison commented that LexHAB’s previous pre-funding requests were for unidentified property acquisitions as opposed to identified property and that she 3 understands the AHT pre-funding requests to also be for unidentified properties. Mr. Pressman agreed with Ms. Morrison’s purpose of pre-funding. Ms. Foley expressed the LHA’s support for the AHT and shared the LHA’s intentions of using the AHT as a resource in the coming years. Ms. Foley also expressed support for the LHA’s ability to continue applying for funding from the CPC. LHA’s anticipated projects for upcoming years include rehabilitation, acquisition, and creation. Ms. Weiss expressed support for allocating more CPA Undesignated and Unbudgeted funds to affordable housing in addition to Community Housing funds. Ms. Heitz commented that Governor Healey’s housing bond bill was only just introduced and would likely take a couple of years to take effect and expressed support for a CPC policy to help inform the various parties on how best to acquire funding. Mr. Lamb, Mr. Cole, Ms. Beebee, and Ms. Rhodes expressed appreciation on behalf of the CEC for the AHT’s development of a 5-year plan. Mr. Boudett expressed concern for targeting 100% affordable housing projects that require town funding and subsidies when there are plans for other high-funded town projects and when traditional housing projects typically have a certain percentage of affordable housing. Ms. Walker and Ms. Prosnitz explained that there are many subsidies and incentives for 100% affordable housing projects that do not involve town funding and would comprise the majority of a project’s cost. Ms. Tung added that these incentives for full affordable housing are not available for mixed housing. Ms. Fenollosa asked Ms. Kosnoff about the possibility of funding affordable housing projects with debt when CPA funds are inadequate. Ms. Kosnoff explained that debt financing would have to be a policy decision but that the Town has tried to avoid debt financing due to high interest rates and added that debt financing would decrease the available funds for future CPA projects. Mr. Lamb commented that the CEC is cautious about incurring CPA debt and added that the AHT as a program cannot be funded with debt. Mr. Sandeen expressed his opposition to debt financing especially considering current interest rates. Ms. Fenollosa proposed the following takeaways to be the CPC’s policy on Community Housing funding: (1) the CPC will welcome all applications from all the various groups for housing projects; (2) it is the decision of the individual housing groups to request funding from the AHT and/or the CPC; (3) the CPC may utilize more than just the Community Housing funds for affordable housing projects, while also acknowledging the CPC’s responsibility to projects in other categories; and (4) the CPC will prefer cash funding over debt funding for housing projects. Mr. Sandeen commented his understanding that the CPC’s current policy is to consider all applications from the community housing partners. Ms. Walker concurred with Mr. Sandeen but stated there was a concern if CPA funding were only to go to the AHT and the housing partners were only able to request funds from the AHT. 4 Mr. Kanter expressed support for AHT’s pre-funding being used to target and fund new projects as opposed to funding ongoing projects. Ms. Heitz commented that while the CPC has other categories of project funding, she hopes that affordable housing applications are strongly considered due to the extent of the housing crisis. Ms. Beebee asked if the AHT is eligible to incur debt. Ms. Kowalski replied that borrowing is within the powers of the Trust but that it was advised not to do so. Ms. Tung added that if the AHT borrowed, they would have to set aside their current funds as collateral and would be unable to distribute those funds over the length of the loan. Ms. Beebee asked if the Town could incur debt on behalf of the Trust instead of the CPC. Ms. Kosnoff explained that the Town could borrow, but they would have to collateralize the debt with the tax levy, which would be unpreferable. Ms. Fenollosa and Ms. Krieger expressed thanks to the affordable housing groups on behalf on the CPC for their time and participation. Mr. Sandeen and Ms. Walker thanked their fellow CPC members for meeting to discussing affordable housing funding. Ms. Beebee, Ms. Bettite, Mr. Boudett, Mr. Cole, Ms. Foley, Ms. Heitz, Ms. Kowalski, Mr. Lamb, Ms. Manz, Ms. Morrison, Ms. Prosnitz, Ms. Rhodes, Ms. Roy, Ms. Rust, Ms. Tung, and Ms. Weiss left the meeting at 5:40 PM. Minutes- After a motion duly made and seconded, the Committee voted by a roll call vote to approve the minutes from the Public Meeting on 2-9-2023 and the Public Meeting on 9-21- 2023 (8-0). Committee Business- The Committee discussed the upcoming meeting schedule for CPA request presentations and discussions. The Committee agreed to meet on October 26, 2023 at 4:00 PM via Zoom to discuss a CPA request for a Cary Memorial Library project. Mr. Sandeen asked if there would be any CPA funding requests for the Munroe Center. Ms. Kosnoff replied that she nor Public Facilities is aware of any pending requests and do not expect any for FY25. Ms. Kosnoff also shared that there would be no requests for the Stone Building and that there may be a CPA request for a land acquisition. Mr. Pressman asked Ms. Kosnoff if she might be able to provide the Committee with an updated CPA Fund Balance spreadsheet. Ms. Kosnoff replied that she could provide the fund balance information for their upcoming October 26th meeting. Ms. Kosnoff also stated that the Town’s Financing Plan would be completed in a few more weeks and that could adjust the Town’s final CPA request totals. Mr. Creech left the meeting at 5:50 PM. 5 After a motion duly made and seconded, the Committee voted by a roll call vote (7-0) to adjourn at 5:52 PM. The following documents were used at the meeting: 1) Housing Summit Memo 10-19-2023 2) Affordable Housing Trust CPC Presentation dated 10-19-2023 3) Draft Minutes 2-9-23 4) Draft Minutes 9-21-2023 Respectfully submitted, Thomas Case Administrative Assistant Community Preservation Committee APPROVED 10/26/2023