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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1989-TTF-min.pdf I _ AFFORDABLE HOUSING OPTIONS COMMITTEE Techniques Task Force July 13 , 1989 The first meeting of the Techniques subcommittee was held on Thursday, July 13 , 1989 at 8 00 p m in Room 111 of the Town Office Building Task Force Chairman William Spencer, Committee Co- Chairman John Eddison, Lisa Baci, Edmund Grant, Sam Nablo, John Oberteuffer, Sara Schoman, and Planning Assistant Zenia Kotval were present The primary purpose of the meeting was to expand and refine the list of techniques that the task force will be evaluating The group reviewed a handout provided by Mr Eddison on state programs that promote affordable housing and decided it would be more productive to review these programs when the committee has a better sense of what types of housing Lexington wants to provide Mr Grant mentioned that the reading list provided by Bob Bowyer contained a report by Roberta Leviton that reviewed many techniques applicable to Lexington He and Mr Nablo agreed to summarize the report at the task force' s next meeting Ms Baci and Ms Schoman also agreed to review reports on the reading list and summarize them at the next meeting The group then identified and briefly discussed a number of techniques that might be used to produce affordable housing using existing housing These techniques included • encouraging accessory apartments • town purchase of existing housing to keep it affordable, e g -- purchase condominiums such as those at Emerson Gardens -- purchase larger single family homes and subdivide them into several smaller units -- purchase modest single family homes for rental or resale at affordable prices • encouraging private investors to convert existing homes to affordable housing • encouraging development of congregate housing Mr Eddison agreed to speak with the town building department to find out the current status on accessory apartments that have been developed under the existing town by-law Mr Oberteuffer asked what money is available to provide affordable housing There was a brief discussion of the funds that LexHab has accumulated and the impact of the state budget crisis on state programs that provide funding for affordable housing Mr Spencer agreed to find out what plans LexHab is already considering for its funds There was also a brief discussion of the pros and cons of using town pension funds to finance affordable housing for town employees Mr Nablo agreed to discuss the feasibility of this option with the appropriate town officials Ms Schoman suggested that the task force begin considering how it will communicate with public about its activities A number of options were identified including • holding one or more precinct meetings • writing articles for the local newspaper • using cable TV • communicating with neighborhood associations and other interested groups such as Citizens for Lexington Conservation (CLC) Mr Spencer will draft a letter that could be sent to inform interested citizens of the task force's activities The task force scheduled three additional meetings • Thursday, July 20th, • Thursday, August 3rd, and • Thursday, August 10th All of the meetings will begin at 8 00 p m. and Mr Eddison will arrange for rooms In the event the entire committee schedules a meeting for one of these weeks, the task force will cancel its meeting The agenda for the July 20th meeting will include brief reports by task force members who agreed to review the material on file at Cary Library and discussion about how the task force should proceed in identifying and reviewing techniques The meeting adjourned at 10 00 p m Respectfully submitted Lisa Baci AFFORDABLE HOUSING OPTIONS COMMIriEb Techniques Task Force August 3, 1989 The meeting was called to order by Chairman William Spencer at 8 10 p.m. in Roan 111 of the Town Office Building Present were Task Force Chairman Spencer, Co-Chairman Jack Eddison, Lisa Baci, Tan Gouzoule, Edmund Grant, Sam Nablo, John Oberteuffer, Sara Schanan, Planning Assistant Zenia Kotvar and guest Ruth Nablo, (Lexington Housing Authority) Chairman Spencer reveiwed the agenda for the meeting and the minutes of the July 20 meeting prepared by John Oberteuffer He then reviewed conversations with Marsha Finnegan of the Lexington Minuteman and publicity concerning the activities of the Committee to inform the townspeople the special Town Meeting has been scheduled for 25 Sept. , to be continued on 27 Sept. if necessary Out committee will be prepared to make a brief report at that meeting The matrix for categorizing techniques and strategies for Affordable Housing was then addressed John Oberteuffer gave a quick review of sane rough cost estimates he had made for providing, say, 500 units over 10 years These numbers were presented to emphasize the fiscal magnitude of the problem before us Jack Eddison reminded the committee of a more realistic goal of 150-170 units over 5 years, with the public sector providing sane 100-120 of these Public sector in this case means town sponsored. The issue of whether section 8 subsidized tenants count against our affordable housing "quota" was discussed with particular attention to Katandin Woods - the town does get credit for these units, indeed for all of the 140 Comprehensive Permit units. Zenia Kotval reported that the study by the Planning Director of sane 40 town owned sites was near completion. The lowered price of units at Emerson Gardens was discussed in the context of available potential housing stock. Home equity conversion as discussed, for example, in the Leviton report, was discussed and considered as impracticable In filling in the techniques matrix, the following subjects were reviewed in sequence. existing stock acquisition and conversion, congregate housing, charitable/ non-profit organization developments, co-operative housing (Pine Grove) and mixed use, tax credit partnerships Sara Schaman reviewed a Brookline EOCD report on a similar "techniques and strategies" matrix which she will obtain for the committee The concept of "concierge housing" in schools and churches as practised in Europe was raised by John' Oberteuffer discussed and added to the list. The issues of housing project management, or how innovative ideas were evaluated or implemented was discussed at length. History has shown that existing teams are essentially pre-occupied by their single projects - Interfaith (Garfield St.) and LexHAB (Muzzey) representing past examples , -2- Input from the financial community is needed - Ed Grant volunteered to approach Lexington Savings and Depositors Trust, with their possible participation in future meetings. The subject of conservation land and town owned land and its possible use for these purposes was discussed. It was agreed that we would lay the groundwork for the treatment of these properties in further discussions with Bob Bowyer and Zenia Kotval Assignments were made to study certain of the subject areas in the matrix. Tom Gouzoule volunteered to give a presentation on modular housing at the next meeting Ed Grant volunteered to review possible zoning by-law changes over the next month. An interview with the board of Pine Grove was proposed by Sara Schoman. Bill Spencer suggested that Sheri Edmonds pursue this Lisa Baci offered to assess the status of funding for the state supported programs The next meeting of the Techniques Committee will be held August 10 at 8 00 p.m. The possibility of deleting the August 24 meeting was discussed. The meeting was adjourned at 10 10 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Sam V Nablo Affordable Housing Options Committee Techniques Task Force August 10 , 1989 The meeting was called to order by Chairman William Spencer at 8 05 PM Present were Jack Eddison, Ed Grant, Joyce Miller , Sara Schoman, Zenia Kotval , Bob Bowyer , Tom Gouzoule, George Cooper , and Bill Spencer Before getting into the first item on the agenda, Reports , Bob Bowyer reminded us that there would be two guest speakers at the August 15 meeting Richard Walker, Mass Housing Partnership, addressing state programs, and Jean Van Orman, a consultant, speaking on techniques which do not depend on state funding Modular Housing Discussion - Tom Gouzoule ( 1 ) Basic Concepts Tom emphasised that modular housing should not be confused with mobile homes For example a 2 story colonial would be assembled at the site from four factory built modules, each of which is limited in size by highway standards He estimates that construction costs of such a house would be about one half that of conventional construction ( exclusive of land, foundation, etc ) $70/sq ft is typical In response to a question about materials , Tom told us that the construction meets all building codes There are many options which may be selected such a cedar siding in place of the standard vinyl ( 2 ) Design Contest - City of Boston ( 3 ) New England Manufacturers ( Literature ) a ) Westville Homes Corp b) Continental Homes c) Epoch Corp Literature , obtained by Tom from the above sources , is available to committee members for study ( 4 ) Plant Visit - Westville Homes , Plaistow, NH a ) Comments b) Photos c ) Literature and Price Lists d) September Lexington Installation A Westville home is scheduled to be assembled in Lexington in September Westville would be happy to have the committee publicize the installation and will Tom date and location Banks - Ed Grant ( 1 ) Community Investment Act The CIA does not appear to be an effective lever for our use Mixed income developments depend on a strong "market rate unit" market before a bank would support a skewed pricing i structure Ed thought that working with a consortium of all of the local banks might be more effective Such an effort might produce a narrowing of the lending rate spread which is usually about 1 4 points Bob Bowyer added that other bank actions include waiving fees or points, holding the mortgage in their own portfolio rather than selling it on the secondary market Ed will continue research The 8/15 meeting is expected to produce more facts Sara will review material Bob has collected focusing on what citizens in other towns are doing Sara will also talk with people at a scattered site co-op in the Berkshires MMVoc - Sara Schoman Sara has spoken with Leo McSweeney He thinks the MMVoc/Rotary model is a good one which might be duplicated on scattered sites Leo will raise the idea at Rotary and both Sara and Leo will speak with the MMVoc superintendant Response to Questions - Bob Bowyer ( 1 ) What is the status of the Planning Office' s study of land potential? Bob handed out a flow chart (handout "A" ) of how the 11 , 892 assessor ' s parcels were being sorted to produce 50 - 100 parcels which will be studied Handout "B" shown the data elements which will be collected to allow the evaluation of each of these parcels The major thing to be learned is the restrictions which dictate possible uses for each parcel Handout "C" shown the kind of report to be prepared for each unencumbered parcel This will include physical characteristics ( 2 ) What is the position on residential units within a commercial zone? If the integration is planned as a unit this is allowed in a Co zone A change in the zoning bylaw would be needed to add residential to an existing commercial zone However , a single custodian' s apartment at a school , commercial property, etc is an allowed use Other Business The August 24 meeting is cancelled because of vacations This meeting adjourned at 10 15 PM William Spencer , Chair and Clerk oft) n AFFORDABLE HOUSING TASK FORCE THE SORTING PROCE TOTAL NUMBER OF PARCELS 11892 ALL TAX EXEMPT PROPERTIES, ( including those in the jurisdiction of churches, counties, various towns, schools, and US Government ) 2821 acres in1060parcels 1 LEXINGTON OWNED TAX EXEMPT PROPERTIES 1868 7 acres in 900 parcels 1 UNDER CONSERVATION JURISDICTIONN LAND NOT UNDER CONSERVATION 1100 4 acres in 462 parcels 768 3 acres in 438 parcels 1 1 PROPERTIES OVER 1 ACRE PROPERTIES UNDER 1 ACRE ( including the 262 (excluding Meagherville) Meagherville sites and 10 7 acres in paper streets ) 754 4 acres in 61 parcels 24 8 acres in 116 parcels L VACANT PROPERTY > 1 ACRE CONFORMING LOTS < 1 ACRE (to be verified for (to be verified for purpose of acquisition purpose of acquisition) and recreation jurisdiction) 730 2 acres in 51 parcels 5 8 acres in 8 parcels 1A r SITE a GENERAL INFORMATION Street No Map/Lot No Owner Acres Square Feet ANALYSIS Site Suitability based on Natural Systems only Slope . ( use topo maps for contours at 2 foot intervals ) Max Min Avg Soils . rock outcrops present? Hydrology standing surface water - brooks or streams - direction of drainage - presence of wetlands - presence of wetlands vegetation - Noise/visual impact Historically or architecturally significant structures and sites on or ad.iacent to the site Access to the site Area Character - surrounding lot size and land use Distance from Schools Distance from Shopping ( specify type ) Availability of Public Trans° Affordable Housing Options Committee Techniques Task Force October 12 , 1989 The meeting was called to order by Chairman William Spencer at 8 15 PM Present were Jack Eddison, Jan Brandin, Sherry Edmonds, Sara Schoman, and Bill Spencer November 30 Meeting Planning for November 30 public meeting The two task forces will continue to communicate via minutes and through the chairs The meeting on Nov 16 will be a joint meeting In this context Jack described recent activities of the Goals Task Force as reported to him by Ellie Klauminzer continuing work on needs assessment , census data, and waiting lists , as well as a meeting with Clergy Association Jack also reported that the Town Manager will have the Engineering Dept help Bob Bowyer as needed on an inventory of Town land and Bob will have at least some information for the Nov 30 meeting In our discussion of the presentation of various techniques on Nov 30 , we set 5 minutes as the maximum for any one technique We took the liberty of assigning some techniques to members who were absent believing that they would be comfortable with these particular assignments Modular homes Tom Gouzoule High density Jack Eddison Buying existing Lisa Baci Donated public land Bob Bowyer State programs Sherry Edmonds/ Bill Spencer Pension fund use Sara Schoman/ Jan Brandin Members will prepare other techniques to be ready to respond to questions Bill Spencer will write letters to members not present asking them to select additional techniques from the list to complete our coverage Final Report Write-ups Jack Eddison has prepared a draft format which was discussed and will be considered further at subsequent meetings I 1 Other Business Meetings are scheduled for October 26 November 9 November 16 ( joint ) November 30 Task Force members should bring their drafts and questions to the 26th and 9th meetings This meeting adjourned at 10 10 PM William Spencer , Chair and Clerk