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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2025-02-13-AHTBT-min Affordable Housing Trust Meeting Minutes of February 13, 2025 12:30 pm Hybrid meeting on Zoom and attended in-person in the Estabrook Hall, Cary Memorial Building Affordable Housing Trust Board Members present: Elaine Tung, Chair; William Erickson, Mark Sandeen, Linda Prosnitz, Tiffany Payne Staff present: Carol Kowalski, Assistant Town Manager for Development; Liz Rust, RHSO Director; Ragi Ramachandran, Administrative Assistant. Ms. Tung chaired the hybrid meeting and called the meeting to order at 12:35 pm. 1. Approve Meeting Minutes The meeting minutes approval was postponed to next meeting. 2. Chair, Select Board, Board/Committee Liaison and RHSO/staff report Ms. Rust stated that a final draft of the Housing needs Assessment will be shared with the Trustees for their review and feedback. Ms. Tung reported that on February 11, 2025, she attended a meeting of the Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC). Ms. Rust stated that at the meeting there was a proposal to set aside some of their funds to create an opportunity for Affordable Housing Trusts for the membership Towns in the area to meet 5 times a year to share strategies and success stories. Ms. Tung added that MAPC will be writing a white paper regarding the Community Preservation Act funds received and the percentage of funds allocated to housing and details on how the housing funds are spent. Ms. Tung also stated that the Council was also planning to set up a local option transfer fee advocacy to aid Affordable Housing Trusts to advocate for local option. Ms. Tung also reported on the Housing Partnership Board meeting she attended and stated that the Board drafted a statement for Article 2. Ms. Rust shared details of West Metro Home Consortium’s fair housing discrimination testing and stated that she will be sharing the report with the Trustees shortly. Ms. Rust added that the report will provide recommendations and will be very informative. Ms. Kowalski shared that the Housing Needs Assessment will help the community with future housing, goal setting and planning. Ms. Tung stated that she has reached out to the Select Board Chair and the Town Manager for having a housing roundtable with all the stakeholders, sometime in summer, to reiterate the importance of affordable housing and to continue to make it a funding priority. Ms. Tung informed the Trustees that she has submitted her question card regarding affordable housing to the League of Women Voters Candidate Forum to be held on the night of February 13, 2025. Ms. Tung shared that she attended the Planning Board Meeting on February 12th and stated that the Planning Board discussed revisions to the Special Residential Development Inclusionary Zone and shared the updates with the Trustees. Ms. Rust provided clarifications to Trustees regarding the process and the implications of the proposed revisions. 3. Commercial Linkage Fee Ms. Kowalski informed the Trustees that the Commercial Linkage Fee was signed by the Governor in January and that it specified that the need for a study to be done within a year to determine the appropriate contribution from the commercial developers and that she was working on getting the study done. 4. Special Town Meeting Warrant Article 2 The Trustees discussed the guidelines of the statement on how the Article 2 impacts the affordable housing in Town. They unanimously agreed that more housing gives more choices and the ability to create some affordable housing too. The Trust also agreed that the focus should be on policies that balance smart growth and affordability that support diverse housing options rather than rolling back zoning policies. 5. Lowell Street Parcel 68-44 Ms. Tung shared that a support letter was requested from the Trust and informed that Causeway Development was planning to hold a community meeting on March 6, 2025 to meet with members of the community. There was discussion on the community engagement for the meeting. 6. Resident Support Programs This topic was tabled for an upcoming meeting due to time constraints. 7. Adjourn Mr. Sandeen requested a motion to adjourn the Affordable Housing Trust meeting. Ms. Prosnitz moved. Mr. Erickson seconded. The Trustees voted in favor of the motion 4-0- 0, by a roll call vote (Sandeen – yes, Prosnitz – yes, Payne – yes, Erickson – yes.). The meeting adjourned at 2:39 pm.