Community Housing Council

Caucus Hall

September 24, 2007

4:30 p.m.

 

 

Members Present:         A.J. Alon, Elaine Anderson, Catherine Reno Brouillet,

Joe Carleo, William Dougal (arr 4:35 p),

and Molly Perdue.

         

Members absent:          none

 

Staff:                              Maxine Notaro (arr. 4:45 p)

 

 

Meeting Agenda

 

Review of Minutes

Motion:  Approve the minutes of the September 17, 2007 meeting.

Motion:  A.J. Alon     Seconded:  Elaine Anderson     Vote:  5-0-0.

 

Public Statements

There were none.

 

Affordable Housing Proposals

The main proposal discussed was the Herring Cove Village.  There was a great deal of discussion and the final conclusion was:

 

The Provincetown Community Housing Council (PCHC) proposal was a Policy Statement issued from the PCHC.  Bill Dougal will rewrite the policy statement taking everyone’s comments into consideration and will fax his rewrite to Joe Carleo who will then fax it to members of the Council for their approval or input. 

 

Molly P. had an interesting, insightful comment:  the Planning Board has bylaws to govern things and the Zoning Board interprets them.  What Molly suggested is that the PCHC put out an educational pamphlet to inform people about where the PCHC is coming from and what they are trying to accomplish.  This would help to put affordable housing on the front burner and would establish criteria that would relate to the “needs assessment” that was prepared by John Ryan, the Housing Guru that the Town engaged as a consultant.

 

It was further decided that any project should be looked at as a community need and, as Molly suggested, refer to the “needs assessment” to define any decisions we make. 

 

Bill said that we should have two documents:  one a policy statement and the other one should consider a specific project, thus, any decision should be accompanied by two documents.

 

Any other business

It was decided that at the upcoming meeting with Herring Cove Condominiums on October 9th at 8:00 a.m. – they will be given the decision of the PCHC.  It should be a short meeting (no more than 1 hr.) with no more discussion – just the final decision and that’s it. 

 

Bill also wants to make sure that this community housing plan is part of the Planning Board’s consideration.  Also the PCHC should encourage the ZBA’s, BoH’s, ConCom’s consideration of the PCHC in any decision they make.  Molly said that     

perhaps we could visit Zoning and have copies to hand out as an educational prospective in order to give them an opportunity to get on board.  We need to educate people on what the need is and if there is no reference to Community Housing Plan – then there could be gray areas of interpretation.

 

The bottom line seems to be that Planning writes the bylaws and Zoning interprets them.  Legally the PCHC is just like another member of the public – asking for consideration. 

 

Maxine made a valuable suggestion when she said that what you might want to do is to    familiarize yourself with Planning’s bylaws.  Then if they ask you for your opinion on where you would like changes, you will be prepared to make suggestions to them. 

 

Bill Dougal suggested that we should look at Water and Sewer Board regulations as well as the Board of Health. 

 

Updates from Joe Carleo, Chair.

Joe Carleo and A.J. Alon will sit in on the interviews for the Housing Director’s position on Friday, September 28th at 2:00p.m. and again on Monday, October 1st at 3:00 p.m.

 

Also the “Request for Proposal” (RFP) for the Shankpainter project is very close to completion and we can soon have a discussion on this.

 

John Ryan  has sent in something – perhaps a position statement.  Molly wants to know how much we have paid him to date and she feels that we should be tracking the   $25K. 

 

A.J. said that there’s another TAP grant application due and the deadline is Thursday.     John Ryan may have the original submission and maybe it just needs updating.  We may be able to resubmit it.  Joe Carleo would like to know why we’re being notified two or three days before the renewal is due? 

 

Bill Dougal, always the voice of caution, said that we have to have a very good idea of the duties and responsibilities for the new Housing Director.  “We have to be crystal clear!”   The person selected has to have the ability to be comfortable with the public and to exude confidence in his knowledge about what needs to be done. 

 

Adjournment – by popular vote – happened at 5:30 p.m.

 

Respectfully submitted,

Evelyn Gaudiano

E. Rogers Gaudiano

 

Approved by _____________________________ on ____________, 2007.

                   Joe Carleo,  Chair