TOWN OF
COMMUNITY PRESERVATION COMMITTEE
Chairman Elaine Anderson convened
the meeting at
Members present: Elaine Anderson, Chairman; Mona Anderson, Vice Chairman; A.J. Alon: Austin Knight; Stephen Milkewicz; Molly Perdue
Absent Member: Bill Dougal
Recorder: Cynthia Curran
The following are meeting minutes, in
brief:
PROPOSAL REVIEW
Proposal 200702
[A.J. Alon recused himself.]
Geraldine Anathan said they do not have a letter from the bank yet, but should have it before Town Meeting. She said they are not able to do rental units, but thought that there was also a need for ownership units. Ted Malone was present on behalf of the applicants. He said that there is a waiting list of people interested in buying affordable housing. Mr. Malone said that there would be a lottery to choose who would purchase the units. 70% of the units would be for local residents and 30% would be open to both local and non-local people. Elaine Anderson went through the letters of support for the project, noting the names and reading some of them. There was also a letter of interest from Seamen’s Bank. Michelle Couture stated her support for the project. She noted that it was a renovation of an existing structure. The applicants presented their proposed budget. They are planning on a 20% profit. They are going to build as ”green” as possible. Geraldine Anathan asked how the funds would be distributed to them. Elaine Anderson said that if the Town Meeting approves the funding, the applicants will submit requests for reimbursements for actual costs. Ted Malone asked if acquisition costs could be paid for with CPA funds. This could reduce mortgage costs and therefore the overall costs. This would need to be checked out with the legal department. The CPC thought that they would prefer to release funds as the project is built, because there is always a risk that the project would not be completed. After more discussion a motion to approve the application was made.
MOTION: Move to request $732,000.00 ($61,000.00 per unit) for up to twelve affordable housing ownership units as specified in Application 200702 from Cassandra Benson and Geraldine Anathan, with contingencies.
Motion by: Austin Knight Seconded by: Molly Perdue Yea 5 Nay 0 Abstain 1
(A.J.A. recused)
[At
The CPC discussed ways to bring money back to the CPC. They discussed asking the developers to
return a percentage of their profits to the CPA fund for affordable
housing. Some members noted that the
Town was not only giving the developers a grant, but also paying the interest
on that amount. Others felt that 20% was
a very limited profit to begin with and developers needed incentive to build
affordable housing. Because of the warrant-closing
deadline, the Committee felt they could only present the request with
contingencies. Some of these were: a commitment from a bank for financing;
$70,000.00 will be held in escrow for Title 5 costs; the CPC would receive
regular project updates; a payment schedule would be set up so the developers
would be reimbursed over time; the project was reviewed by all Town boards and
passed all regulatory requirements. The
CPC also wanted to make sure that if the project should cost less than expected
or the developers received other grants, money would come back to the CPC. Because they are giving them about 33% of the
costs, they thought that 33% of any profit above 20% should be returned to the
CPC fund. Geraldine Anathan agreed that
this seemed reasonable. Austin Knight
suggested asking Keith Bergman if the condition of putting $70,000 in escrow
for Title 5 costs had to be stated in the warrant article. Elaine Anderson said she would speak with Mr.
Bergman about the wording for the warrant.
Elaine Anderson raised the question of whether the CPC should request
funding for consultants if needed. The
CPC has had funds available in the past, but they have all been spent. After some discussion it was decided that the
Committee could rely on John Ryan and the new Housing Office in the future.
Stephen Milkewicz said that he had spoken to someone at Outer Cape
Health about the possibility of their relocating to the
MOTION: Move to approve the minutes of the
Motion by: A.J. Alon Seconded by:
Molly Perdue Yea 5 Nay 0
MOTION:
Move to adjourn the meeting at
Motion by: A.J. Alon Seconded by: Molly Perdue Yea 5 Nay 0
The meeting was adjourned at