44 Harry kemp Way
Provincetown, Massachusetts
02657
Tel: 508) 487-0434
Fax: 508) 487-2262
Provincetown Housing Authority
And
Provincetown Local Housing Partnership
Judge Welsh Hearing Room
September 22, 2006
9:00 a.m.
LHP
Members present: Arturo Alon,
Scott Campbell, Tim Hazel, Melissa Jones,
and Noah Taylor.
PHA
Members present: George Bryant,
Pam Parmakian, and Molly Perdue.
PHA
Members absent: Nancy Jacobsen
and Harry Opsahl-Gee (both excused)
Others: Michelle Couture, Bryan Greene, Ted Malone, Patrick
Manning, Maxine Notaro and Doug Taylor
The
LHP meeting was called to order by Arturo Alon at 9:05 a.m.
The
PHA meeting was called to order by Pam Parmakian at 9:07
He
then asked about the condo conversion by-law and where do we want to go with
that? In 1983 Chapter 527 - AN ACT ENABLING CITIES AND TOWNS TO REGULATE THE
CONVERSION OF RESIDENTIAL PROPERTY TO THE CONDOMINIUM FORMS OF OWNERSHIP was
passed.
Doug
Taylor handed out a draft of a condominium conversion by-law that he's been
working on for the Special Town Meeting in November 2006. Section 1 has to do with Notices to
displaced tenants and Section II (entitled Conversion) had restrictions i.e.
10% has to be affordable, 15% has to be available to median income folks, and
20% for the middle income group. MA law
already has rules about notices.
Patrick Manning said that the
state already has rules for conversion.
Doug said the purpose of this proposed by-law is to hold developers to
some affordable housing for conversions.
Ted
Malone said – if we would notify – should we require notices for the tenants of
saleable property? Doug thought that
we can put 2 years on that.
MAssachusetts says one year is necessary but two years is not thought to
be without merit. Ted wants people to
be notified – with a time-period.
George
Bryant thought that the consequence will be that there will no leases. He also asked the eternal question "who
will monitor this? We have so many
rules and WHO monitors this?" There
was no ready answer because there is no monitor.
Michelle
Couture said what we talked about last week was to have some kind of by-laws
regarding commercial conversions. Say a
12 month moratorium and then it will give you ample time to craft a by-law. Ryan was asked for an opinion at yesterday's
conference. He said you really have to
base it on something. MC said that if
the BoS weighs in on it, she would support a moratorium of 1 year on
conversions. This whole amendment
process is scheduled to end by December 7th (Pearl Harbor Day!)
AJ
said that the flip side – is – that it has to be feasible for developers and we
don’t want to turn them off. It’s also
important to encourage developers. M.C.
said they’re too open-ended and she continued plugging away for no condo
conversions.
Ted
Malone said we should be talking about it as a change of use.
Doug
agreed and said that change of use – would definitely be one way to go.
Molly
said we already have 40B – and Ted could answer this better. What’s the number that someone can do this
and still make a profit? Problem with a
moratorium means no affordable units can be built. What if we have a change of use a 20-25% affordable requisite?
Patrick
said that you’re not getting any affordable from condo conversions now so a
moratorium doesn’t help.
Doug,
referring to the potential hemorrhaging of motel units, said the change of use
would help – and a moratorium would help for a year. If we blow this and it gets shot down – we don’t have another
chance.
Tim
Hazel said that if we get something on the books after this moratorium, then
we’ll be in the driver’s seat.
Pam
cited a California law for assessing purposes.
Doug said that maybe we should put this into our Zoning by-laws?
George
Bryant said this is all nice and interesting but it’s not something that the
PHA should be getting into. The housing
authority hasn’t done what it should have done anyway. We’ve been waiting a month for the Town
Manager to even assemble this.
Doug
said it's a good thing to get these two groups together.
Patrick
said the PHA should get into this. We
are involved in the community and we can support articles. Tim agreed saying that if we set this up –
there may come a time when the PHA can buy properties.
Molly
said that we’re looking for a different type of property acquisition.
Doug
had a thought!!! Why not ask people to
donate their property?
Ted
said if we could tweak the by-law in November
there was an issue of conversion that was addressed. There was one phrase – for the “creation of
a new residential unit.” Once it used
to be that you had to have 3 bedrooms to convert – now a 1 bedroom
qualifies. This would be one way to test
the waters.
AJ
said we should start planning on what we’re going to do now.
Michelle
C said if she can’t get any feedback – she doesn’t think there’s time. She’ll run it by KAB.
Motion:
The Local Housing Partnership will request the BoS to support a 12 month
moratoriium on condo conversions.
Motion:
Tim Hazel Seconded: Arturo Alon Vote: 5-0-0.
As
soon as the motion was made Michele Couture left to discuss the matter with
Keith Bergman.
Molly
is not ready to give up on this. She is
not completely wed to this idea.
Tim
Hazel wondered if we can get a change of use – on top of this, it would be
great.
Molly
wants to look at a moratorium, a transfer fee, and a change of use. All three.
George
said we’ve had moratoriums before and nothing has changed. Two huge hotels were changed about 20 years
ago. The Building Department did
absolutely nothing and the same people who did that will do it again.
AJ
is in support of a 2% transfer fee. Pam
would support a 1%. This would be the
way to get it to pass. Tim said that
Martha’s Vineyard has a 3% transfer
tax. Maxine suggested starting it at 3% and keep amending it down to 1%
if necessary.
The
PHA adjourned their meeting at 9:50 a.m.
Respectfully
submitted,
Evelyn Gaudiano