Public Meeting
10:00 a.m.
Members
Present: Arturo Alon, Cindy Bowes, and Tim
Hazel
Members
Absent: Scott Campbell and
Teri Nezbeth (both excused)
Eileen
Kennedy (unexcused absence)
Meeting Agenda
The meeting was called to order at 10:05 a.m.
Discussion
with Keith Bergman, Town Manager on Growth Management
Bylaw
Keith Bergman began the meeting by explaining the affordable
housing allotment. The initial
allotment in the Growth Management Reallocation of Saved Gallons Per Day (GPDs)
excerpt was subsequently amended. This
wound up creating three categories. The
categories are: 1a – Affordable, 1b – Median, and 1c Middle. Now, according to Mr. Bergman there are
inequities in some of the categories.
David Nicolau asked a question relating to Section
660 Growth Limitation Goal Allocations. Under #1 there seemed to be confusion regarding “Thereafter, all
unassigned gallonage remaining at the end of each calendar year for General Use
Categories 1, 3, and 4 shall be allotted for assignment in the next calendar
year for Use Category 1.” David asked
for clarification and felt this section needed to be amended. He asked, “Where do unallocated gallons
go? 1, 2, and/or 3? Is it reasonable to allocate any unused
amounts for that formula?”
Keith said that the Town has a huge reservoir of the 1a
category and something has to be done about it. He suggested using proportionality.
Warren Alexander said that the intent of the by-law is
there. A simple mistake was made but
the intent is there.
Keith Bergman said the larger issue is that the public
interest would be served by creating opportunities in other categories. He suggested simply directing the overage
into 1b and 1c. Then every year the
allocation could be revisited to see if it is necessary. He then went on mightily asking if we might
want to amend the zoning by-law now? – Do we want to allocate using a different
formula? – and a few other pertinent questions which were thrown out for
thoughtful contemplation.
Warren will update the group. He also said that “We do have a project coming in for a 50%
basis. We need to stay with this by-law
for awhile.”
Tim Hazel said we originally started with 50% BUT the median
income in town is not the state income.
His concern is that people will start leaning in the direction of median
income property if the 1a is left off the plans.
KAB made yet other point that there continues to be grant
fund opportunities, which target 1a.
Another thought – if we want to find an appropriate way – maybe a
developer could change the percentages?
Keith continued, “It would mean another amendment and now that we have
the certainty of the CPA, we have many options. At the same time we have the ability to test market forces. “
Warren said, “We should look at the water use, too. We want to create a viable economy.”
Keith also suggested that the Local Housing Partnership
might want to look into Ted Malone’s idea with some of the mixed use
developments downtown. Sewer
connections were hooked up for retail use but these are no longer in that
category. If you have a property hooked
up to the sewer – if we would allow the increase – we would have the mechanism
to address this – as in public services uses.
He mentioned the PAAM as an example, but they have refused to have
public bathroom signs.
Tim Hazel had questions regarding coordination of the effort
discussed. “We never got a housing
specialist. Now there are three
entities overseeing all this – what is the coordination?”
The answer was that Keith Bergman is having this discussion
along with his counterparts. “Who
qualifies for CPA exemptions.” He has
also been discussing this issue with the Lower Cape Community Development
Commission and they see no reason that there should be 15 different entities to
do the record keeping. For example, we
can have one group do the income verification portion – maybe by outsourcing.
It was also wondered - what’s the possible level of service
that we can purchase from the Cape Cod Commission? He promised that within the next few weeks we’ll all get together
to talk about sub-contracting. The best
option would be to find a contractor who can handle certain facets of the
record keeping. Michelle Jarusiewicz
will become the affordable housing specialist and her salary will be funded by
the CPA. The Board of Selectmen has
asked KAB to institute a full time Assistant Town Manager and he said there are
three pots of money he can access to fund this goal.
By Keith’s admission, there are several balls he’s bouncing
in the air at this time.
1. Housing consulting services.
2. Wastewater Phase 2 plan
3. Helping W&S Board define phase 2 of sewer.
On October 1st there will be an affordable
housing summit. Technical advice is
site specific.
Tim Hazel then asked, “Can we see a plan by the end of the
year (2004)?” The answer was, “Yes.”
Ken Weiss and David Nicolau then asked questions that had
already been addressed. They were told
that the Local Housing Partnership are the gate keepers for category 1 and they
may want to revisit the formula.
At this time (10:45 a.m.) the LHP lost its quorum (Cindy had
to leave for a previously made appointment) and the rest of the agenda was
tabled.
48-60 Race
Point Road Realty Trust, Ken Weiss, Trustee, Pricing of three affordable
housing units
Update on
Affordable Housing Projects
Minutes
Election
of Officers
Any other
business that shall properly come before the board
The meeting was adjourned at 10:45 a.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Evelyn Rogers Gaudiano
Approved by
________________________________________________on____________ Arturo Alon, Chairman