Eastham Affordable Housing Trust
September 15, 2010
4:00 PM – Small Hearing Room
Trustees attending: Andy Cederbaum, John Knight, Kyle Hinkle, Bill Burt
Also attending: Linda Burt, Leedara Zola, Bailey Boyd Associates, Vicky Goldsmith, Executive Director of Habitat for Humanity Cape Cod and Don Mason. Sarah Reposa, Town Planner
Andy called the meeting to order at 4:00 PM.
The minutes of the August 31st meeting were approved unanimously.
Andy introduced the guests from Habitat for Humanity who were invited to discuss their approach to the use of the land and the size of the homes, and how the recent housing study was used in making decisions.
Vicky explained the Habitat process/factors that led them to recommend 2, 3-bedroom homes. They look at affordability and town preference. They want to be assured that there is a local need. They did reference the housing study. They noted that a good percentage of the people they serve may not be picked up as potential homeowners and this project would meet a part of the town’s goals. The Homeless Prevention Council, headquartered in Orleans serving Eastham and the other 7 lower Cape towns, has statistics that show families needing homes in Eastham have 2 or more children. The families they see tend to want to stay in Eastham. There is a value in the simplicity of 2, 3-bedroom homes that will be buildable if 40B is rescinded in the November election. If more units are attached, they considered the additional administrative costs
involved, such as shared walls, shared septic, etc. These are not sensible for such a small development. There would also be an additional cost involved in adding another unit. The site and location lend itself to the 2 homes configuration. Her point is that they explored a lot of possibilities, the RFP left it up the applicant to decide “what is best” and they came to their conclusion.
Committee members said the Habitat process was not in question. Instead the Roach property is for affordable housing and the size of the lot could serve 3 families, which might be a better use of the land. There was frustration expressed in state guidelines for affordable housing because there is no chance to build equity. Vicky pointed out that the classic model of the “starter home” is not normal for this income level and the deed restriction is the protection.
Vicky next described the way the lotteries for the units work. The goal is to maximize the use of the bedrooms. The need for two and one bedroom is better closer to “town” and 3-bedroom first preference is for a single parent with 2 children.
Don shared Habitat’s 3 homes, 2 bedroom vision and showed plans of typical 1 and 2 bedroom houses. All Habitat houses have full basements. And these will also have a proch. He also showed the placement of houses on the land including duplexes. There is a public access issue right of way (a paper road) in land court that needs to go to the planning board, and make the road that is not a town road now, a town road. This needs to be taken into consideration. Thepoint he made is that we need to meet the needs and that HH is flexible.
First issue: if 40B is eliminated it means that it’s possible this would not meet the existing zoning laws. The law allows for 1 bedroom for every 10K square feet of land. If we went ahead with 3 units, if the 40B is eliminated, we could go back to 2 units. Is it the will of this group that we have the 3, 2’s and is the 40B is elimated we go back to having 2, 3’s?
Don suggested that Habitat be designated the developer for this property and allow them to subdivide the property which could take 6 weeks. By then the vote will be known. Deisgn will not be approached until then.
The Trustees voted unanimously to approve the RFP designating Habitat for Humanity Cape Cod as the developer for this project.
Next steps: A. now that Habitat understand our concerns, are we willing to leave the decision of how many bedrooms per house up to them? B. What will the cost of 3 units be? Vicky mentioned that they will be approaching the CPA committee for some funds – she is planning to ask them for $20K. Andy asked if we could use some of our funds to help with this: Sarah will check on this with Sheila. C. Kyle will invite Chris Austin, executive director of the Homeless Prevention Council to the next meeting to present information about statistics they have.
The next meeting will be Wednesday, October 13th from 4 – 5 PM.
The meeting adjourned at 5 PM.
Respectfully submitted,
S. Kyle Hinkle
Clerk
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