Lenox Affordable Housing Committee
October 22, 2007
Minutes
Members present: Dave Klausemeyer (DK), Chair, Patty Quinn(PQ), Roscoe Sandlin(RS) and Kate McNulty-Vaughan(KV), Theresa Ahrens(TA), Jo Anne Magee(JM), and Olga Weiss(OW).
Also in attendance: Deborah Burke(DB), Trinity Church Representative and Mary Albertson(MA), Town Planner.
DK opened the meeting at 5:00 PM. Members reviewed the minutes and offered corrections. Members voted unanimously to approve the minutes with corrections.
DK informed the committee that on October 21, 2007 he attended the Berkshire – Taconic Community Foundation presentation on changing demographics in the Berkshires. This region is changing. Residents are aging and the youth are leaving. The immigrant population is increasing. Latinos make up 47% of the immigrant population and they average 2.3 jobs per person. DB works with the Literacy Program and she confirmed this trend. DK said that the presentation will be available on the Berkshire-Taconic Community Foundation website.
The sub-committee members offered a report regarding their work on preparing the plan. They have met three times to work on the plan. They prepared two handouts - suggested decision making process and deliverables. TA prepared a toolkit for the project and the committee can replicate the Bolton information. OW noted that we are between the 2000 and 2010 census and we are closer to 2010. RS said that there is a local town census that we can use to update the 2000 census information.
Discussion ensued regarding the effect that second homeowners have on the census information. DK referenced information from Berkshire – Taconic presentation regarding the collection of census information. The census is conducted in April – if it were conducted in August the population of the Berkshires would be very different.
There was a discussion of Lenox as a resort community versus Lenox as a suburban bedroom community.
The sub-committee recommended that work continue with the state to determine if the town is eligible to count housing units for employee housing at Shakespeare and Canyon Ranch. Nantucket was able to count employee housing provided by the hospital. MA received an email from the Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) stating that they are reviewing employee housing and forwarded our questions to their housing attorney. MA also suggested that the town apply to the Peer to Peer program. Members agreed the Peer to Peer program would be helpful.
The members discussed the development of new affordable units and suggested that the following properties might be appropriate: Winstanley property on Main Street, Bartoni property on the corner of Housatonic & Route 7&20, Craft Institute on Yokum Avenue, former Calagari property on Housatonic and the old nursing home facility on Sunset Drive. Members also discussed the potential for affordable units at Aspinwell (David Case). It was noted that Trinity Church is moving forward with its project.
Members discussed comparing Lenox to other communities. KV suggested that the Department of Revenue (DOR) has a program to determine similar communities. MA and KV will try to find the DOR program and report back to the committee.
DK suggested it was time to wrap-up the meeting. He suggested that there are two themes from our discussion this evening. First, preparing a plan that meets the planned production requirements. Second, preparing a plan that will be a good working document for the town.
RS suggested the Berkshire Regional Planning Commission (BRPC) prepared a build-out plan that would address issues such as water and sewer capacity. KV suggested that everyone read the Affordable Housing Guidebook for Legislators prepared by the Citizens’ Housing and Planning Association (www.chapa.org). The sub-committee will continue to work on the plan. OW & MA will review the build-out plan and report back to the committee at the next meeting.
Under new business DK discussed a letter he received from the Southern Berkshire CDC. The other members said they received the same letter. RS asked if the town should have its own CDC or should the town work with the Southern Berkshire CDC. KV suggested that there is also the Hill Town CDC. DK offered to meet with Tim Geller of the Southern Berkshire CDC and KV will meet with a representative of the Hill Town CDC.
Members discussed future meeting dates. Members agreed on November 12 and December 10. KV asked if the meeting could start at 5:15 PM instead of 5:00 PM because she does not get off work until 5:00 PM. Members agreed the meetings would start at 5:15 PM.
Meeting adjourned at 6:50 PM
Respectfully Submitted,
Mary Albertson, Town Planner
Approved:
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