 |
Minutes
North Stonington Affordable Housing Committee
September 26, 2013
In Attendance: Mary Ann Ricker, Tim Pelland, Michelle Brophy, Kristen Comstock and Jim Scaramozza
Absent: Tina DuBosque
Guests: Christine Devine, Robert Testa and Juliet Leeming
Location: Wheeler High School Media Center
The meeting was officially called to order by Co-Chairman Tim Pelland at 6:07 PM. By motion, minutes from the August 22, 2013 meeting were reviewed and ratified.
No public comments were made.
Juliet Leeming gave the Committee an update concerning the Plan of Conservation and Development (POCD). Some modifications and changes to the POCD were recently requested by Planning and Zoning (P&Z), in particular and of interest to the Committee to the Housing section of same. Discussions took place amongst the members of the Committee and some of its guests as to the propriety of certain of these requested changes, especially those pertaining to Section 8-30 g of our Connecticut statutes and the treatment of the Wintechog parcel for housing development (and “affordability”) purposes. Further discussion is planned, and Juliet reminded the Committee that on November 7 and 14, respectively, the public hearings regarding the POCD will take place.
Christine Devine (of Local Initiatives Support Corporation) reported to the Committee that she had spoken with Michael Santoro of Department of Housing (DOH, formerly known as the Department of Economic and Community Development) and Michael requested that Mary Ann Ricker call her, specifically about the concept of deed restricting a property, in exchange for tax abatement and have that deed restricted property count toward a town’s 10% statutorily mandated affordability. (UPDATE: On Friday, September 27th, Mary Ann spoke with Michael who confirmed that such an arrangement could be counted against such mandated affordability and that it need not be for 30 years. It can be for two years, if we so chose, but he recommended 5 years. The owner must be income eligible and sales to buyers must
themselves be (or ideally be) income eligible too. Any earlier termination of any such arrangement should have consequences to it. The next step for the Committee will be the preparation of a proposed deed restriction and agreement for review with the appropriate Town officials. Michael even offered to have someone at DOH look at our draft prior to its submission to the Town for its review.)
The Committee then again brought up the recently awarded Predevelopment Grant (to be used for soft costs that may be incurred in respect to preliminary studies and assessments for development of various Town sites for affordability and housing purposes. (UPDATE: Juliet spoke with David Fink of the Partnership for Strong Communities (the Partnership). David indicated that our grant, cobbled together with other similar financial assistance, totaling $500,000 is on the Bond Commission agenda for hopeful approval. If so approved, the Town in due course would be receiving these moneys, with presumably some agreement to be executed between the Town and the appropriate State Agency.)
Lastly, the Committee discussed its continuing efforts to establish a traveling display regarding affordable housing. Mary Ann had recently spoken with the aforementioned David Fink who offered for his Partnership coming down and taping up to 20 people as to (he suggested) a very specific question relative to affordable housing. The concept would involve one’s providing an introduction, leading to videoing of what individuals had written down, on a “white board”, in response to the question and then a summary at the conclusion of the video presentation. The Committee decided that each member should endeavor to propose 3 individuals each as participants in the video. Moreover, the question that the Committee decided, with input from our guests, would be “what does affordable housing look
like to you?” One’s response to this question could be in the form of a narrative or drawing, or both, but the Committee purposely chose to the keep this aspect of the question open to spur flexibility, creativity and choice. Tim Pelland also said he would research his getting video of prior workshops and events sponsored by the Committee to be part of this traveling display.
The next meeting is scheduled for October 24, 2013 at 6:00 p.m. at Wheeler High School Media Center.
With no further action items in which to discuss, a motion for the meeting’s adjournment was made and seconded and thereafter approved. Accordingly, the meeting was adjourned by our co-chair Tim Pelland at approximately 7:44 pm.
Respectfully Submitted,
James Scaramozza
Recording Secretary
| |
