Minutes
North Stonington Affordable Housing Committee
January 23, 2014
In Attendance: Tim Pelland, Mary Ann Ricker, Kristen Comstock, Michelle Brophy, Tina DuBosque and Jim Scaramozza
Absent: None
Guests: Juliet Leeming
Location: Wheeler High School Media Center
Meeting was called to order by Co-Chairman Mary Ann Ricker at 6:10 PM. By motion, minutes from the December 19, 2013 meeting were reviewed and ratified.
No public comments were made.
Mary Ann Ricker discussed her, along with other Committee members, meeting again with the First Selectman concerning the Town’s issuing Requests for Proposals (RFP) with respect to the Small Cities Community Development Block Grant program that would likely fund the housing rehab program. Juliet Leeming indicated that she would follow up on the issuance of a RFP for the pre-development loan (relative to pre-development costs that would be incurred for identifying sites in our Town for such potential pre-development purposes).
There were no updates on Meadowcourt or when the next WPCA meeting may take place concerning this particular project.
Mary Ann also discussed her having recently attended a meeting of the Council of Governments/Housing Forum, where she spoke with David Fink of the Partnership for Strong Communities. David and Mary Ann discussed the proposed “white board” to comprise at least one aspect of a traveling display concerning affordable housing.
The majority of the Committee’s time consequently centered around discussing this white board concept and potential questions that would be posed to interviewees. The members also exchanged the names of potential interviewees and committed to follow up with them to gauge both interest and availability. Further, Tim Pelland offered to arrange for Comcast to either tape or assist in the taping of live interviews, in which question(s) would be posed relative to affordable housing too (at the same time of the white board question and answer format). The Committee then proposed (and Mary Ann was able to secure these dates thereafter) that potential interviewees meet with those Committee members that are available on Wednesday, February 12th at 6 p.m. and Saturday, February 15th at 10 a.m. (each
meeting to take place at the Wheeler High School Media Center)-- with the actual event to occur on Saturday, March 1st at 10 a.m. (at that same location as the other sessions).
The Committee elected to postpone any further discussion of deed restrictions in exchange for tax relief, given what it presently has on its agenda and what are fairly critical action items over the next few months.
However, some additional time and discussion took place concerning how the Committee might assist the Board of Selectmen (BOS) in moving forward on various projects and in respect to the development of affordable housing in general. Some thought formally inviting the BOS might be a good idea, recognizing, however, that these are public meetings and members of the BOS and any other person are welcome to attend. Some observations were made concerning the grant application itself and how at the appropriate time much attention and thought would be needed to be paid as to completion (once a grant was awarded or made otherwise available).
The next meeting is scheduled for February 27, 2014 at 6:00 p.m. at Wheeler High School Media Center.
This meeting was dismissed at approximately 7:35 p.m.
Respectfully Submitted,
James Scaramozza
Recording Secretary
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