Willington Housing Authority
60 Old Farms Road
Feb. 13, 2012 Meeting Minutes
Present: WHA Chair Robert Campbell; Vice Chair Wilbur Gangaway; Treasurer Claudia D’Agata; member Laurel Millix; member Don Berg, financial consultant David Berto; Board of Selectmen – First Selectman Christina B. Mailhos, Selectman John Blessington, Selectman Richard Littell; Public Works Director Lynn Nicholls; member of the public Kelly Treub; WHA Recording Secretary Brenda Sullivan
Item 1 - A joint workshop with the Board of Selectmen was called to order at 6:01 p.m.
R. Campbell began by outlining the areas where the Board of Selectmen and WHA need to reach agreement. These include the lease line, water and sewer (possibly pro-rated costs), maintenance (what would the town be responsible for, i.e. some snow removal, some mowing), how the property will be taxed (i.e. some form of tax break).
There was discussion about the location of the lease line – noted on a map – which was agreed upon by all present.
R. Campbell noted the parking lot on the lower side of the project is in proximity to the Senior Center lot and that the plan includes extra parking spaces for the benefit of the Senior Center. He said he would like to see the town be responsible for snow plowing the lower level parking area.
L. Nicholls said she was glad to see the islands in the parking areas previously in the plans have been removed. She added that public works currently makes a pass through Willington Woods to open it for emergency vehicles. She said that although the town has cut back on trucks, it probably would still be possible to make a first pass around the looped drive of the new housing. However, she would prefer the WHA has its own contractor for snow removal. W. Gangaway said, for the purposes of dealing with liability, he’d prefer that either the WHA’s contractor or the town do the plowing, not both.
As for mowing, R. Campbell asked if the town might take responsibility for maintaining the recreation area. L. Nicholls said the town already mows a couple times of year. C. Mailhos said this practice should continue. R. Campbell said WHA would be responsible for all mowing of the housing’s green areas. He added the WHA has discussed using the former logging paths as hiking paths, but they would need improvement. He said the WHA could do the initial improvements, but maintaining them might be the town’s responsibility. He also explained that the project’s plan calculates the length of the walking paths as part of the square-footage required under P&Z regulations for recreation area.
R. Campbell also noted that the Senior Center will be hooked up to the project’s septic system which is of benefit to the town.
D. Berto discussed the possibility of a tax agreement between the town and the WHA modeled on one in Tolland (see handout). The proposal calculates $12/month per unit and inflates 3 percent a year per unit – this is a fixed tax payment (versus a fixed assessment). He added that the rate could “float” based on the mill rate. C. Mailhos said, in the past, this has ranged from 18 to 26 mills. She asked what Tolland’s reasoning was for choosing $12/month. D. Berto said it was done by figuring an endpoint (covering costs) and then creating a formula. In Tolland’s case, this would cover costs for 27 units. C. Mailhos said the assessor has three ways to work out the fair market value of the project, but she needs more information, such as the exact square footage.
R. Campbell noted that all of the items discussed will likely have to go to a Town Meeting for a vote. He suggested D. Berto work with the assessor regarding the tax formula, which would then be brought to the Board of Selectmen for approval and then to a Town Meeting.
R. Campbell also raised a concern about poor communication with the town’s Zoning Agent who is expected to be away on medical leave at the end of March. C. Mailhos said she would talk to the agent.
J. Blessington said he’d like to have the Zoning Agent sign off on the plans that there are no outstanding issues, before there is a Town Meeting. R. Campbell noted the PZC did give the site plan approval. D. Berg suggested that remaining conditions (raised by the PZC) might be approved at the agent level. R. Campbell said he was still waiting for a letter itemizing the PZC’s conditions and that the WHA got site approval eight weeks ago. He also noted that during the PZC meeting, he was told the town has a past history of doing things and then coming for a permit – but the WHA has never come before the PZC before.
C. Mailhos said it would take a minimum of two weeks to bring the project to a Town Meeting after the Selectmen have approved the items discussed. She said an attorney will have to write separate motions for each of the items – a $1 lease, the location of the lease line, water at a “fair rate,” assessment, and maintenance.
L. Nicholls noted the locations of geothermal pumps would need to be identified so they are included in the lease agreement.
C. Mailhos noted the lease line will need to avoid the other wells on the property. D. Berto said a map can be created with an overlay that shows the lease line.
To keep things moving, R. Campbell suggested working in parallel – C. Mailhos can work on the assessment questions and having the attorney develop the motions for the Town Meeting while the WHA works on getting the PZC conditions ironed out.
This concluded the joint meeting of the WHA and Board of Selectmen, and the regular WHA meeting continued.
Item 2 – Old Business
D. Berto said he talked with architect R. Crosskey and said the main issue for the WHA is finalizing the mechanism for providing heating and cooling. He discussed the option of a high-efficiency condensing boiler and a propane furnace. He said this is all enclosed so there is no danger of carbon monoxide poisoning, and if the units are well insulated, propane costs could be low. D. Berg noted propane currently is half the price of oil.
There also was discussion about photovoltaic (solar) panels on the roofs and the possibility of generating more electricity than is used by the residents in the summer, and “banked” for use in the winter. With geothermal heating, in theory this could result in virtually no utility costs. Heat would be provided by electrically-driven geothermal pumps, which also could provide cooling in the summer months. But the WHA would have to look at pricing. D. Berto said it could cost $30,000 per system (times 4) to drill wells, plus more than $100,000 to buy solar panels. W. Gangaway noted the WHA has discussed leasing, not buying, the panels. D. Berto said lease costs are probably equivalent to the cost of electricity – the only benefit is that the cost is locked in. He said you can only reach “net
zero” if you own the solar panels.
R. Campbell asked if the plans should show both options, since the WHA doesn’t know now if there might be grant money to cover the costs of the panels, for example.
D. Berto said a pure air-to-air pump is another option, which is more efficient today (you can put 12 zones on a single condenser) and still use photovoltaic panels. He suggested bringing all the options to the PZC, explain the WHA is pursuing funding for each option, and have the PZC approve all of them.
R. Campbell said another option would be to show the site plan without the solar panels and come back for a site plan modification if the WHA does decide to use solar panels. D. Berg said installing solar panels would require a building permit. R. Campbell said there should be maps for all the options, i.e. a map showing well and pipe locations for geothermal, a map showing the solar panels on the roofs. D. Berg said maps should also show the location of propane tanks. R. Campbell added they should also show sprinkler mains. D. Berg said E. Peterson is supposed to have the zoning agent sign off on the (drainage) pipe location.
Discussion followed on tubs versus showers.
R. Campbell suggested ADA-compliant handicap-accessible showers in the ground floor units only and showers with the collapsible “lip” (allowing a wheelchair to be rolled into the shower) in the other units.
L. Millix asked if there would be any storage area for the tenants, and R. Campbell said “no” (except for the usual closets).
Item 3 – New Business
No new business.
Item 4 - Approval of minutes
The WHA approved the minutes for Dec. 12, 2012 with the following corrections:
Line 14 – Dec. 6, 2011
Line 120 – “ducted” split system for cool air
Line 218 – delete the question mark
Line 222 – wording should be “with 60-amp feeders to each apartment with gas stoves”
The WHA also approved the minutes for Nov. 14, 2011 as corrected.
Item 5 – Treasurer’s Report
C. D’Agata reported the balance is the same as it was in January, $5,683.17 .
Item 6 – Correspondence
C. D’Agata said she responded to the request from the U.S. Census Bureau for information for a “Government Units Survey” (OMB No. 0607-0930), which collects information about the basic characteristics of different types of local governments in preparation for the 2012 Census of Governments. She said she sent them the CAFR Report (audit report) on Feb. 2, 2012.
Item 7 – Adjournment
The WHA meeting adjourned at 8:02 p.m.
The next WHA meeting is scheduled for March 12, 2012.
Respectfully submitted, Brenda Sullivan – WHA Recording Secretary
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