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HomeMy Public PortalAboutMinutes - MURA - 2005-06-21City of McCall Urban Renewal Agency Minutes 6/21/05 City of McCall Urban Renewal Agency Meeting Minutes June 21, 2005 Call to Order The meeting was called to order at 8:05 AM. Present were Rick Fereday, Scott Findlay, John Watkins, Bonnie Bertram and Fred Drake. Absent was Jerry Greer. There is one vacancy. Review and Approval of Minutes There were no Minutes for approval. New Business New Project at 1604 Davis and its relationship to URA land. The applicant is Shawn Harriman. This is an apartment complex. The CUP was approved at the last P & Z meeting. The question here is how does this relate to the UR piece, which was purchased for another purpose. Mr. Millar had asked Shawn if he would be willing to explore a relationship with Urban Renewal for affordable housing. We might be able to work together. Mr. Harriman explained how some of the government funding programs work. Section 42 money is too competitive. This is the HUD program which took over Section 8, which was for low income housing. D2-21 is an easier process. You can get a HUD loan for 40 years for apartments, and usually at 2 points lower. Ms. Bertram asked if cities can apply for this. Mr. Harriman explained that non-profit housing authorities do help cities and it would be prudent for the City to look into this. Concerning this piece of property, the front of the lot is really good; about halfway back, it gets really wet. Mr. Fereday stated he would like to see a site plan. Mr. Millar said that as far as getting federal dollars, there is time involved to make it happen. He further explained that comparatives now show that people with 50% — 80% median income qualify for housing assistance. We need housing that aims at 100% to 200% of median income. -1- City of McCall Urban Renewal Agency Minutes 6/21/05 Ms. Bertram suggested we need to find a bigger piece of property. Mr. Fereday asked Mr. Harriman how many units he was planning to put in. The plans are for 2500 SF apartments, with a total of 29 units. These will be built as apartments and later converted to condominiums. A discussion followed concerning how many units can fit on this lot. Ms. Bertram stated there is access through this property, and thought that Steve Benad had been told he could have access for Graystone Village — a permanent, 20' wide access for pedestrians and emergency access. Mr. Harriman stated he wants to put 3-4 affordable units on the front of the property with direct access on to Davis, as long as he can get easements and setbacks he is requesting. Mr. Fereday asked if he was willing to donate to this project. Mr. Harriman said he would be happy to come in there and build it. If he can get the right things, he will build it for cost. He is waiting for the City to approve his CUP and get his building permit in order to move forward with his project. Mr. Millar said he would like to keep it simple. We could get a developer to develop it at cost. URA could sell it at an affordable rate with some requirements that owners be employees in the community. It's an opportunity for us. Mr. Fereday discussed how much room there is on the lot with a 20' road. What is the overall density we can put on that site? It looks like 2 to 4 units could fit. Mr. Millar agreed that our housing does need assessment. There is an effort on the way, scheduled for June 27th. The County will open proposals from different entities. There is a meeting here on Saturday and at Valley County on Monday. Mr. Findlay stated if we sold this, it would be at a discounted rate. Mr. Harriman said that tax credits are very competitive and very difficult to get. Mr. Harriman suggested contacting Fred Cornforth in Caldwell, a non-profit. The non -profits are cheaper and they will get more points when they go in with the application. Mr. Findlay stated that for -profit developers would give higher quality. Mr. Harriman said that with a Section 42, you will get more T-111.You will spend more money on attorneys to get through the HUD projects. Mr. Harriman was asked about the cost per square foot; he replied it would be over $100 per square foot. -2- City of McCall Urban Renewal Agency Minutes 6/21/05 The question was asked about the size of the property; it is 327' deep on the north side and 100' wide, about 3/4 acre. The underlying density is for 5 or 6 units. Mr. Harriman asked if the emergency access can be used as a driveway going in to the property. Mr. Findlay said that people could go from here and cut through into town. Ms. Bertram stated she is a proponent of small housing mixed in with the nicer ones, and make the area look nice. The outside would like the same, but the inside would not be as plush. Mr. Fereday asked about sidewalks. Mr. Millar replied there are still some things to work on. Mr. Fereday asked if the project can be reconfigured. Mr. Harriman said it would work at this point. The work will be done in 3 phases. We would like to get started on units for you and get the foundations in before winter time. Mr. Millar stated that Mr. Harriman cannot do a subdivision, but he can do apartments of single family dwellings on this land. Mr. Fereday said he is definitely interested in backing this if it can work. Mr. Findlay said he does not want to spend money on site plans and then not be able to do the project. He would like to see a site plan within a month, showing how we can get this done. Do we have to have another $20,000 in fees to convert them to individual units? And who will pay for this? Mr. Fereday suggested the possibility of doing the project next year; Ms. Bertram said we need something now. Mr. Millar said we can work up a plan. Mr. Findlay suggested meeting more than once a month, and Mr. Millar said we could arrange more meetings with the Commission. Mr. Millar further explained the comparatives for housing and income. There is a lot of demand for homes in the $150,000 - $300,000 range, for families with incomes from $37,000 to $40,000. An income of $80,000 can get a loan of $300,000. The mean cost of a home in McCall is shown as $300,000, but should probably be $500,000. A median income of 250% is required for this. Mr. Harriman also suggested meeting with Dave Ferguson and Kathy Grotto of Hailey, who have already been dealing with the housing situation in their area. - 3 - City of McCall Urban Renewal Agency Minutes 6/21/05 Ms. Bertram stated she would like to see affordable housing scattered throughout the community. Mr. Millar explained that the new nuisance ordinance is in place and is already making a different. We have a position open for a code enforcer officer, and this is also in the budget. Mr. Fereday asked Mr. Harriman if he would take on the site study with his own dollars if need be; Mr. Harriman said he would if it was necessary. After the moratorium is over, 1/4 of the project would be required to be affordable housing. Mr. Findlay moved that we enter into negotiations with Mr. Harriman to design a site plan; Urban Renewal will contribute 50% of the cost, up to a maximum of $2,500, for the site plan design. Ms. Bertram seconded the motion. All voted aye. The motion passed. Zoning and Subdivision Code Rewrite Advisory Committee Mr. Findlay volunteered to be a participant on this committee. Update of the URA Plan Mr. Millar stated that our plan is to get a City Engineer on board as quickly as possible. We want to have the design charette in July. We have chosen CH2M Hill as our City Engineer, and if they are approved by Council on Thursday night, they will be ready to start on Friday. What do you want as far as product of scope of services? What are you looking at? The response was to meet with them as soon as possible. The principal designer will be here the first week of July. Let's schedule an Urban Renewal meeting with her. The preference was to keep this meeting for just Urban Renewal, and not include the McCall Improvement Meeting at this time. The question was asked if the UR boundary can be changed. The boundary cannot be changed; however, new districts can be formed. If the Mayor signs the contract with CH2M Hill, we will meet with Mandy on Wednesday or Thursday of next week; we'll schedule the meeting for 8 — 10 AM. Reports May Financial Statement — This item was not discussed. EDA Grant Status. -4- City of McCall Urban Renewal Agency Minutes 6/21/05 This is in relation to the conference center proposed by David Kerry, with Hotel McCall. We could use $30,000 for a market study. The City's part would be the market study and a parking study. There definitely seems to be a need for a conference center here. The plan for the conference center is to hold 80 — 100 people for dinner; should we do something bigger? The money has to be spent this summer, and it is in the City's name. The first phase of the project is for restaurant space and an indoor pool. Mr. Millar asked if we can add to this and make it a better project. Mr. Fereday added that we definitely need public parking downtown. Concerning the plan to add a multi -level structure along Railroad Avenue, there might be a height provision amendment for downtown. Old Business We haven't heard anymore from the church (McCall Christian Church) concerning the acquisition of land from the District. We will put this on the list for the next meeting. Mr. Drake discussed changes with the Farmer's Market, that the parking lot had been cleaned up; there was some discussion of using Kerry's property for parking at the Farmer's Market. Ms. Bertram asked about keeping Farmer's Market at that location, and if the City should purchase that property. The new Urban Renewal plan will address issues for this. Mr. Drake also discussed the art sculptures; 5 of these pieces are ready for placement — 2 near Brown Park, 2 at Legacy Park, and 1 and the ramp by the bike path. Adjournment There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 9:20 AM. -5-