HomeMy Public PortalAboutHousing Partnership -- 2006-02-15 Minutesi
Minutes of the Brewster Housing Partnership
February 15, 2006, 3:30 pm
Brewster Town Office Building, Room A
Present: .Iackie Courchesne; Elbert Ulshoeffer; Gisele Gauthier; Jillian Douglass
Mrs. Gauthier announced that HAC would be holding a Workforce Housing Summit on April 10 at
Chatham Bars
Re-Organization
Ms Douglass, acting as Pro-Temp Chair, called the meeting to order and asked for nominations for
chairman. Mr. Ulshoeffer nominated Ms. Douglass. Ms. Courchesne seconded the nomination. The vote
was unanimously in favor. She thanked the members and said she felt confident that each of them would
tell her if they had any issues or concerns for discussion.
Mr. Ulshoeffer suggested that the members wait to vote on the balance of officers until the Partnership has
5 members. Ms Douglass reported that Jeff McLaughlin and Charlene Vincent had volunteered. She said
she would continue to serve as Secretary in the interim.
Zoning Changes
Mrs. Gauthier asked if the Town had a Housing Plan. Ms. Douglass reported that public hearings had been
held on a draft Housing Plan in (she thought) 1996. She had since updated that plan to incorporate the
2000 Census data and since then she had been working on 2005 update, but that it was not complete. Mrs.
Gauthier asked for a copy. Ms. Douglass said she would e-mail members the draft in its current form.
Mr. Ulshoeffer said he felt that while a plan may be important, he felt the Partnership should focus on
working with the Planning Board and the ZBA to convey the basic principles and standards the Town
should be seeking from zoning proposals and Comprehensive Permit projects. He suggested the
Partnership should be recommending policy to the Board of Selectmen for their adoption.
Members discussed previously established goals and strategies. Mrs. Gauthier expressed her disagreement
with the Housing Goals related to seeking a minimum of 50% affordability from new Comprehensive
Permit applicants, noting that as a developer she knew that was not possible. There was a lengthy
discussion about striving for higher percentages and tolerance of opposing viewpoints, resulting in an
`agreement to disagree".
Inclusionary Bylaw
Mr. Ulshoeffer moved that the Partnership indefinitely postpone the May 2006 Town Meeting Warrant
Article to require affordable set asides in all new development and subdivision proposals. Mrs. Gauthier
seconded the motion and the vote was unanimously in favor.
Feasibility Study
Ms. Douglass reported that the CPA Sub-Committee on Housing consists of Paul Ruchinskas, Paul Hush
and Bill Reyburn. She reported that the CPA had received 3 housing related applications. She stated that
she had learned the Committee had decided not to put the Tubman Road purchase request on the May
Town Meeting warrant. Instead the Committee is planning to spend $5,000 of CPA money on a feasibility
study of the Tubman Road land. An application had been submitted to the CPA from Habitat for Humanity
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for an additional $95,000 in funding towards the 4 homes and the CPC was presenting that request as an
article in May. Mr. Ulshoeffer moved that the Partnership send a memo to the CPC asking the CPC to
direct housing applicants to the Partnership for consultation and to provide the Partnership with copies of
housing related applications as they are received. Mrs. Gauthier seconded the request and the vote was
unanimously in favor.
Sachemus Village
Ms. Douglass updated the Board on the Sachemus Village presentation to the DPRC and how the project
now proposed to come in under the use definition of "multifamily" and did not propose any affordable
units. She suggested the Partnership should express opposition to a residential project of that density on
commercially zoned land that did not provide any affordable housing.
The meeting was adjourned
Respectfully Submitted,
Jillian Douglass
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