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Home My Public Portal AboutCommunity Preservation Committee -- 2010-04-14 MinutesL'~•-• ua rr-~ ._.I r~ l"''"l /1 Date Approved 4/28/10 "~' V/ ;~ ~ ~ F.. Vote 8-0-0 ~~: ~. ~:~, Town of Brewster ;-~ COMMUNITY PRESERVATION COMMITTEE Meeting Minutes April 14, 2010 Present: Paul Hush, Elliot Carr, Terry Ryder, Paul Ruchinskas, Rollie Bassett, ]eanne Boehm, Elizabeth Taylor, Roy Robinson Guests: Charlie Sumner, ]illian Douglass, Peter Johnson, Peyton ]ohnson 1. Review Minutes of February 24, 2010: MOTION: by Roy Robinson to approve minutes as corrected. Second by Jeanne Boehm VOTE: 7-0-1 2. Any new applications? None at this point. 3. Review Matthews Open Space article: Discussion of Matthews's article. Orleans selectmen strongly support this purchase. The article in the paper referred to a negative comment by the Orleans Water Supt. The Orleans Water Commissioners fully support this purchase. The $375,000 will be one of many override votes for Orleans. Orleans very commonly has a number of overrides at Town Meeting and they are each listed separately. The Brewster Fin Com vote was discussed -originally 7-0 against the purchase, this has been re-voted and is now 4 in support and 3 against. Peter Johnson -Discussed Brewster Fin Com meeting, Orleans Selectmen and Fin Com meetings and the support that Orleans has for this acquisition. Brewster and Orleans are working very hard to get this purchase approved at both Town Meetings. MOTION: To indicate continued support by the CPA for this article, Brewster still only pays $375,000 or less, and that, if a State L.A.N.D. grant is successful, it will reduce the contributions of Brewster and Orleans equally. Moved by Elliot Carr. Second by Rollie Bassett VOTE: 8-0-0 Elizabeth Taylor- the Open Space Committee voted a similar statement yesterday - because Orleans wants to be assured that if a L.A.N.D. is secured, both towns will share equally in the grant monies. 4. Discussion of Housing Buy-Down Program: Paul Hush- We need a preliminary discussion of the Buy-Down Program. We approved $300,000 two years ago and we have not been getting anywhere with this. There must be reasons for this. To start a dialogue, I have asked Jillian to come to our meeting to report on this. CPC Minutes 04-14-10 Page 1 of 4 Jillian Douglass- I can report that market conditions are not good right now. Most people do not have the money to buy a house, let alone have a down payment. Many have lost jobs. There have been 6 people who have applied since this Program started, but most of them dropped out for one reason or another. We have only given out $20,000 from the original $60,000. The ad for the program was supposed to have been on the air 8 months ago -and only just showed up - after a long delay - on the cable channel. The ad lists the criteria to qualify for the program and indicates that the cap is $20,000. People are responding to this listing. But, the problem is that they are not qualifying. If the CPC wants to change the cap, we will have to have a discussion with the Housing Partnership. Jeanne Boehm -Are you advertising anywhere else? The Cape Codder, etc. Jillian Douglass -Advertising elsewhere costs money. H.A.C. lists houses on their website. If we want to put listings on the MLS -that will cost money. Paul Hush- This was a Housing Partnership proposal, so we expect you to be an integral part of this discussion. Do you feel that this program merits going ahead as it is? How can we make this more effective.? Jillian- The Partnership lost membership and has been very slow getting back on track. The next meeting is on the 21St. This discussion needs to include that Committee. Elliot Carr - We have had discussions about whether $20,000 is too low a number? We need to do some research/modeling to find out what number would work best, maybe $20,000 is OK, maybe it is too low. Paul Hush -Maybe the Partnership can get some professional help with figuring out what amount of money is recommended/needed. Rollie Bassett & Elizabeth Taylor agreed that $20,000 was too low. It may be that this amount precludes anyone wanting to get involved in the program. We may help fewer people, but at least we would have helped someone. Housing prices may have gone down, but they are still very expensive. People may be able to pay the mortgage, but they cannot come up with a down payment. Paul Ruchinskas -the existing $60,000 was proposed to retain existing affordable housing and was listed as $20,000 cap per applicant. When we did the second amount, the $300,000, we did not indicate any specific amount at Town Meeting. Other towns give out higher amounts, Yarmouth and Barnstable give a $125,000 subsidy amount and their homes are at substantially lower prices than Brewster's. Some towns buy houses, repair them and then re-sell them as affordable. To make this really work in Brewster, you are talking about at least $100,000 per unit. At $20,000, it is difficult to get someone to put on a deed restriction. They are reducing their equity going forward. I will work with the Partnership when they discuss this level of funding. CPC Minutes 04-14-10 Page 2 of 4 Discussion of request with applicant -Peyton Johnson. She has already been approved by H.A.C. and has provided Jillian with everything. The Housing Partnership has not met for a while and will not meet until April 21St. She needs $30,000 and is underline a deadline (the end of the month) for a federal first time home buyer tax credit. She would like to sign the P&S tomorrow, but will not do so unless she has been approved for the $30,000 by the CPA. There was discussion about whether the CPA was restricted to $20,000. Had there been any mention of a restriction when the $300,000 Buy-Down Article was taken to Town Meeting in 2008? It was suggested that the Committee could be flexible for this one time and then must have more concrete discussions about what amounts can be allowed for the Buy-Down Program. The Housing Partnership feels that it should remain at $20,000. Charlie Sumner - Did we restrict the $300,000 at the $20,000 level per applicant? The article was pulled out and there was no restriction mentioned in the article or the summary. Paul Hush - To Peyton -get all set with Jillian and then come back to us. Elizabeth Taylor -Isn't there a time constraint here? Peyton - Yes. I want to get the tax credit. I need to have a signed P & S by the 30th. Peter Johnson- Let's get this thing rolling. Can you take a conditional vote today? Paul Ruchinskas- We need to make this a policy vote. Jillian -You can take a vote to and let the chairman sign the form. Rollie Bassett -Why do we have to restrict it? Can't we be flexible so we can review an amount for each applicant? Paul Hush - We will have to review the policy in the future. Elliot- We meet again before her deadline. If she thinks she needs more she can come back to our next meeting, after she signs the P&S. MOTION: Moved by Elliot Carr to approve $30,000 for this time only for this applicant. Second -Rollie Bassett VOTE: 8-0-0 MOTION: Moved by Roy Robinson to authorize the Chairman to sign any needed forms for Peyton Johnson, once she has signed any papers Jillian needs. Second by Rollie Bassett. VOTE: 8-0-0 5. Other Business Elizabeth Taylor - I have a request for Open Space expenses for after July 1St Mark Robinson - $2,000 to write the State L.A.N.D. grant for Matthews. MOVED by Elliot Carr, second Rollie Bassett: VOTE: 8-0-1 Abstain Paul Ruchinskas CPC Minutes 04-14-10 Page 3 of 4 Charles Sumner -I have put an article on the Town Meeting warrant for $10,000 to cover expenses for CPC until July 1St. This money is from the CPC general fund. Then as of July 1St each area will have its own bucket to cover these expenses. Paul Hush - I understand that you cannot always know expenses in advance, such as legal expenses for one -but you can inform us that there will be legal expenses for Matthews, Bates, etc. Elizabeth Taylor - We will have an executive session at the next meeting to let you know where Open Space acquisitions are headed. Discussion of possible land for sale on 6A at the end of Town - at the Orleans border. MOTION TO ADJOURN: Moved by Paul Ruchinskas, second by Rollie Bassett. All 'SAYE" Meeting adjourned at 5:40 PM. r Elizabe,~i~fl]aylor, Clerk CPC Minutes 04-14-10 Page 4 of 4