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HomeMy Public PortalAboutCommunity Preservation Committee -- 2018-09-25 Minutes LU ���" i�//i/ LUJ \� o� OF E,MD4q B�•�t. �j� 2198 Main Street APPROVED : 10/10/18 o = — � •�' Brewster, Massachusetts 02631 - 1898 = y (508) 896- 3701 VO'L'E • 8-®-0 ft. nnoiiiumno`a�"oo� FAX (508) 8964089 COMMUNITY PRESERVATION CO & ousing Sub�Committee Held a Regular Meeting on Tuesday, September 25 , 2018 at 7 :00 p.m. at The Brewster Town Office Building, 2198 Main Street, Brewster, MA MEETING MPWTES FOR SEPTEMBER 259 2018 Present : Chair Paul Ruchinskas, Diane Pansire, Ralph Marotti, Faythe Ellis, and Barbara Burgo Absent : Also Present: Jill Scalise and Donna Kalimck Chair Paul Ruchinskas called the meeting to order at 7 : 00 pm. Recording or Taping Notification : "As required by the Open Meeting Law we are informing you that the Town will be videotaping and/or audio taping this public meeting. In addition, if anyone else intends to either video or audio tape this meeting they are required to inform the chair. IF We request that all cell phones be turned off or to vibrate 1 . Discussion and possible votes on recommendation to the CPC of the Brewster Affordable Housing Trust' s $ 100,000 funding request, conditions, and liaison. To begin, the Chair wanted to clarify that as he is the liaison and member of the Housing Trust he asked the state Ethics Commission if he is in some type of conflict in one or both of his roles. The attorney that he spoke with told him that since both organizations are public bodies and there is no private benefit to be gained through the process, he is able to vote on the Housing Trust' s application as a Trust member and also vote as a CPC member on the Housing Trust' s application. Ralph responded that he was told the same thing. Donna stated that the Brewster Municipal Affordable Housing Trust was formed at the May Town Meeting. At that time, they did not request funding from the CPC. For most trusts, Community Preservation is one of the primary places for where funding is acquired. They had decided that it would be best if the trust were formed and the trustees were appointed who could then decide which applications would be made . At the first meeting, the trust did discuss applying for funding and agreed on two paths. The first one which was to ask for $ 100,000 from CPC and the other was to request $50,000 through the Fall Town Meeting process. Due to the situation the Town is currently facing, there is a good likelihood that that will not be a viable funding source for this Fall. That may have to be put off until May. Initially, they had discussed asking for $50,000 in the Fall and another $50,000 in the Spring or even possibly a future stable income from the town and how that could be achieved ; whether that was achieved through the budget process or through an annual article. Also discussed was that if in the future an Air B&B tax was put into place that a percentage of that would automatically go to the trust. The trust is bound by the same rules and regulations that CPC is bound by in terms of taking that money and doing something with it. It is important that the trust have a non- CPC funding source for programs that they may want to run that are outside the CPC guidelines. Most trusts do look to Community Preservation for annual funding. In some cases, the entire 10% is allocated while in other cases an annual application is put in either for a set amount or based on a project. Since this trust is in the beginning stages, they have just started the training through Mass Housing Partnership. After that, the trust 1 Community Preservation Committee - Housing Minutes : September 25, 2018 will look to do some goal setting and some planning before they look at which programs they want to start in the first year. Donna stated that in the last Select Board packet they requested through the Mass Housing Partnership technical assistance for prefeasibility for the Millstone property. The administrative amount of $ 10,000 that was given with the Millstone property is primarily being used for survey work that was contracted through Outermost Land Survey and for the legal fees for the closing on that property which took place in July 2018 . Li their initial discussion with the Housing Partnership they roughly gave an estimate of $20,000 for the pre- feasibility of which they thought they would potentially give $ 10,000 of that. Donna explained that they have defined as much as they can what the function of a trust is and how they see the $ 100,000 might be used but they think at least $ 10,000 would go towards the prefeasibility. Once the trust training is completed, the officers have been elected, and goals are in place, the trust is going to decide whether or not they are going to approach the Select Board about the management and transfer of the Millstone Project to the trust. Since the pre4easibility takes a bit of time, they wanted to get the process started and ask for the technical assistance. That is the one concrete project that they can say the trust will be working on. They do have the $ 87,000 that is non-CPC restricted from the other affordable trust fund . Their request at this time is for the $ 10000 . Jill added that part of the reason for the $ 100,000 request is seed money to have the ability to respond to situations that may occur. They really want to be prepared for the preservation of affordable housing. For example, one of their affordable homes just resold last month but they did not have the ability to purchase that had it been at risk of being lost. They have another deed-restricted home for sale right now but if there were a situation that came about where they needed to look to purchase a home to keep that affordability deed-restriction in place, these funds could be used in that type of situation. In a situation like that the home would be resold and those funds would come back so that they could be used again. Part of the idea of having a housing trust is to have the ability and flexibility to respond quickly when there is a need. Ralph asked if the bust could apply for a mortgage. Jill responded that in a case like this example, the trust would not be looking to apply for a mortgage they would want to have the funds available to be able purchase. The Chair explained that if they did not have the funds to purchase they would be allowed to get a mortgage until the home could be re-sold. Jill noted that would require going to the Select Board because anything over $50,000 to buy (whether they have the cash or not) does require the trust to go through the Select Board. Faythe asked how the affordable housing restriction could go away. Jill explained that some of the older deed-restrictions do not survive foreclosure. Newer deed restrictions have other things in place that make them not as much of a concern. Many of the homes that were built in the 1990' s would be of concern. Diane stated that when houses are listed for sale that are affordable they are not put in MLS so people don ' t know they are out there and they get lost to affordable because nobody offered to buy it because nobody knew it and Realtors are not getting a commission except for HAC. Diane stated that it seems like a bad system and asked Jill if she agreed. Jill stated that she would agree that that is a challenge. Part of that is the decision of the homeowner to give the funds to put it on MLS which is actually a cost of the homeowner. One thing that the Town of Yarmouth has done is use funds from their trust to put a home onto MLS. They use those funds to make sure it reaches a greater number of people. Jill stated that she thought that was a potential for Brewster, As the trust works on setting their goals, that is one idea that she would expect the trust to talk about. Barbara asked for clarification in regards to what was happening before that is different now for deed restrictions . Jill responded that based on her research, around 2007 there was a change in the deed restrictions in Massachusetts for how they were allowed to be written. There were different agreements for the loans that were allowed to be taken with how the deed riders were written. It is a combination of the realization in affordable housing that they were having problems with the deed restrictions as they were 2 Community Preservation Committee - Housing Minutes : September 25, 2018 written and then working to continually change and improve them as well as working with banks on what is acceptable within the deed restriction. The major changes came around 2007 . The Chair added that it was a major effort on the part of Mass Housing Partnership and Fannie Mae when around 2007 they came up with a standard restriction that cannot be changed in terms of foreclosure that banks could lend on and also sell those mortgages to Fannie Mae. This instituted a big change as it allowed the secondary market to buy these loans that had these restrictions that survived foreclosure. Since that time, any affordable housing in the state of Massachusetts for home ownership has these types of deed restrictions which will survive foreclosure . Jill added that one of the biggest positives with the buy-down program is that the CPC has had those deeds changed over from one of the older deed restrictions to the newer and better deed restriction. Diane asked when there are deed restrictions that end after thirty years. Jill stated that she hasn' t come across that but thought maybe she had seen some with fifty years. The deed restrictions from the 1990 ' s are a little unclear when they end but the newer ones do not have an end date. Ralph asked how the rental assistance program works. Jill responded that they do not have a rental assistance program at this point. That is something that when she met with the Executive Director of the Brewster Housing Authority they had mentioned that the Housing Authority has discussed the possibility of having a rental assistance program. Mashpee Housing Authority has a rental assistance program where they have a two or three-year program where they provide a rental subsidy to help those who may have difficulty paying rent. It doesn't pay but it helps with affordable rent. Jill stated that is something they could potentially look into in the future. It is based on what the tenant' s income is and trying to get it close to 30% of the tenant' s income to pay for housing with a limit on the amount of how much assistance they can receive. Ralph then asked why on the application they did not choose to increase the variety of mixed- income housing choices. Jill replied that at the time of the application they did not feel that there was anything that was being looked at that would meet that particular criteria . Ralph replied that he thought of Wells Court as a mixed income location. Jill replied that Wells Court is totally income based so that would not meet that particular definition of mixed income. What they were thinking in regards to mixed-income housing was a development where you have housing that has 120% of area median income, 100% area median income, 80% area median income, 60% area median income or something like that where you have a development that is looking at all different levels like that. As this is the fust year for the Brewster Housing Trust, they were trying to be realistic that they cannot have all these programs in place in the first year but may be implementing them in future years. Donna stated that they tried to ask for a conservative amount of funds . She stated that she thought $ 100,000 would be a good starting point. But, she also thought that they may come back before the May Town Meeting and ask for additional funding. She explained that when Harwich formed their trust last May they got $ 500,000 from CPC and they just put in another application for $340,000 so if they are approved they are going to have over $800,000 in their trust. Donna stated that as a trust she feels that they would really need to do something with the funds . She explained that if it was her trust with $800,000 she would want to be doing something with it rather than having the money sit. Donna continued that at some point once the trust is really functioning, both the members of the trust and the CPC should have a more in-depth discussion about what the CPC wants and what the trust wants and how they can work together in the big picture. Such as whether or not the buy-down program moves over into the housing trust, and whether or not CPC still wants applications for bigger projects that are not town run, etc. In the next 12- 18 months there should be some good discussions about these items . Faythe asked if the two $50,000 requests that are mentioned in the application are completely off the table now with the current issues the town is dealing with and will be handling at Fall Town Meeting. Donna responded that one of the requests will be in the December 3 Town Warrant. But, because of the situation the 3 Community Preservation Committee- Housing Minutes : September 25, 2018 Town is in right now it may be that they are not going to be able to make any decisions about anything other than what is absolutely critical. The idea was to do $50,000 in the Fall and $50,000 in the Spring but the Select Board member of the Trust really has more of a long-term vision of having a funding source from the town that is more of an annual automatic thing. While it is still in the warrant, they just don 't know what is going to happen come Town Meeting. If there is not $50,000 in December, then they would potentially ask for $ 100,000 in the Spring depending on the financial situation of the Town. Faythe also asked what would happen should the $ 100,000 not be used for a specified length of time. The Chair replied that could be included as a condition that could be set. Faythe replied that she thought that would be an important element of the grant. Donna requested that they give the trust a little more leeway in the timeframe as the trust is new and just starting out. The Chair replied that most of CPC ' s grant agreements have a two-year limit to which Donna replied she thought was fair. Diane asked if there is anything that is a benchmark that says here is how many units per dollar they are trying to get. Jill replied that will be something the trust will look at. For example, in Yarmouth ' s trust that is something that they look at very clearly and will at most give up to $ 100,000 to create an ownership unit and $30,000 to create a rental unit. Something that Yarmouth has done is look at the average cost per type of unit by every year that the trust is producing. Jill stated that she thought over time that Brewster' s trust will also look at and make goals to be as cost-effective as possible while making the biggest difference that they can all while understanding that there are different costs for homeownership and rentals for the creation of housing. The Chair stated that the CPC has never adopted a benchmark of this type but this is something that CPC could discuss as well. Donna explained that there are some models out there for that type of decision making. Jill explained that she would expect it to be part of the analysis process as they proceed on as a trust. She also explained that what she thought is important is understanding what decisions they are making and how they are playing out by putting them into context but continuing to evaluate and analyze those decisions. Donna explained that they already made a small gain in percentage points on their SHI this year. She explained that there is a human element to this. They had four people purchase homes (outside of the Habitat project) who they had been actively working with to put into homes for a long time. They made an enormous impact in those people' s lives. Jill stated to the Committee that the decisions that are made at the Housing Trust will be following the implementation strategies of the Housing Production plan. The funds will be used to help put into place the implementation strategies. MOTION made to recommend to CPC to award the $100,000 to the Brewster Housing Trust for Millstone pre-development expenses along with other opportunities that may arise with the exception of administrative expenses. The grant agreement should have a condition that funds be spent by December 31, 2020 and the CPC will give the funds within thirty days of the grant agreement. There should also be reports to the CPC from the Trust every three months, Diane Pansire will serve as liaison, and the funds should come from the Housing Reserve and/or the 30% Reserve funds. MOVED by Ralph Marotti, Seconded by Faythe Ellis VOTE : 5-" 2 . Vote to approve the minutes of the Housing Sub-Committee' s August 14 , 2018 meeting. MOTION to approve the Housing Committee 's minutes for the August 14, 2018 meeting with the discussed amendment. 4 Community Preservation Committee - Housing Minutes : September 25, 2018 MOVED by Faythe Ellis, Seconded by Diane Pansire VOTE : 540 0 3 . Topics the Chair could not reasonably anticipate. None. Motion to Adjourn MOVED by Diane Pansire, Seconded by Faythe Ellis VOTE: Sw&O Respectfully submitted by, U � � L Sarah L. Piebes, Recording Secretary 5 Community Preservation Committee- Housing Minutes: September 25, 2018 Community Preservation Committee: FY19 Forecast as of October 9, 2018 FY48 Estimated total balance forwarded (1]: $ Z, 60 , „. , , . 7 410.96 FY49 Estimated local tax revenue: $ 957,565.00 FY49 Estimated State contribution [2]: $ 143, 635.00 Total FY•19 Estimated funds avallable: 31708,610.96 „ . . 50% 10% 10% Fund Balance Open Space Housing Historical Reserved for CPA FY 18 Estimated Unreserved Fund Balance $ 417,279.63 $ 2581155.49 $ 241,386.49 $ 1,690,589.35 FY49 Estimated revenue $ 550,600.00 $ 110, 120.00 $ 110, 120.00 $ 330,360,00 FY-19 Estimated Funds available $ 967,879.63 $ 3681275.49 $ 3511506.49 $ 21020,949.35 FY-19 obligations as of 09/12/2018 Open Space Housing Historical '10%" Jolly Whaler Bond $ (68,325.00) BBI Property Bond #1 $ (66,530.00) BBJ Property Bond #2 $ (115,440. 00) Bates Property Bond $ (53,445.00) - Administration Expense $ (55,060. 00) Brewster Housing Authority - Huckleberry Lane Roof Replacements $ (130, 000. 00) Part Time Housing Coordinator $ (36, 000,00) Community Development Partnership - Housing Institute $ (15, 000.00) Brewster Recreation Dept - Tennis Courts $ (35,000. 00) Long Pond Woodlands Conservation Area Land Purchase $ 785,000f 00) Millstone Road Community Housing Land Acquisition $ (1001000. 00) $ (1851000. 00) Cobb House outbuilding Rehabilitation $ (140,00040) Designated Reserve for open Space Designated Reserve for Historical Preservation Designated Reserve for Community Preservation Total Obligations $ (210$8,740.00) $ (2811000.00) $ (140,000.00) $ (2751060.00) FY19 Estimated Unreserved Fund Balance as of 10/09/2018 $ (10120,860.37) $ 871275.49 $ 211,506.49 $ 117451889.35 .. N $Notal net available from all accounts 923,81a96, Anticipated Adjustments from FY18 Possible TM budget transfer article reallocating FY18 $ $75,348 .06 $ 115,069 .61 $ 115,069.61 $ (805 487.28) revenues FY18 unexpended prof services/admin to reserves (5) $17,416.42 $6,295.00 $12,098.00 $17,545.49 BCT for Meeting House Project $ 500000.00 MA DOR - Meeting House Project $ 2261343.00 BCT-Robinson Project $ 230,000.00 Total Anticipated Adjustments $ 1,099,107.48 $ 121,364.61 $ 127,167.61 $ (7870941.79) (1] Balance forwarded from prior year includes all unallocated funds, including unspent amounts from projects and budgeted administrative and professional expenses (2] State Match Revenue to be determined. [3] Administrative expenses are limited by law to 5% of the total CPC budget and include primarily payroll costs and the annual $3500 dues. Professional Expenses (legal fees, surveys, etc,): Amounts specifically requested by CPC. Any unused portion returns to the account of origin at year's end.