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Agenda and Minutes 2007-10-17 Community Preservation Committee Agenda DATE: Wednesday, October 17, 2007 TIME: 7:00 PM PLACE: City Council Chambers, 212 Main Street (BEHIND City Hall) Contact: Bruce Young, Land Use and Conservation Planner byoung@northamptonma.gov Agenda 1. Public comment period 2. Approval of minutes for 09/19/2007 3. Chair’s Report 4. Discussion of Ordinance change to deal with filling the vacancy of an elected member 5. Discussion of CPC outreach procedures 6. Review of the 10/09/2007 draft Community Preservation Plan 7. Any other necessary business Community Preservation Plans, Project Evaluation Criteria and a variety of documents from other CPA communities can be found at: http://www.communitypreservation.org/CPAImplementation.cfm Minutes Community Preservation Committee DATE: Wednesday October 17, 2007 TIME: 7:00 PM PLACE: City Council Chambers, 212 Main Street (BEHIND City Hall) Members present: Jack Hornor, Mason Maronn, Don Bianchi, John Andrulis, Tom Parent, Chris Kennedy, George Kohout Staff Present: Bruce Young Jack Horner opened the public meeting at 7:00 PM Public Comment No comments Minutes Jack Hornor requested changing the section on the first page to “the goals listed in the separate CPP overlap with some of the Project Evaluation Criteria and the CPC should the goals and Project Evaluation Criteria” to “the goals listed in the CPP overlap with combine some of the Project Evaluation Criteria and the CPC should the goals and Project Evaluation Criteria.” Jon Andrulis moved to approve the revised minutes for September 19, 2007. Chris Kennedy seconded the motion. Motion passed unanimously Chairs report Jack Hornor reported that the city received the 100% state match of $714,215, and, as of 09/21/2007, approximately $180,000 has been collected from the CPA Tax Surcharge for FY08. Jack Hornor reported that $21,009 in interest was earned on CPA funds in FY07 and approximately $11,000 in interest has accrued in FY08. The funds are accruing interest at 5.01%. Jack Hornor reported that he had a meeting with Wayne Feiden and Bruce Young to discuss CPC staffing. Wayne stated that changes within the Office of Planning and Development (OPD) will include: ?? A “firewall” will be placed around all CPC staffing hours. ?? When the OPD secretary is not in the office, a sign will be placed on the door instructing the public to go next door, the Housing Planner and Community Development Block Grant Office, for assistance. ?? As soon as clerical staff is hired, fourteen hours a month will be available for professional staff work. Jack Hornor reported that the search for CPC clerical staff is currently underway and he explained that the Office of Human Resources is posting the job description in the Daily Hampshire Gazette, Greenfield Recorder and Springfield Republican. Jack Hornor stated that the clerical position will be for 28 hours per month (14 for CPC and 14 for OPD). He requested that the CPC pay for half of the advertising fees for the postings of the clerical position. Mason Maronn moved to have the CPC pay for half of the advertising costs for the clerical position. Chris Kennedy seconded the motion. George Kohout asked if it is necessary for a motion for minor expenses. Bruce Young stated that he believes it is necessary for a motion for all expenses, but he would request an opinion from the City Solicitor. Motion passed unanimously Discussion of Ordinance change to deal with filling the vacancy of an elected member Jack Hornor explained to the CPC that an ordinance amendment is needed for CPC membership terms. The proposed amendment states: Should there be a vacancy or resignation in any of the Community Preservation Committee positions, the Commissions, Boards or Authorities who have appointment authority under this Chapter shall appoint a new representative within 45 days of the first date of vacancy or resignation, otherwise said vacancy may be filled by the City Said names shall also be forwarded to the City Council. Council. Said names shall also be Jack Hornor stated that the proposed language stated “ forwarded to the Mayor for approval by the City Council.” At the City Council meeting, Jack and Chris Kennedy requested the remove the Mayor’s approval and the Said names shall also be forwarded to the City Council.” proposed language states, “ Jack stated that the new language is consistent with CPC membership appointment procedures in the existing ordinance. Jack Hornor also stated that the CPC ordinance has no procedures for the replacement of elected members and the ordinance will need to be amended in the near future. Discussion of CPC outreach procedures The CPC discussed using clerical hours to improve outreach efforts for the CPC. Jack Hornor stated that the CPC could have its own website, separate from the City of Northampton. Jack Hornor stated that the website should have a button to allow the public to join a CPC mailing list. Review of the 10/09/2007 draft Community Preservation Plan Jack Hornor stated that the CPC should discuss the differences between goals and criteria, where they came from, and if overlap is a problem. Don Bianchi stated that restructuring the document is a good idea and he is not against combining the goals and criteria, but they could remain separate categories. George Kohout stated that there should be a Community Preservation Plan that is separate from an application packet that would include the applications and criteria. Jack Hornor stated that he believes that there should be one document, the Community Preservation Plan, which would include the application and criteria. Don Bianchi stated that he believes that there should be one document. Mason Maronn stated that he believes that there should be one document. Jon Andrulis stated that he believes the documents should be separated. Tom Parent stated that he believes the documents should be separated. Chris Kennedy stated that he believes that there should be one document. The CPC decided to keep the plan and application as one document. The CPC also decided that they could have a direct link to the applications on the website. Mason Maronn stated that questions on the applications could reference sections in the plan. Don Bianchi stated that the goals are less important than the criteria and they could be placed in the appendix. Mason Maronn stated that the goals and criteria could be condensed or placed in one section of the plan with the application at the end of the plan. He stated that, most likely, the applicants will only read the sections that pertain to their project. George Kohout stated that having the criteria in the body of the document will create many redundancies and those will need to be removed. Jack Hornor stated that he and Bruce Young would remove the redundancies from the plan. David Herships stated that applications could be long and include redundancies, and asked the CPC if there is a limit on the number of pages an applicant could submit. Tom Parent stated that the application states three pages as the maximum number to be submitted. Jack Hornor stated that the question has not been addressed at a CPC meeting, but he doesn’t believe there should be a limit on the number of pages. George Kohout stated that this is the first year of the CPC and he would like the application separated and the CPC could decide on a page limit at another time. The members agreed. Jack Hornor asked the CPC if they should review major projects quarterly or annually. Don Bianchi stated that he would prefer a quarterly review as long as one cycle is in-line with the City’s budget cycle in February. George Kohout stated that the Mayor might be against a quarterly cycle because CPA monies could be expended before City projects are presented in February. Tom Parent asked if someone would be allowed to reapply at the next cycle if denied funding. Jack Hornor stated it might be good policy to only allow an application to be heard once a year. Don Bianchi stated that if all CPA funds have been expended, the CPC could simply cancel the remaining rounds in that year. George Kohout stated that he is in favor of having funding cycles three or four times a year. Chris Kennedy stated that the CPC has no idea what type of projects they will be reviewing. As of now, the numbers of submissions, funding requests, merit of projects, etc. are unknown to the CPC. He believes that the CPC should be flexible for the first year and accept applications anytime. Jon Andrulis stated that he is in favor of quarterly reviews. The CPC decided to review projects quarterly for the first year. George Kohout stated that he would like to remove the grid on the review section of the plan. Jack Hornor asked Chris Kennedy if he approved the updates to the Historical Preservation section. Chris Kennedy stated that the Historical Commission is still working on updates. nd Jack Hornor stated that the goal is to complete the plan by Friday November 2. Jack Hornor asked the CPC whether or not they want to change Community Housing goal #1 to include the creation of rental housing for households with income levels at or below both 50% and 30% AMI. He stated that the language used for the goal was taken from the Sustainable Northampton Plan and asked if the CPC wants to change the wording in the Community Preservation Plan to state the CPC’s goals are not exactly the same, but, “in consultation with the Sustainable Northampton Plan.” Don Bianchi stated that he would like to change the numbers in the goal to be consistent with his other suggestions. The CPC agreed to change the numbers and to use “in consultation with the Sustainable Northampton Plan.” Jack Hornor stated that the housing section is too long and needs to be shortened. Don Bianchi stated the longer plan allows applicants to reference an updated housing plan. Jack Hornor stated that the Housing Partnership and Historical Commission should apply for funding to create plans for reference. The CPC agreed to shorten the section. Jack Hornor asked the CPC if they should eliminate the introductory sentence at the beginning of each section of criteria that states, “the extent to which the proposed project:” The CPC agreed to remove the statement. Don requested removing “at levels that exceed state requirements” from the housing criteria that states, “intermingles affordable and market rate housing at levels that exceed state requirements.” The CPC agreed. Jack Hornor asked Don Bianchi if the CPC could shorten the “gives priority to local residents…” criteria. Don stated that the entire section needs to be inserted into the document, but he would not be against having part of the statement placed into an appendix. Bruce Hart stated that he believes the CPC should not allow local preference housing to City employees, especially if members of the CPC are City employees. Jon Andrulis stated that technically he is a City employee because he receives a stipend. Jack Hornor stated that no one else on the CPC is a City employee. Bruce Hart stated that the members of the CPC are part of the “city” and are appointed by the “city” and are essentially voting to give themselves preference over “city” dollars. He stated that low income City employees already qualify for low-income housing. Chris Kennedy stated that “short-term employees” could benefit from local preference and believes local preference could be abused. Jack Hornor stated that criteria for local preference are included in many cities and towns CPC plans. He stated that local preference could benefit the city police and fire departments and businesses in the area such as restaurants that are often short on help when an employee is ill. George Kohout explained that preferential treatment still has to qualify for CPA funds under low-income or moderate-income housing. Chris Kennedy asked if the CPC could remove “city employees” and replace it with “city residents.” Don Bianchi explained that the stakeholders (employees, children of residents) in Northampton are as important as the residents. The CPC decided to keep Don Bianchi’s language on local preference. Jack Hornor asked the CPC if they would like to add an AMI chart to the plan. Don stated that he would like to add an AMI chart to the plan. PJ Copeland stated that she would like to add an AMI chart and an average housing price chart. The CPC decided to put an AMI chart into the plan. Jack Hornor asked the CPC if they would like a pre-application to determine eligibility for CPA projects. The CPC decided to include a pre-application to determine eligibility for CPA projects. George Kohout asked if the CPC wants to have project review sessions. The CPC agreed that project review sessions would help applicants and CPC staff. Jack Hornor stated that Gerritt Stover requested more information on open space restrictions. The CPC agreed that more information on open space restrictions would be beneficial to applicants. Bruce Hart asked if CPA funds could be used for religious institutions. Chris Kennedy stated that CPA funds could be used for religious institutions. Jack Hornor asked if there were any comments on the Newton Housing Application. The CPC agreed that the Newton Housing Application was well done and is emulable. The CPC agreed that the questionnaire should be removed from the plan. PJ Copeland asked if the CPC could consolidate the second and third goals in the open space section. The CPC agreed that the two goals could be consolidated. George Kohout moved to continue the public hearing until November 19, 2007 at 7:00PM in City Council Chambers. Don Bianchi seconded the motion Motion passed unanimously Meeting adjourned at 9:42 PM Respectfully submitted Bruce Young