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Community Housing Strategic Plan Answers February 22, 2008 Bruce Young Community Preservation Planner City of Northampton Office of Planning & Development 210 Main Street, City Hall Northampton, MA 01060 Ref: Community Housing Strategic Plan Dear Mr. Young: On behalf of the Northampton Housing Partnership, I am submitting additional project application information as requested by the CPC in your letter dated February 21, 2008: Please provide specific program goals, other than the general goal of helping guide ?? future decisions. Given all of the work the Housing Partnership has done over the years, in concert with the City’s Planning Department, should the efforts be targeted to match goals that have been established: for example, reducing homelessness, or preserving existing low rent housing options, or creating affordable homeownership, or preventing foreclosure, etc.? The NHP had originally considered preparing a more detailed application than the application submitted. In our initial discussions regarding this project, the Director of the Office of Planning & Development suggested we consider a two-part process: 1. A portion of the funds would be used to design the “Scope of Services” for the project. After interviewing consultants, we would select the consultant who has the “best fit” to work with the Housing Partnership, CPC members who may be interested in being involved in the process, and the Planning Department in designing a “Scope of Services” that gives us a Plan that we hope the general citizenry can look at, and understand why the City is investing taxpayer dollars in specific affordable housing projects. Often, these Plans are complex and wind up sitting on a shelf. Designing the “Scope of Services” gives the participants an opportunity to enunciate what we want the final product to look like. Our concerns are that the Plan needs to provide the maximum benefit to the City based on input from the vested participants. We also want the Plan to align with the City’s Vision, Guiding Principles and Housing Objectives as defined in the , so we are all driving in the same direction, and there Sustainable Northampton Plan is consistency in the City’s future actions. We estimate this piece of the project to be no more than $5,000. It would not require an RFP. 2. The remaining funds would be used to complete the Plan. We estimate this would be no more than $30,000. An RFP would be required. We will manage the project to the “Scope of Services”. The answer to the second sentence is: Yes, yes, yes, and yes, etc. However, the “Guiding Principle” in is the overriding goal: Sustainable Northampton “Support a wide variety of housing types and increase rental and homeownership units to create and preserve a range of affordability and choice in housing options”. What are the priorities in order to take us from point A to point B in X years? What are the best strategies to get us there? How are these things influenced by external factors that are not within our control (i.e. the region, the economy, etc.)? How do we create a “range” and “choice” so people who work here, or were raised here, or choose to come here whether to raise their kids, retire, participate in the many things the Northampton community offers, do so, no matter what their social or economic conditions? Where are the biggest gaps in the housing continuum and how do we fill those gaps best, and in a way that is consistent with the City’s other goals? These are some of the broader questions we need to answer. There are two estimates of $22,000 or less for doing the work. What is the reason for ?? requesting $35,000? We started our information gathering for estimates using a list of possible consultants provided by the Director of the City’s Planning & Development Department. The next two pages show the consultants we contacted and the estimates we were able to obtain. Included are my “rough notes” on the contacts. Some of the consultants are sole practitioners, while others are connected with larger firms. Circumstances in the “rough notes” indicate levels of interest and capacity, etc., a little humor, and notes on the many sincere expressions about the City of Northampton. There is also a summary of the thought process used in arriving at the amount requested. The lower estimate of $22,000 was from an individual (#6) who has been in the business for a long time and who indicated it wasn’t likely he would take on the job, and the lowest estimate (#4) was based on a regional planning commission which I believe may be partly government funded, and therefore could sustain a lower fee. The last page shows the information that was e-mailed to each of the consultants, accompanied by an introductory message and the fact that I would contact each person the following week to discuss estimates to complete the project. This was done in an attempt to arrive at somewhat comparable estimates. On behalf of the Northampton Housing Partnership, I hope this letter addresses the information requested. I look forward to discussing the project further on March 1, 2008. Sincerely, Margaret M. Murray A. Project Budget The following consultants were contacted to obtain estimates to complete the CHSP using the above implementation format: Estimates Consultant Contact Phone # e-mail Scope of Svcs Housing Plan 1. Concord Square Development Angus Jennings 617-482-1997 ajennings@concordsqdev.com $5,000 $30,000 2. Community Planning Solutions Terry Szold 978-470-3910 tsszold@mit.edu $ minimal $50,000 - $70,000 3. Goody, Clancy & Associates David Dixon 617-262-2760 david.dixon@goodyclancy.com $90,000 - $150,000 4. Pioneer Valley Planning Comm Catherine Miller 413-781-6045 cmiller@pvpc.org $12,000 - $15,000 5. Billman-Golemme Lynn Billman 508-366-6800 billman-golemme@charter.net Committed Committed 6. Philip B. Herr & Associates Philip Herr 617-969-1805 ppherr@msn.com $2,000 $20,000 7. Bonnie Heudorfer Bonnie Heudorfer 978-456-3776 heud@rcn.com Committed committed (rec #8) 8. Karen Sunnarborg Karen Sunnarborg 617-983-9883 ksunnarborg@msn.com $2,000 $25,000 - $40,000 Requests for Proposal will be submitted after responses from Requests for Qualifications are received and interviews are conducted, as noted above. #1 Angus Jennings: He is interested, but it will depend upon whether they hire someone they are looking at hiring right now. If she doesn’t come on board, it would be difficult to do the job. Very good discussion on what we are looking for. Received follow-up e-mail expressing continued interest the week of 2/22/08. #2 Terry Szold: Sent e-mail and left a message. Called her again 1/29/08. She is recovering from very recent surgery. She would be interested in looking at the scope of services and seeing if the job could fit into her schedule. She hadn’t looked at her e-mail. Wanted to know if plan would be long and detailed with lots of data and zoning issues, or goal oriented. I specified that it would be largely goal oriented. She has several associates she could recommend as well. P. Byrnes spoke highly of her work. #3 David Dixon: Said they were very interested in staying involved in Northampton, but as a larger firm, may be on the high side. Not his bag. I should have spoken with Lorissa Brown, but David did not offer this. #4 Catherine Miller: Played telephone tag. She e-mailed me back and said she is very interested, and would like to discuss 1/29/08. We spoke. She gave me a flat $12,000 to $15,000 and said she was very interested. #5 Lynn Billman: e-mailed me back and said her firm can’t do the job. #6 Philip Herr: Kind of cranky. He e-mailed me right away on Sunday and told me I forgot the attachment to the e-mail. He’s very busy. He’s skeptical, since Northampton does so well, why we want this. He will think about it and call me back tomorrow 1/29. We finally spoke. His cost was determined pretty methodically. He thinks he’s committed, but he would be interested in seeing the “Scope of Services”. P. Byrnes spoke highly of his work. #7 Bonnie Heudorfer: Sent e-mail and left a message. Called me 1/28 evening. Already committed to a major project for the State. She recommended #8 Karen Sunnarborg. I told her we had inquired with #8, and told her the other parties….they are all very good. Spoke highly of Northampton. P. Byrnes spoke highly of her work. #8 Karen Sunnarborg: Excellent discussion. Thought the Scope of Services could be done pretty easily. High cost would include architecture & visualization. Low cost wouldn’t include these. She outsources the a & v piece. Sent me a copy of the Housing Plan she just did for Hanover. Very well done. P. Byrnes spoke highly of her work. #9 Jeanne Armstrong: Land Use, Inc. Did Amherst’s Housing Plan in 2003. I liked this plan even though it is 5 years old. Was told she has retired. Lives on Huntington Ave in Hadley. Only possible listed # is 549-1087. Left a message 1/29/08 to contact me if interested (and if right tel. #). She called and left me a message that she has moved on to other things. Too many late evenings. She strongly supports our affordable housing efforts. Summary: So far, I would throw out #2 and #3 as being too high. I was surprised that Terry Szold’s estimate was as high as it was. This could have something to do with her health/surgery. David Dixon could have given it more thought, or asked Lorissa Brown to contact me. I think he is way out of the ball park. #1, #6 and #8 are fairly close. They are fairly close to Wayne’s estimate also. I felt as though I had the longest conversation with #1 and #8. I felt as though #6 did his homework to give me an estimate. I’m leaning towards $35,000 as the application amount. We should have at least 4 interested consultants, and probably more. I think this amount is reasonable in light of the estimates provided. I think #4 is low due to the nature of the organization. I’m not sure how much Catherine put into the estimate other than looking up some past housing plans PVPC completed recently. In all cases, consultants spoke very highly about Northampton, and most had an interest in doing the job, but current commitments prevented some from thinking about it further. Lots of kudos for the work the City does, and the place the City is. Alternatives: We apply for $5,000 to do the “Scope of Services” this time around, and the next round we do the RFPs. Northampton Housing Partnership, Peg Murray, Tel. (413) 587-1750, pmurray99@comcast.net A. General Contents of a “Community Housing Strategic Plan” 1 1. Community profile using demographics, analytics and trends for the City, County and Region, including population and housing characteristics. 2. A current inventory and map of existing subsidized and affordable housing in the City. 3. A SWOT analysis outlining the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats to affordable housing in the community. 4. A plan containing strategies consistent with the Sustainable Northampton Plan to guide the City in future decision-making relating to affordable housing, as well as the range of housing for a diverse and vibrant community. 5. Resources to assist the City in maintaining data for future updates to the plan (i.e. spreadsheets, matrices, recordkeeping and workflow suggestions for sound data collection, etc.). B. How the “Community Housing Strategic Plan” will be Conducted 1. Send Requests for Qualifications (RFQ) to several consultants we believe have the capacity to conduct the CHSP as outlined above. The selection will be made from a list of possible consultants provided by the Planning Department and housing specialists known to the NHP. 2. Based on the results of responses received, narrow the field to no more than 5 consultants to interview at no cost. With the assistance of the Planning Department, meetings will be scheduled with NHP members, CPC members who wish to participate in the process, and Planning Department management and staff to meet with each consultant to evaluate capacity and suitability to conduct the CHSP. 3. Send Requests for Proposals (RFP) to the most qualified consultants to fix the cost of the project. 4. Select the best consultant at the best cost. 5. Hold preliminary meetings with the consultant to design a specific “Scope of Services” document to precisely spell out the scope of the work desired. This will help to assure that all participants have input to the process and there are no misunderstandings in terms of the services requested. We would like a separate estimate for the cost to conduct the “Scope of Services”. 6. A subcommittee of the NHP and Planning Department staff will be available to meet with the consultant at various key decision points in the process to discuss results of the work to date and serve as a sounding board. 7. Presentation of the consultant’s report will be provided to NHP members, any members of the CPC who wish to participate in the process, and Planning Department management and staff. 8. Use consultant’s report to guide future decision-making relating to housing. C. Project Timeline The “Scope of Services” will be completed by June 30, 2008. The CHSP will be completed by October 31, 2008. Timing was reviewed with Wayne Feiden, as Planning Department resources will be needed to conduct the CHSP. 1 Race, age, income, mobility, education levels, employment status, types of housing structures, age of housing, cost of homeownership and rental, tenure & vacancy, home values to median income, households financially stressed by housing costs, etc.