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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2005 01-18 HCM MINUTES OF THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE HOUSING COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF BROOKLYN CENTER IN THE COUNTY OF HENNEPIN AND STATE OF MINNESOTA REGULAR SESSION JANUARY 18, 2005 COUNCIL COMMISSION 1200M CALL TO ORDER The Brooklyn Center Housing Commission was called to order by Chairperson Yelich at 7:00 p.m. ROLL CALL Chairperson Mazk Yelich, Commissioners Kris Lawrence-Anderson, Mary Barrus, Stan Leino, and Judy Thorbus. Also present were Council Liaison Mary O'Connor and Community Development Specialist Tom Bublitz. Commissioners David Johnson and Jean Schuster were absent and excused from the meeting. APPROVAL OFAGENDA There was a motion by Commissioner Thorbus and seconded by Commissioner Leino to approve the agenda as submitted. The motion passed. APPROVAL OF MINUTES DECEMBER 21, 2004 Chairperson Yelich revisited the discussion of the 15 percent limit on affordable rental units as discussed in the December minutes. He requested the Community Development Specialist to clarify this recommendation as contained in the minutes and the housing report. The Community Development Specialist noted that in reviewing the Commission's discussion, there seemed to be two lines of thought, one addressing the 15 percent cap on a city wide basis and one on a project basis. He noted that he and the chair had discussed this issue prior to �nalizing the report and it seemed to make the most sense to use the 15 percent litnit on a project by project basis when there is a mixed income projec� Commissioner Barrus stated that her recollection was that the Commission recommendations allowed an all affordable or all high end building but if you did have a mixed income project, it had to be limited to 15 percent low. The Community Development Specialist noted that after reviewing the minutes with the Community Development Director, Mr. Hoffman had some recommendations for revisions to the December minutes which clarified his discussion of the proposed senior housing project along 57 Avenue North. Commission members. reviewed the revised section of the December minutes distributed by the Community Development Specialist and Commissioner Thorbus noted there was an error in the third from the last line in the last paragraph where the word "go" is left out from "pay as you go". There was a motion by Commissioner Thorbus and seconded by Commissioner Lawrence- Anderson to approve the minutes of the December 21, 2004 Housing Commission meeNng as amended by the revision to the senior housing discussion on page 5 including the addition of -1- the word go in `pay as you go'. The motion passed. CHAIRPERSONS REPORT Chairperson Yelich explained he had attended the City Council meeting on January 10 where the Council passed a resolution receiving the Senior Housing Report from the Housing Commission. The Chair next commented on the recent Citizen's League report on tax rankings of inetropolitan area cities. He stated he would like to see the City Council consider the Citizen's League report even though it may not present Brooklyn Center in the best light, pointing out it is still looked at bypeople metro wide. COUNCIL LIAISONREPORT Councilmember O'Connor explained that the City Council is still talking about going forward with the senior citizen project along 57�' Avenue North. She expressed concerns about spending public money on housing and added that she thinks the private market can handle this. Commission members briefly discussed the condemnation action taken by the City on the Hmong American Shopping Center site and reviewed some of the contamination issues on the site. ANNUAL ELECTION OF CHAIRPERSONAND APPOINTMENT OF YICE CHAIR Chairperson Yelich explained that being Chair of the Housing Commission has been challenging and that he has always wanted to assure everyone has an opportunity to be heard and also to keep the group focused on a goal. He asked that the Commission keep these things in mind as they move forward. He also noted he has appreciated his opportunity to serve as Chair of the Housing Commission but also thinks it is a good idea to rotate the Chair. He stated he would not be seeking another term as Chair, at least not this year. Chairperson Yelich called for nominations for Chair of the Housing Commission. Commissioner Thorbus nominated Commissioner Lawrence-Anderson. There was no second of this nomination. Chairperson Yelich nominated Commissioner Thorbus as Chair. Commissioner Lawrence-Anderson Seconded Commissioner Thorbus' nomination. Chairperson Yelich inquired if there were any other nominations. There being none, he entertained a motion to close the nominations. There was a motion by Commissioner Leino and seconded by Commissioner Lawrence-Anderson to close the nominations. The motion passed. Commissioner Judy Thorbus was elected Chair of the Housing Commission for 2005 by unanimous consent of the Housing Commission members. Chairperson Thorbus stated she would defer consideration of the appointment of Vice Chair until the next monthly meeting and deferred to Commissioner Yelich to continue conducting the rest of the Housing Commission meeting. DISCUSSION OF 2005 COMMISSIONAGENDA AND ACTIVITIES The Community Development Specialist noted that at this time there is no specific direction from the -2- City Council with regard to any projects for the Housing Commission. Commissioner Yelich suggested that this was an opportunity for the Commission to do a i brainstorming session and he opened the meeting up for discussion. Coxnmissioner Barrus stated she would like to know if the Housing Commission has a role in the opportunity site project and added that she thinks the Housing Commission should be involved in the project, especially in the housing element. Commissioner Yelich stated that Chairperson Thorbus will have an opportunity to serve on the task force or to appoint someone. Commissioner Leino suggested that a joint meeting with the Planning Commission should be considered for 2005. He stated he also wanted to consider the turnover rate in housing in the city. He stated he believes there is a high turnover and questioned whether Brooklyn Center is higher than other cities. He added this may put a strain on city resources and requested information on the turnover rate. Chairperson Thorbus addressed the issue of code enforcement and added that she thinks there is a lot of single family homes becoming rental properties. She added that there is also the issue of communicating code enforcement to residents in other languages. Chairperson Thorbus also stated that she would welcome any articles on housing the Commission members may find and suggested that they bring them to meetings. Commissioner Barrus stated that she wi shes the City could send out sometlung on codes other than what is in the City Watch. She stated the code information may not be noticed in the City Watch newsletter and also referenced the language barrier for some residents. Commissioner Lawrence-Anderson stated that she believes more single family homes are becoming rental and that there is a need to examine that issue. She inquired as to what kinds of numbers we are seeing and how it relates to the stability of neighborhoods. She added that she believes that single family homes becoming rental property is a very risky thing in the long term. Commissioner Barrus expressed a concern about redevelopment in the city and how it may be affecting areas including Northbrook, Brookdale itself, the vacant lot where Jerry's New Market used to be and Brookdale Square. She added that she thinks we need to promote and sell the city. Commissioner Leino inquired whether the Commission could get figures on single family rentals and how we compare with other cities. Commissioner Yelich discussed the crime rate in the city and the perception it creates. He added that housing is a key factor, particularly rental housing. He suggested a cause and effect analysis to determine things that are causing the city to be perceived as a high tax, high crime city. He added that it should be determined what we can control and what we can't control affecting these areas. Commissioner Yelich stated that he also believes that Brooklyn Center properties are under valued by $20,000 to $30,000 per properiy. He pointed out that realtors promote the city as an investment -3- opportunity for rental investments. Commissioner Leino stated that we may not be able to limit rental properties but may be able to increase consciousness of the issue. He added that Richfield is a comparable community to Brooklyn Center but they have relatively higher housing values. Commissioner Bamis stated she believes that commercial areas drive housing issues. Commissioner Yelich suggested that it is somewhat of a chicken and egg issue and the question is will businesses locate if there is not market data to support the business. He added that if we can't get more diverse housing, we can't support new commercial areas. Commissioner Barrus stated that she wants to make sure that we don't disparage rental property in general but address those properties that are not maintained. Commissioner Yelich also inquired whether the fees for rental licensing are covering the costs of inspections and administration. He pointed out there are a number of issues the Commission reviewed this evening including the issue of single family rentals, the Opportunity Site and the possibility of a joint Planning Commission meeting. Commissioner Lawrence-Anderson suggested incorporating all three of the issues referenced by Commissioner Yelich including single family rentals, the Opportunity Site and the Planning Commission. She stated the Housing Commission should look at code enforcement, rental housing and tie it in with the commercial development. She added that she thinks the Commission should be working in the same direction as the Planning Commission. Chairperson Thorbus stated she would try to get Planning Commission Chair Tim Willson to the next Housing Commission meeting. OTHER BUSINESS Chairperson Thorbus urged the other Commission members to attend the public meetings relative to the Opportunity Site. She also urged the Housing Commission members to attend the City Council meetings as much as possible and also to bring any articles on housing to Commission meetings. There was no other business addressed by the Commission. ADJOURNMENT There was a motion by Commissioner Barrus and seconded by Chairperson Thorbus to adjourn the meeting. The motion passed. The Brooklyn CenterHousing Commission adjourned at 8:45 p.m. airmar� r -4- MEMORANDIJM TO: Chairperson Thorbus and Housing Commission members FROM: Tom Bublitz, Community Development Specialist SUBJECT: Housing Data Date: February 9, 2005 As follow-up to the January Housing Commission meeting I am assembling data on single family owner/rental occupied and rental housing. Currently I have data on single family housing turnover by city [see 2004 Residential Sales] and numbers of owner and rental units by city as per 2000 census data. Data on total number of single family rentals by city must be done by a survey of other cities. I hope to have some of this data available by our February meeting. As of the end of 2004, Brooklyn Center inspectidn records show 280 single family residences single family detached, attached and condo units] are licensed as rental properties. The same data base shows 62 two family and 3,357 multi family units [258 buildings in 74 complexes] licensed as rental. 2004 RESIDENTIAL SALES [SALES FROM 10/2003- 9/2004]* i CITY NUMBER OF SALES PERCENT BROOKLYN CENTER 423 5.92 BROOKLYN PARK 79g 5.18 CRYSTAL 322 4.46 NEW HOPE 206 4.54 RICHFIELD 454 4.67 ROBBINSDALE 254 6.09 ST. LOUIS PARK 610 5.33 Represents single family home sales. Percent column represents percentage of total single family homes in city. i HOUSING TENURE B�' CITY [2000 CENSUS DATA] CITY OWNER OCCUPIED RENTER OCCUPIED PERCENT* IJNITS L7NITS BROOKLYN CENTER 7,855 3,575 68.7/31.3 BROOKLYN PARK 17,923 6,509 73.4/26.6 CRYSTAL 7,286 2,103 77.6/22.4 NEW HOPE 4,863 3,802 56.1/43.9 RICHFIELD 10,184 4,889 67.6/32.4 i ROBBINSDALE 4,509 1,588 74.0/26.0 MINNEAPOLIS 83,408 78,944 51.4/48.6 ST. LOUIS PARK 1S NUMBER IS PERCENT OF OWNER OCCUPIED/ SECOND NUMBER IS RENTER OCCUPIED PERCENT.