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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2005 03-15 HCM MIl�]UTES OF THE PROCEEDINGS OF 'THE HOUSING COMn�IISSION OF THE CITY OF BROOKLYN CENTER IN THE COUNTY OF HENNEPIN AND STATE OF MINNESOTA 4 REGULAR SESSION MARCH 15, 2005 COUNCIL CONIlVIISSION ROOM CALL TO ORDER The Brooklyn Center Housing Commission was called to order by Chairperson Thorbus at 7:00 p.m. ROLL CALL Chairperson Judy Thorbus, Commissioners Kris Lawrence-Anderson, David 7ohnson, Jean Schuster and Mark Yelich. Also present were Council Liaison Mary O'Connor, Councilmember Diane Niesen, Councilmember Kathleen Carmody and Community Development Specialist Tom Bublitz. Commissioner Stan Leino was absent and excused. Also in attendance was Karen Youngberg, a realtor with ReMax Associates Plus who had been invited as a special guest speaker to the meeting. Staff noted that Mary Barrus had resigned from the Commission. APPROVAL OFAGENDA Councilmember Niesen stated she would like to be on the agenda if the Commission has time and noted it would be new business. Commissioner Yelich requested to address the issue of rental housing under other business. There was a motion by Commissioner Johnson and seconded by Commissioner Schuster to approve the agenda as amended. The motion passed. APPROVAL OF MINUTES FEBRUARY 1 S, 2005 Councilmember O'Connor noted a correction to be made on Page 2 of the minutes. In the first sentence on top of Page 2, Councilmember O'Connor indicated she did not make the statement that the City Conncil "agreed to acquire the Dollar Store and Auto Parts Store along 57 Avenue North" and it should be stricken from the minutes. Chairperson Thorbus noted two corrections on Page 5 of the minutes. She explained that she had not attended the City's recent birthday party and that Paragraph 3 on Page 5 should be amended to reflect this. Also, she noted the paragraph before Other Business referencing her absence from the March meeting was not correct and should be deleted. There were no other ameadments to the minutes. There was a motion by Comaussioner Yelich and seconded by Commissioner Johnson to approve the minutes of the February 15, 2005 Housing Commission meeting as amended. The motion passed. CHAIRPERSON'S REPORT Chairperson Thorbus welcomed Karen Youngberg to the meeting who introduced herself as a long -1- time resident of Brooklyn Center and a realtor working for ReMax Associates Plus. Chairpemsn Thorbus noted she was moving Ms. Youngberg up on the agenda. Ms. Youngberg noted� that she is on the Board of Directors of the new Brooklyn Center Business Association, which was formed in January of this yeaz. She pointed out that businesses and individuals can join the association. Ms. Youngberg reviewed the $rooklyn Center real estate mazket with Comxnission members and distributed forms and other information to Commission members including a seller's disclosure form and market statistics. Ms. Youngberg reviewed market data for Brooklyn Center and noted tha.t the listings are defined by various terms including "active" and "pending". She pointed out that pending means that the purchase agreement has been accepted but that the property has not closed. She explained current active listings for houses in Brooklyn Center range from $144,900 to $312,000. Ms. Youngberg pointed out that most homes active in Brooklyn Center are in two primary categories from $150,000 to $200,000 and from $200,000 to $300,000. She pointed out 38 homes have been sold in the city since January 2005 and the range in sale price has been from $104,000 to $239,000. Ms. Youngberg reviewed the seller disclosure forms with the Commission including the new form mandated by the State in 2004. She stated she encourages buyers to ha.ve inspections done on homes and buyers must now formally waive inspections if they choose not to have an inspection done. Ms. Youngberg discussed rental property in the city and sta.ted the number of single family rental properties is increasing in the City of Brooklyn Center. Commissioner Yelich inquired as to what is the market dynamic taking place to encourage owners to rent tYieir property. Ms. Youngberg explained that she believes that the Section 8 rent subsidy program is one of the things that encourages single family rental properties. The Community Development Specialist noted he had recently surveyed several other metro azea cities with regazd to the number of single family rental properties in their cities. He pointed out the data is from staff from other cities and included single family homes, towrihomes and condos. He reported the following data from his survey which includes the total count of single family, townhome and condo rentals in the city and the percentage they represent of the total single family, tovvnhomes and condos in each city. The survey data showed Brooklyn Center with 280 (3.4%), Brooklyn Park with 417 (2.3%), Crystal at 280 (3.7%), New Hope with 202 (4.1%), Richfield with 333 (3.3%) and Robbinsdale with 163 (3.5%). Commission members continued to discuss the housing market and Commissioner Johnson inquired as to what the City can do to improve its housing infrastructure. Ms. Youngberg stated she believes the city needs more affordable housing and also noted the success of the Humboldt Greenway along Humboldt Avenue in Minneapolis, which is not affordable housing but has had success in selling homes. Chairperson Thorbus inquired as to how the City is involved with the Section 8 program. The Community Development Specialist explained that the City does not manage the Section 8 program and that this is done by the Metropolitan Council through the Metro Housing and Redevelopment Authority (Metro HI2A). He explained the City does contract with Metro HRA to do inspections for -2- Section 8 properties in addition to its regular licensing inspection for rental properties. He also explained that the Section 8 program is being considered for significant changes at the Congressional level and pointed out that currently the Section 8 budget at the nationallevel represents 43 percent of HUD's budget with the possibility of increasing to 57 percent in 2006. He explained that some of the proposed changes for Section 8 at the nationallevel would involve pmviding a specific allocation to local public housing authorities for Section 8 rather than a per unit subsidy. The Commission continued its discussion of the Brooklyn Center housing market and Commissioner Yelich noted tha.t Bmoklyn Center seems to be at the bottom of the metro area medina home values. Ms. Youngberg commented that the city is still struggling with the belief by some people that Brooklyn Center is not as safe a city as azeas above 85�' Avenue North. She explained that this is a perception issue and that much of the crime in the city is due to the large number of auto dealers and lazge amount of retail in the city. Housing Commissioners continued to discuss housing in Brooklyn Center including the barriers to home ownership in the city. First time homebuyer pmgrams were discussed and Ms. Youngberg pointed out that the State's first time homebuyer program has competition from products created by banks and that the State's first time homebuyer program is not as competitive as it once was. She also noted that a barrier to home ownership is the increasing insurance costs for housing, which is creating problems for buyers. Ms. Youngberg next discussed agency disclosures required by State law and pointed out the various types of agency representation including buyer's agency, seller's agency, sub agent, facilita.tor, and dual agency where the agency represents both the buyer and seller. She' explained that dual agency works very well but it is important to be fair to both the buyer and seller. UPDATE ON OPPORTUNITY SITE TASK FORCE Commissioner Thorbus explained that at the Mazch Task Force meeting five options for the Opporlunity Site had been presented to Task Force members and that these options were available for Commission review this evening. Commission members proceeded to review the five options for configuration of the Opporiunity Site. After reviewing the five options, Commissioner Thorbus requested Commission members to comment on their impressions of the five development options. Commissioner Yelich indicated that he likes the idea of insulating housing from hwy 100 with the use of an office use. He emphasized the need for a connection to the rest of the city including pedestrian access to the library, civic center, elementary school and Brookdale. Commissioner Johnson stated that the development needs to be walkable and also accommodating to transit. He stated he liked the water feature and would like to see trees, an active play azea such as a tot lot and a covered bridge, which would tie in the architecture to the Earle Brown Farm development. Commissioner Schuster stated she liked the Earle Brown Parkwa conc t with the office uses alon Y -3- Hwy 100. She suggested moving the retail closer to Brookdale. I Commissioner Lawrence-Anderson stated she likes the Earle Brown Parkwa conc t and would s. Y �P shrink the water feature. She added she likes the crossing over water but would shrink the water feature a little to a11ow more open space. She added she would like to see upscale housing including townhomes and single family housing, the type of housing that would ariract professionals. DISCUSSION OF CHAPTER 12 In the interest of time, Chairperson Thorbus deferred this item to the next Housing Commission meeting. OTHER BUSINESS Commissioner Yelich sta.ted that he'had been talking to Kevin Benner in the police depariment as to how the provisional license program is going. He noted that Lt. Benner commented that the cutoff point for calls for service may be too high for sma11 complexes and too low for lazger complexes. Commissioner Yelich suggested tha.t this could be a future agenda. item for the Housing Commission. Commissioner Schuster passed out several articles relative to development in housing including one on suburban housing development and senior citizen assisted living. Chairperson Thorbus noted that, due to the lateness of the hours she would like to defer Councilmember Niesen's item until the May Housing Commission meeting. There was no other business addressed by the Commission. ADJOURNMENT There was a motion by Commissioner Yelich and seconded by Commissioner Johnson b adjourn the meeting. The motion passed. The Brooklyn Center Housing Commission adjourned at 9:50 p.m. ��airmanJ -4-