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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2003 04-15 HCM MINUTES OF THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE HOUSING COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF BROOKLYN CENTER IN THE COUNTY OF HENNEPIN AND STATE OF NIINNESOTA REGULAR SESSION APRIL 15, 2003 COUNCIL COMMISSION ROOM CALL TO ORDER The Brooklyn Center Housing Commission was called to order by Chairperson Yelich at 7:00 p.m. ROLL CALL Chairperson Mark Yelich, Commissioners Ernie Erickson, Kris Lawrence-Anderson, Mary Barrus, David Johnson, Lloyd Deuel, and Judy Thorbus. Also present were Council Liaison Kathleen Carmody, Community Development Director Brad Hoffinan and Community Development Specialist Tom Bublitz. Commissioner Stan Leino was absent and excused from the meeting. APPROVAL OFAGENDA There was a motion by Commissioner Deuel and seconded by Commissioner Erickson to approve the agenda as submitted. The motion passed. APPROVAL OF MINUTES MARCH 18 2003 There was a motion by Commissioner Erickson and seconded by Commissioner Deuel to approve the minutes of the March 18, 2003 Housing Commission meeting. The motion passed. CHAIRPERSONS REPORT Chairperson Yelich commented that the April 2"a joint meeting with the City Council was very productive and he thanked Councilmember Carmody for her involvement in putting the meeting together. He also reminded Commission members of the Apri121� recognition for City Commission members and encouraged the Housing Commission to attend this event. COUNCIL LIAISON REPORT Councilmember Cannody requested city staff to comment on the changes to the city's policy with regard to housing revenue bonds. The Community Development Director explained the City Attorney has prepared a policy on housing revenue bonds and other bonds the city may participate in, The city's current bond policy is done on a case by case basis and the new policy would create a more consistent policy than exists now and would require developers to submit certain information about their development and corporation before bonds would be considered. Councilmember Carmody noted that the proposed amendment to the city's rental dwelling license will be heard for a first reading at the June 9th City Council meeting. Councilmember Carmody next -1- addressed the Housing Commission report to the City Council dated March 17, 2003, prepared by Chairperson Yelich. Chairperson Yelich noted that he had prepared the report as a recap of what the Housing Commission has been doing for purposes of communicating this to the City Council at their meeting with Commission Chairs. A number of points were noted in the report including the city ranking as No. 1 in crime, that a high number of police calls are generated from rental property and that under Ordinance 12-911 "problem tenants are simply being shuffled around and Brooklyn Center staff are wasting their time initiating the shuffle". Chairperson Yelich commented that the information on 12-911 was based on Sergeant Benner's comments that problem tenants are sometimes shuffled around to various properties. Councilmember Carmody commented that she does not see city staffas responsible for initiating any shuffle of tenants between properties and does not see how staff is doing this. Chairperson Yelich commented that it is his understanding the calls for service reports for criminal activity are given to apartment managers and after two notiees, tenants are evicted and sometimes go to other apartment complexes. He explained that staff seems to put in the time and energy on the ordinance and tenants get shuffled around to other apartments. Councilmember Carmody commented that, would not the shuffle be initiated by apartment managers and not by city staff? She added that she does not think city staff is creating the problem with regard to any tenants being shuffled around by enforcing 12-911. Commissioner Yelich commented that he thinks the current ordinance is the problem and nat the way it is administered by city staff. Councilmember Carmody noted that the March 17, 2003 report to the City Council from the Chair also noted the reference to a"painfully slow six month process" to develop ordinance language. She stated she thinks part of the problem is that the City Council needs to push the schedule and noted it was a high priority for city staff to develop this ordinance. Commissioner Barrus commented that the Housing Commission seemed to know what it wanted but we had to deal with specific legal impacts and had to change the ordinance due to this discussion. She added she does not think anyone was dragging their feet but we also meet only once a month and that also is a factor. Chairperson Yelich stated that his reference to his progress on the ordinance was not a reflection on city staff and stated he thinks they have a lot on their plate but development of this ordinance should be a priority. Councilmember Carmody noted that City Prosecutor Bill Clelland had recently prepared a report for the City Council focusing on property maintenance at Summerchase and she requested the Community Development Director to comment on this information. -2- The Community Development Director explained that property maintenance at Sumnlerchase was an issue pointing out that there were constant compliance orders issued at the complex. He explained the items addressed in the compliance orders would be fixed and then 30 days later they would need repair again. He pointed out that this constant need for issuing and reissuing compliance orders led staff to do a unit by unit inspection. He also noted that the Minnesota Housing Finance Agency did an inspection under Section 42, Tax Credit Requirements, and that there were also areas that needed to be addressed under their inspection. In doing the unit by unit inspection, staff issued numerous compliance orders totaling between $1 to $2 million in repairs. He cited an example of roof maintenance where maintenance of the roof scuppers by keeping them clean to maintain water flow would have prevented further water damage caused by the scuppers clogging up. Councilmember Carmody inquired as to the status of Summerchase's compliance with the settlement agreement by April l, 2003. The Community Development Director stated that Summerchase has been working hard to clean up their property and the progress has been tremendous from that experienced before. Commissioner Deuel commented that he had been following the problems with apartments for a long time and stated that he believes there are three major areas of concern, one being the physical S condition of the building, the second being the financial issues relating to owners and the third being criminal issues related to the property. He stated that the problem seems to keep jumping around from one complex to another in the city. The Community Development Director explained that the city has used Chapter 12 for a number of clean ups in the city including Timber Ridge which is now Melrose Gates, Brookdale Ten which is now called Twin Lakes Manor and Brookside. He also noted that Section 12-911 focuses on problem individual tenants and that the new ordinance proposal deals with the overall demeanor of apartment complexes. He also pointed out that the amendments made to the rental licensing ordinance last fall were to establish a due process element to the ordinance so the Council could more effectively revoke rental licenses if necessary. The Commission generally discussed enforcement of the rentai licensing ordinance and it was noted that often enforcement takes a great deal of time including a time spent in court actions. Commissioner Yelich addressed the issue of how the city can address problem properties to catch them sooner before they end up in court. The Community Development Director responded that sometimes owners do not address compliance orders and because of this go to court, pay a fine and continue business as usual. He explained this can be a process that goes on for a very long time. He noted that in past enforcement actions, it had sometimes been effective to let the property get to a state where it is in serious problems an then I address the issue which in some cases has led to a complete upgrade of the complex. -3- Commissioner Thorbus brou t the issue of a fee structure for the provisional license. The Community Development Director stated that this would be handled separately by an ordinance and would be addressed at a future council meeting. Chairperson Yelich next addressed the issue of the city's crime rate and stated that after talking to police, one of the reasons the city has such a high crime rate is that criminals tend to live in affordable housing. The Community Development Director commented that the City of Roseville has a higher crime rate than Brooklyn Center and is not perceived as a high crime city. He also pointed out that the criminal element lives everywhere. Chairperson Yelich stated that he believes that the percentage of criminals in Brooklyn Center is higher than in other cities and referenced Hennepin County's SHAPE report. Commissioner Johnson pointed out that the data from Hennepin CountY SHAPE report has always assumed large amounts of retail as a factor in the crime rate in a city. Chairperson Yelich stated that he believes people do take published crime reports into account when buying a home and that this is a factor in Brooklyn Center. i Commissioner Erickson recalled that in 1995 three high profile murders took place in Brooklyn Park and that both cities suffered from this adverse publicity. He pointed out that similar crimes have been reported in numerous other cities and that all cities suffer from the negative publicity created by significant crimes. Chairperson Yelich noted that he wanted to keep the meeting on time and suggested that the Commission move on to the next agenda item. DRIVEWAY PAVING REQUIREMENTS Chairperson Yelich referred Commission members to the data in their packets regarding paving of driveways along with the draft ordinance language, which had previously been approved by the Housing Commisison. The Community Development Director explained that the issue is whether or not the Commission wants to require paving of driveways and how to enforce such a requirement including a time line for requiring the driveways to be paved. He pointed out, as was discussed at the Apri12 joint meeting with the City Council, it is difficult to require some persons, particularly elderl� persons, to pay for paving of a driveway. Therefore, the issue of defemng the paving of driveways to a point of sale is one option. If there is a consensus of the Commission to go forward with an amendment, he indicated he would have a draft available for the next meeting in May, which wouldbe connected to the time of sale of the property. Chairperson Yelich inquired of the Commission whether or not paved driveways should be required. -4- Commissioner Barrus noted that some unpaved driveways in the city can be quite long and cited the example of driveways found along old Lyndale Avenue. The Commission discussed brieflypaving of driveways done in conjunction with street projects: It was noted that people do pave their driveways during the time period when their street is being redone, but that no special provision is made with the city's street and utility contractor to pave individual driveways. Commissioner Thorbus stated that perhaps the City could look at a three year time line for requiring paved driveways or driveways would be paved when the street project is done in a particular area. Councilmember Cannody stated that there is still 12 years left on the city's street replacement program. Chairperson Yelich requested individual Commission members to indicate whether theywould be in favor of an ordinance requiring paving of driveways, which would be tied to a point of sale. Commissioners Barrus and Lawrence-Anderson indicated they would favor an ordinance, which would address driveway paving at the point of sale. Commissioner Johnson stated that he thinks paving of driveways is related to keeping the housing stock in good shape. Chai erson Yelich em rp ployed the fist to five techtuque for assessing a consensus of Commission members. Based on this, he indicated that there desire for an ordinance at point of sale could go either way. The Community Development Director stated he would bring back an ordinance to the Commission at their next month's meeting, which would tie the paving of driveways to point of sale. OTHER BUSINESS Commissionerbeuel stated he was asked to sit in on a planning meeting regarding the Neighborhood Watch Program held at the police department. He explained there were a number of representatives from the apartment community at the meeting and he added that he believes the Neighborhood Watch will be an effective tool for aparirnents. Commissioner Deuel also encouraged Housing Commission members to become Watch Captains since they would be a natural fit for that position. He concluded by stating that the police department's goal is to triple the amount of Neighborhood Watch Programs in the city. Commissioner Thorbus cited the Brooklyn Park program, which is one of the largest in the state. She added that perhaps the City of Brooklyn Center could look at a corporate sponsor for the Neighborhood Watch Program. She also discussed doing a survey of what the Commission's direction should be in the future. -5- Councilmember Carmody commented that given the budget constraints, the city now and in the future a survey would not be feasible. Commissioner Erickson commented that many of the issues that are assigned to the Housing Commission by the City Council come from calls or complaints from constituents. Chairperson Yelich commented that participation in Neighborhood Watch Groups is an excellent vehicle for obtaining input from residents regarding what their concerns are. There was no other business addressed by the Commission. ADJOURNMENT There was a motion by Commissioner Johnson and seconded by Chairperson Yelich to adjourn the meeting. The motion passed. The Brooklyn Center Housing Commission adjourned at 8:30 p.m. Chairman -6-