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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2002 02-19 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 FEBRUARY 19, 2002 CONFERENCE ROOM A CALL TO ORDER The Brooklyn Center Housing Commission was called to order by Chairperson Yelich at 7 p.m. ROLL CALL Chairperson March Yelich, Commissioners Ernie Erickson, Kris Lawrence-Anderson, Lloyd Deuel, Kathleen Carmody, Michael VonDeLinde, and Judy Thorbus. Also present were Council Liaison Tim Ricker and Community Development Specialist Tom Bublitz. Commissioner Dennis Snook was absent and unexcused from the meeting. APPROVAL OF AGENDA There was a motion by Commissioner Deuel and seconded by Commissioner Carmody to approve the agenda as submitted. The motion passed. APPROVAL OF MINUTES January I5, 2002 Commissioner Thorbus indicated a correction which needed to be made in the minutes regarding her introductory comments as a new member of the commission. She noted that in the first paragraph under Chairperson Report it should indicate that she has three children and not two as indicated in the minutes. The Community Development Specialist noted the correction. There was a motion by Commissioner Thorbus and seconded by Commissioner Erickson to approve January 15, 2002 Housing Commission minutes as amended. The motion passed. CHAIRPERSON'S REPORT Chairperson Yelich noted that one of the things he had been doing since being elected chair was to consider the Housing Commission's mission and responsibilities. He explained his vision of the Housing Commission's mission is to consider and advance ideas on how to improve housing in the City of Brooklyn Center in order to keep it an attractive and inviting community. He suggested that one of the ways in which the City can obtain information on how it is doing in the area of maintaining and providing attractive and desirable housing is how it compares in median value to other areas. Chairperson Yelich noted an article in the most recent Sunday edition of the Minneapolis Star Tribune pointing out the median value of homes in the metropolitan area. He commented that a I number of years ago a median priced home in Brooklyn Center was approximately $70,000 and 2-19-02 -1- i r according to the Star Tribune article in 2001 the median value home was $145,000. Chairperson Yelich posed the question of how the City of Brooklyn Center compares with other areas of the metropolitan area and suggested that one goal of the City would be to move to the overall metro median average which was $170,000 in 2001. He noted that Brooklyn Center always tends to be towards the bottom of the range in these types of surveys and as a commission we have the opportunity to advance our recommendations to the City Council to improve our position. Commissioner Lawrence-Anderson commented that this is one of the reasons she was interested in the Housing Commission, particularly with regard to the maintenance of homes and how the City deals with problem properties. She noted that the status of Brookdale was also important to the City since it adds to the quality of the City. She stated the reputation of the City is important and that the overall reputation of a city is how people outside the city view it. REVIEW OF MEMORANDUM REGARDING RV ORDINANCE Chairperson Yelich thanked Commissioner Erickson for drafting the memorandum and noted that he thinks the memo covers all the topics discussed by the Commission. Commissioner Erickson briefly reviewed the history of the Commission's discussion of RV parking requirements noting that the issue was given to the Commission by the City Council at a work session of the City Council at which the Commission's recommendations on other code items were discussed. He explained the initial complaint that prompted the Commission's review of this issue addressed a site line problem where one neighbor's RV was blocking another neighbor's view of the traffic as they were backing out of their driveway. Councilmember Ricker inquired if the Housing Commission has prepared a proposal on RV parking. Commissioner Erickson responded explaining that the Commission has looked at the issue of RV parking but does not have a proposal to date. He explained, after the Commission's review and analysis of parking with regard to RV's, there is still a question as to whether or not there is a problem with RV parking in the city. Councilmember Ricker noted that, in looking at the future and the fact that many older people have RV's, there may be more RV's in the city in the future. Commissioner Erickson noted the Commission has not really reached a consensus on the issue of RV parking and there is no strong direction to provide a recommendation to the City Council at this point. He noted that is why the Commission is attempting to draft this memo to get further clarification. Chairperson Yelich explained he had taken photos of RV parking around the city and proceeded to pass them around for commission members to view. Commissioner Thorbus addressed the issue of time limits to parking and inquired as to what could be done about old cars that are legally licensed. 2-19-02 -2- Commissioner Lawrence-Anderson posed the question of addressing a percentage of the front yard or parking area that could be used for parking RV's. She stated she believes the size of the RV should be proportionate to the property and perhaps language could be used that would indicate that the RV could only occupy a certain percentage of a driveway. Commissioner members continued to review the photo's taken by Chairperson Yelich regarding examples of RV parking. Chairperson Yelich inquired of commission members whether they noticed any consistent themes to the photos. Commissioner Deuel stated that in general the photos that he found to be examples of parking that he would consider objectionable contained too many vehicles. Commissioner Erickson agreed and stated that many of the photos showed multiple recreational vehicle items and that there were just too many vehicles parked on the property. Chairperson Yelich inquired of commission members how they thought the Commission should proceed on this issue. Commissioner Erickson suggested that the Commission may want to submit the photos if and when the Commission has something concrete in mind in terms of an ordinance revision. Commissioner Carmody suggested that the Commission should look at the issue of limiting property owners to two RV's per property. Commissioner Lawrence-Anderson stated that she would still suggest looking at a proportionate percentage of the driveway to be used for parking recreational vehicles. Commission members briefly continued the discussion of possible ordinance provisions regarding RV's and he suggested that the Commission could firm up an ordinance at their next meeting. REVIEW CENSUS DATA/INFORMATION RELA7'IVE TO SENIOR HOUSING The Community Development Specialist explained that his initial intent was to prepare a report on senior housing using census data as the starting point. He noted he did not have tune to put together anything in writing for this meeting and was able to only provide the census data as a starting point for eventual preparation of a more comprehensive report. He explained if commission members would like he would try to come back for the April meeting with the beginning of a report on senior housing in Brooklyn Center including analysis of census data, summary of existing reports relative to Brooklyn Center senior housing and other issues which could serve as a starting point for further discussion and analysis of senior housing. Chairperson Yelich commented that he thinks long term planning in this area is important and as a society we seem to react to crisis in areas such as housing rather than be more proactive. He noted the goal would be to develop a long term plan that could address problems before they become a crisis. 2-19-02 -3- ADJOURNMENT There was a motion by Commissioner Carmody and seconded by Commissioner Erickson to adjourn the meeting. The motion passed. The Brooklyn Center Housing Commission adjourned at 8:40 p.m. c Chairm 2-19-02 -4-