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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2002 05-21 HCM 1 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 MAY 21, 2002 ADMINISTRATION CONFERENCE ROOM CALL TO ORDER The Brooklyn Center Housing Commission was called to order by Chairperson Yelich at 7 p.m. ROLL CALL Chairperson Mark Yelich, Commissioners Ernie Erickson, Kris Lawrence-Anderson, Mary Barrus, Dennis Snook, Lloyd Deuel, Kathleen Carmody, and Judy Thorbus. Also present were Council Liaison Tim Ricker and Community Development Specialist Tom Bublitz. Commissioner Michael VonDeLinde was absent and unexcused from the meeting. APPROVAL OF MINUTES -March I9, 2002 There was a motion by Commissioner Erickson and seconded by Commissioner Thorbus to approve the minutes of the March 19, 2002 Housing Commission meeting as submitted. The motion passed. APPROVAL OF MINUTES April 16, 2002 There was a motion by Commissioner Carmody and seconded by Commissioner Lawrence- Anderson to approve the minutes of the April 16, 2002 Housing Commission meeting as submitted. The motion passed. CHAIRPERSON'S REPORT Chairperson Yelich welcomed new commission member Mary Barrus. Commissioner Barrus stated she has been a Brooklyn Center resident since the 1960's, graduating from Brooklyn Center high school. She also explained she lives in the southeast corner of the City. STAFF REPORT ON SURVEY OF CITIES REGARDING HOUSING/RENTAL ORDINANCES The Community Development Specialist noted he had surveyed several cities with regard to ordinances relative to housing and rental issues. The Community Development Specialist's comments to the Housing Commission are summarized by the following: The New Brighton public safety director commented on New Brighton's ordinance and explained that the ordinance is in its first year of operation starting last July. Only two complexes in the city of New Brighton were required to have provisional licenses, one was going to appeal and then sold the property to an owner who complied 5-21-02 -1- with the requirements of the ordinance. The second property was a problem property in the city, Polynesian Village, but they submitted a mitigation plan under the ordinance. The mitigation plan included a plan for improving screening of tenants, using social service agencies on site to address certain problems and creating space for after school programs in their buildings. The New Brighton Director of Public Safety noted Richfield used New Brighton's ordinance as their model. He also explained that the .5 police calls per unit was a negotiated number after numerous hearings with property owners and managers and that the "community norm" for apartments is approximately .15 to .16 per unit. The calls measured in the New Brighton program exclude medicals and assists. The Brooklyn Park ordinance was not yet available. The Brooklyn Park City Council will be receiving the proposed ordinance at their May 28, 2002 City Council meeting for a first reading. Patricia Behrend, the civilian supervisor with the Minneapolis SAFE program was interviewed and explained that the police department is charged with enforcing the conduct on licensed premises provision in the Minneapolis city code. The approach Minneapolis takes for this ordinance is to monitor buildings with a high number of police calls. In the Minneapolis SAFE program a first letter is issued for violations such as prostitution, drugs, liquor violations, weapons, disturbing the peace, noisy parties, etc. If there is a second violation in 12 months a second letter is written except in the case of more serious offenses such as drugs, weapons, prostitution, etc. whether only one letter is needed to begin enforcement. After the first letter, a SAFE unit contacts the owner along with a crime prevention specialist and police officer. After the second letter, the owner must contact the SAFE team to do a management plan. After a third letter is issued, the SAFE team meets with the city's housing inspection staff and city attorney's office. The owner must then appear before a board made up of rental owners and they make recommendations to the City Council as to the disposition of the particular building. At that point the City Council has the option to revoke the license. Ms. Behrend explained that as an example in 1,000 first letters issued, 50 will reach a second letter situation and 6 will get to a third letter situation. In the Minneapolis program if owners lose a license on one building and a violation happens at a second building they could lose their license at all buildings owned by them in the city. The SAFE program also includes a trespass sign program where the owner signs an affidavit and receives two signs warning of trespass violations. The sign essentially replaces a verbal warning so that the police can arrest an individual if they return after a first trespass violation. The City of Richfield's ordinance has been in place since February, 2002. Riehfield has a separate housing staff and a separate environmental health staff to handle health complaints. The police department is responsible for crime prevention and the crime free multi-housing program. To date, no apartment complex has been required to prepare a mitigation plan under the Richfield city ordinance. 5-21-02 -2- •.5 police calls per unit is also used in Richfield as in New Brighton. No one at the city of Richfield could verify why .5 calls per unit were used. Training is conducted for Richfield apartment managers and owners by the city's crime prevention staff, which consists of two civilians and one sworn officer. LOGIS is writing a program for calls for service to report to apartment complexes. This program would delete out medicals and other calls that are not counted under the city ordinance. The first six months of Richfield's program is somewhat of a adjustment and shakedown. With the second six months July to December focusing on more serious enforcement. Currently Richfield has 143 apartment complexes in the city. No complex has required a mitigation plan yet but some are close. The Community Development Specialist briefly reviewed the conduct on licensed premises process for the city of Brooklyn Center. He explained apartments get a summary report, not an actual police report, each 30 days outlining any violations at their complex. If there are violations the police send a first letter regarding the violation and the owner at that point is to call the sergeant in charge of the enforcement program with a solution. If another violation occurs within 90 days the owner/manager must send a letter to the tenant indicating their behavior is in violation and will result in eviction if it continues. If there is a third violation and no eviction has occurred the owner/manager must appear before the City Council. This provision can be waived if the owner/manager has filed for an unlawful detainer. Staff briefly discussed the current code enforcement sweep noting that apartments will be included in this sweep, which is a change from previous years. Also, he noted the publicity for the sweep was contained in the City Watch newsletter. He explained the sergeant in charge of the program for Code Enforcement is Sergeant Kevin Benner. He also explained there are two staff people from the police department working on the code enforcement sweep including a full time CSO and a part time intern. Commissioner Lawrence-Anderson inquired if the new staff are aware of the repeat offenders with regard to code enforcement. The Community Development Specialist explained Sergeant Benner has taken a very proactive approach to code enfarcement and is aware of the chronic code enfarcement offenders. Chairperson Yelich noted that the Housing Commission was given a charge to provide input on possible revisions to the Ciry's rental licensing requirements. He summarized some of the areas discussed by the housing commission relative to ordinance provisions and noted the following items: 1. Tenant background checks 2. Accurate counts for calls for service of specific types of violations. 3. A tenant register. 4. Levels of licenses relative to vialations. 5-21-02 -3- 5. Administrative overhead for management of the program. 6. Fees as they relate to the number of calls for service. 7. Training of managers/owners. Commissioner Thorbus stated she would like additional information on Minnesota Statute 504B.211 which is referred to in the New Brighton ordinance. Chairperson Yelich noted that the .5 calls for service level seemed to originate from some arbitrary source. He noted Brooklyn Park's numbers seem to relate to single family residential calls for service. He suggested that the ordinance could be structured to provide that the apartment complex strive to get to a constant level to self correct its calls for service number rather than fixing it when it is above .5. Commissioner Lawrence-Anderson stated that she thinks the Commission should look at Brooklyn Park's calls for service in their ordinance as we begin to structure ours since the two cities do have impacts on one another. OTHER B USINESS Chairperson Yelich commented that the Housing Commission has had a history of ineeting and not meeting during the summer months and inquired of the Commission whether or not they would choose to meet during the summer. Commissioner Erickson stated that he believes the group wants to see the rental ordinance issue through to its conclusion and would support meeting in the summer. Commissioner Lawrence-Anderson stated she thinks the Commission needs to meet and thinks that the rental ordinance is a critical issue. There was a general consensus of commission members to continue meeting in the summer. Chairperson Yelich recognized Commissioner Deuel and noted his dual role as a neighborhood watch captain and housing commission member. Commissioner Deuel briefly reviewed a situation in his neighborhood where apparently an individual has sold their house and moved away from the City due to certain behaviors displayed by neighbors. He noted that he had become involved in this situation in his role as neighborhood watch captain and counseled the neighbor experiencing the problem behavior. He summarized his meetings with the neighbors and the police involved in the situation and commented that the response by the Police Department was very good. He noted he had forwarded information regarding this issue to the City Manager and City Council. He expressed his concern and disappointment that this issue resulted in the move of a family from the city of Brooklyn Center. 5-21-02 -4- Commissioner Thorbus referenced the senior housing showcase in the POST newspaper and noted this may be helpful in the Commission's future discussions. ADJOURNMENT There was a motion by Commissioner Deuel and seconded by Commissioner Erickson to adjourn the meeting. The motion passed. The Brooklyn Center Housing Commission adjourned at 8:45 p.m. C�airman 5-21-02 -5-