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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2002 07-16 HCM e 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 JULY 16, 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, Corrunissioners Kris Lawrence-Anderson, Mary Barrus, Lloyd Deuel, Kathleen Carmody, and Judy Thorbus. Also present was Community Development Specialist Tom Bublitz. Commissioners Ernie Erickson, Dennis Snook and Michael VonDeLinde were absent and excused from the meeting. Council Liaison Tim Ricker was absent from the meeting. APPROVAL OF AGENDA There was a motion by Commissioner Carmody and seconded by Commissioner Deuel to approve the agenda as submitted. The motion passed. APPROVAL OF MINUTES June 18, 2002 Chairperson Yelich noted that the text under the heading of Chairperson's Report actually addressed item #6 discussion of municipal housing/rental ordinances. There was a motion by Commissioner Carmody and seconded by Commissioner Deuel to approve the minutes of the June 18, 2002 Housing Commission meeting as amended. The motion passed. CHAIRPERSONS REPORT Chairperson Yelich noted he had attended the recent City Council meeting regarding the upcoming 2003 budget. He pointed out the Council discussed the budget costs relative to rental housing and noted that the costs are increasing. He added that Councilmember Peppe addressed the issue of using rental fees to motivate property managers to improve the performance of their properties. DISCUSSION OF MUNICIPAL HOUSING/RENTAL ORDINANCES Commissioner Barrus suggested, with regard to the Brooklyn Park ordinance, that additional options for licensing could be considered other than simply the provisional or regular license. She suggested that perhaps a level III license could be established, noting that in the Brooklyn Park ordinance when you reach level III there does not seem to be a definite time period to i 7-16-02 -1- resolve the issues which created the level three category. She suggested that any ordinance established should enable the City to have clear provisions addressing the behavioral aspects of the ordinance regulations and subsequent effective enforcement action to provide adequate incentives and assurances that properties will improve their position with regard to the various levels in a reasonable amount of time. Chairperson Yelich suggested that the Commission begin reviewing the Brooklyn Park ordinance section by section. Commissioner Lawrence-Anderson stated she believes the Purpose paragraph in both the Brooklyn Park and New Brighton ordinances are important and that she particularly liked the last line in New Brighton's Purpose section emphasizing an environment "suitable for raising children" She stated she likes the Brooklyn Park Purpose section overall with the addition of the last sentence in the New Brighton Purpose section. Commission members diseussed the definition of apartment in the Brooklyn Park ordinance, pointing out that it is defined as a"cornmunity, complex, or building having a common owner and containing 16 or more living units". The Commission discussed what should be included in the ordinance as to the size of rental properties included in the ordinance. After discussion of this item, there was a general consensus that all dwelling units requiring a rental license should be included in the ordinance. The Commission next discussed the licensing period. Commission Barrus suggested the ordinance could look at performance of the complex and the better performing complexes could have a longer licensing period. She pointed out there are two ways to achieve the goals of the ordinance and those are either through incentives or punishments. Commissioner Lawrence-Anderson stated she believes an annual inspection is necessary for rental properties and that incentives are provided in the fee structures for the licenses. The Commission continued to discuss the Brooklyn Park ordinance and directed the Community Development Specialist to contact Brooklyn Park with regard to section 117.44 paragraph A to determine why these dates were used for licensing and renewal periods. In addition the Community Development Specialist will provide information on how the current city of Brooklyn Center rental licenses are renewed. Additionally the Commission requested the Community Development Specialist to find out what happens when a new owner buys a rental property and how does the new owner obtain a license. Commissioner Lawrence-Anderson pointed out the provisional license in the Brooklyn Park ordinance is based on the building and not the owner and suggested that even if a new owner comes in the license would not change in terms of the licensing level of the building. Commissioner Thorbus brought up the issue of property manager background checks as it pertains to the ordinance. 7-16-02 -2- r Commissioner Carmody pointed out that she believes that background checks are now required by state law under the Keri Koskinen law which originated from the murder of Ms. Koskinen, a tenant, by an individual employed by her apartment management. Commissioner Lawrence-Anderson stated that she liked the application section in the New Brighton ordinance contained on page 3 section 13 .155. She suggestion that this section could be incorporated into the Brooklyn Park application section 117.461. Chairperson Yelich addressed the issue of how performance of apartment complexes could be I measured in an ordinance. He reviewed his approach to create a measurement system for �I building performance using the standard deviation approach which compares individual I, apartment's performance to the norm of the city. He pointed out the standard deviation approach would indicate how spread out the performances of apartment complexes are relative to the norm. He explained the standard deviation is a measure of the spread in a set of observations or data. Chairperson Yelich pointed out that 75 of all occurrences will occur within one standard deviation of the norm. Further, if the standard deviation is three this would flag a serious deviation from the norm. With regard to a rental ordinance he proposed that the ordinance could use this type of assessment since it compares properties to each other and the norm. He explained additionally that as an example a fee could be set for the average or norm and increased as it deviated one standard deviation to two and to three standard deviations from the norm, with the fees set accordingly. Chairperson Yelich brought up the issue of owner and manager training and noted that this is addressed in some ordinances. Commissioner Carmody noted that the ARM group in the city has had a history of providing informational and professional training to owners and managers of rental property in the city. The Housing Commission concluded its discussion of rental ordinances and agreed to resume review of the ordinances at their next housing commission meeting to be held on August 20`�. ADJOURNMENT There was a motion by Commissioner Deuel and seconded by Commissioner Lawrence- Anderson to adjourn the meeting. The motion passed. The Brooklyri Center Housing Commission adjourned at 8:40 p.m. ��i C}�airman 7-16-02 -3-