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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2002 08-20 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 AUGUST 20, 2002 SHINGLE CREEK 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, �Vlary Barrus, Dennis Snook, Kathleen Carmody and Judy Thorbus. Also present were Council Liaison Tim Ricker and Community Development Specialist Tom Bublitz. Commissioner Lloyd Deuel was absent and excused from the meeting and Commissioner Michael VonDeLinde was absent and unexcused from the meeting. APPROVAL OF AGENDA Commissioners Ernie Erickson and Kathleen Carmody requested that an item be added to the agenda regarding senior housing for St. Alphonsus Church. There was a motion by Commissioner Erickson and seconded by Commissioner Carmody to approve the agenda as amended. The motion passed. APPROVAL OF MINUTES July l6, 2002 There was a motion by Commissioner Carmody and seconded by Commissioner Barrus to approve the minutes of the July 16, 2002 Housing Commission meeting as submitted. The motion passed. CHAIRPERSONS REPORT Chairperson Yelich stated he had attended the Smart Growth Planning Meeting for the Brooklyn Center Town Center. He noted a number of ideas were discussed at the meeting regarding the future of the City's Town Center and noted that the City Manager stated that the Housing Commission would review some of the housing ideas relative to the redevelopment plan. In addition to the Brooklyn Center Town Center plan the Metropolitan Council will be discussing its Blue Print 2030 at a presentation to be held at the Brooklyn Park City Hall on September 19`'' between 6:30 and 8 p.m. DISCUSSION OF MUNICIPAL HOUSING/RENTAL ORDINANCES Chairperson Yelich explained that the Commission began its review of the Brooklyn Park 8-20-02 -1- i ordinance in July and noted the goal of the Commission is to provide feedback to the City Council on potential ordinance provisions for the City of Brooklyn Center. He stated the proposed time line is to have the Housing Commission recommendations passed on to the City Council by October of this year. Chairperson Yelich suggested that the Commission continue its section by section review of the Brooklyn Park ordinance and noted that the Commission had gotten to section 117.463 which is an page 6 of the ordinance. Commissioner Carmody requested that the question on the license period dates in the Brooklyn Park ordinance in section 117.44 be addressed. The Community Development Specialist stated he did follow up on this question with Brooklyn Park City staff as to why the renewal dates on licenses are listed as July 1 through the last day of June. He explained the Brooklyn Park staff indicated most inspections done on apartments are done in the winter months and by making all license renew annually at the end of June/July 1, this gives time for apartment owners and managers to do repairs in early spring before the renewal period. The Community Development Specialist noted he had also followed up on the license period currently in place in Brooklyn Center and explained that it is a two year period from the date of the license application. If, for example, a new owner comes in to request a rental license, the owner must file a new application; set up an inspection and the expiration of the new license will be two years from the date of the application. Commissioner Lawrence-Anderson stated that she thinks the licensing period should be changed from two years to annual licensing to assure no problems occur in the building over the two year period. Commissioner Barrus stated she also likes the annual renewal on a calendar year basis. After brief discussion of the licensing period, there was a general consensus that the licensing period for Brooklyn Center should be a rental license which is renewed and inspected annually. The Commission continued its review of the ordinance and Chairperson Yelich commented on page 7 of the Brooklyn Park ordinance section (C)(3) which states "the City Manager will provide recommended criteria for application denial to licensees" He stat�d he thinks this section may be too open ended and unclear. The Housing Commission discussed section 117.463 paragraph (C)(3) and agreed this section needed further clarification. Chairperson Yelich next brought up the issue of how to compare calls for service between apartment complexes. He suggested that the calls for service record of apartment complexes could be compared to each other based on an average of calls for service for the City calculated 8-20-02 -2- each year. He explained an apartment complex with an average or below average calls for service count would be a Level 1 and the above average calls for service would be calculated through the standard deviation process. For example 75 of the apartment complexes should be within one standard deviation of the norm so that a Level 2 license fee would be somewhere between the average and one standard deviation and a Level 3 would be beyond one standard deviation. Chairperson Yelich addressed section 117.464 paragraph D of the Brooklyn Park ordinance and inquired how this provision worked. Paragraph D states "licenses that have a police call rating of at or above .32 calls per dwelling unit during a proceeding six month period will be deemed Leve131icenses" Chairperson Yelich questioned whether this may be a fail safe mechanism so that a six month experience moves the apartment complex into a new level. Staff was directed to followup with the City of Brooklyn Park on this section. The commission members discussed various elements of reporting of calls for service and the Community Development Specialist noted he would meet with Sergeant Benner to get some examples of calls for service reporting as it relates to a Brooklyn Park type ordinance. Commission members requested information on the current or proposed fees for the Brooklyn Park ordinance. Housing Commission members discussed the issue of background checks and if apartment complexes are required to perform followup background checks would the landlord need permission from the tenant and how does this work. Commission members next discussed section 117.481 of the Brooklyn Park ordinance regarding display of license. Commissioner Thorbus suggested that this might be an opportunity to address something similar to the Woodbury "star" program in conjunction with this section. She pointed out the Woodbury program recognizzs apartment complexes that have outstanding calls for service records under the ordinance. Commissioner Barrus next discussed section 117.484 "Responsibility for Acts of Manager" She stated that she wanted to review the New Brighton ordinance on Manager Certification as opposed to the Brooklyn Park language. The New Brighton ordinance section she referred to was section 13-162, Manager's Certification. Additionally, she pointed out she likes New Brighton's specificity on the conduct on licensed premises section 13-163, more than the Brooklyn Park section. She also noted that she liked 13-160, Transfer of Registration in the New Brighton ordinance. Commissioner Lawrence-Anderson concurred that pages 5- 10 of the New Brighton ordinance appear to be more complete than the comparable section in the Brooklyn Park ordinance. She suggested that pages 5- 10 of the New Brighton ordinance be incorporated into the Brooklyn Park ordinance. Chairperson Yelich stated the Brooklyn Park ordinance asks managers to participate in Crime 8-20-02 -3- Prevention meetings when requested by the Police Department, pointing out Brooklyn Park does not have a specific managers certification section. Commissioner Barrus stated that, while Brooklyn Park does not have a section on manager certification, the New Brighton ordinance may have too many requirements for manager certification. She suggested that perhaps the ordinance could require attendance at ARM meetings or a specific number of ineetings as part of the provisional license requirement. Councilmember Ricker pointed out that current owner and managers of rental properties who are responsible for maintaining staff at their complexes are already encouraged to attend ARM meetings. The Commission discussed the manager certification requirement and there was a general consensus not to get into a formal manager certification/training program. Chairperson Yelich returned to discuss the Conduct on Licensed Premises provision in the Brooklyn Park ordinance. Commissioner Lawrence-Anderson suggested that based on the Commission's review of the Brooklyn Park and New Brighton ordinance, whatever is in the New Brighton Conduct on Licensed Premises section and is not in the Brooklyn Park ordinance could be added. Chairperson Yelich also pointed out that the New Brighton ordinance specifies a first, second and third violation by unit and that Brooklyn Park does not do this. Councilmember Ricker pointed out that the city's current ordinance currently has this provision to specify violations by unit. The Commission continued to discuss the issue of violations by unit versus total numbers by complex and directed staff to further investigate the status of Brooklyn Center's current policy. Based on the Commission's discussion of the Brooklyn Park and other city ordinances over the past couple of ineetings, staff is to prepare a summary of the Commission's recommendations for the September meeting. ST. ALPHONSUS SENIOR HOUSING PROPOSAL Commissioners Erickson and Carmody explained that St. Al's is exploring the option of participating in the construction of 72 units of market rate housing for persons 55 and over. The proposed location would be the land west of the church between Brooklyn Boulevard and the current church complex. Commissioner Erickson noted that the project is in its very early stages at this point, the beginning stage was to determine whether the congregation would support such an effort. 8-20-02 -4- OTHER B USINESS Commissioner Barrus discussed briefly a water shed ineeting held recently where a proposal was considered to combine two water shed districts. 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 8:50 p.m. Ch�a nan �I 8-20-02 -5-