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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2002 10-22 HCM w MINUTES OF THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE HOUSING COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF BROOKLYN CENTER 1N THE COUNTY OF HENNEPIN AND STATE OF MINNESOTA REGULAR SESSION OCTOBER 22, 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 Ericicson, Kris Lawrence-Anderson, Dennis Siiook, Lloyd Deuel, Kathleen Carmody and Judy Thorbus. Also present were Community Development Director Brad Hoffman and Community Development Specialist Tom Bublitz. Commissioners Mary Barrus was absent and excused from the meeting. Commissioner Michael VonDeLinde was absent and unexcused from the meeting. Council Liaison Tim Ricker was absent from the meeting. APPROVAL OFAGENDA Chairperson Yelich pointed out item 4 on the agenda showed approval of the August 20�' minutes which should be corrected to September 17 minutes. There was a motion by Commissioner �rickson and seconded by Commissioner Deuel to approve the agenda as amended. The motion passed. APPROVAL OFMINUTES -September 17, 2002 Chairperson Yelich pointed out the misspelling of the word licenses on the top of page two of the September 17�' minutes. There was a motion by Commissioner Carmody and seconded by Commissioner Snoolc to approve the minutes of the September 17, 2002 Housing Commission meeting as amended. The motion passed. CHAIRPERSONS REPORT Chairperson Yelich discussed an article from last Sunday's STAR TRIBUNE regarding senior housing. The article discussed a new design for senior housing modeled after the hospitality industry. The new building mentioned in the article is located in Oak Park Heights. He also pointed out the article discussed the issue of senior buildings being overbuilt in the suburbs and that generally people moving to senior housing move from an approximate five mile radius from their home. 10-22-02 -1- w Chairperson Yelich also pointed out that the Brooklyn Center Police Chief corrunented at a recent City Council meeting that reported calls for service at apartments are up for 2002. DISCUSS HOUSING COMMISSIONREVIEWAND RECOMMENDATIONSREGARDING RENTAL LICENSE ORDINANCE The Community Development Specialist briefly reviewed his memorandum regarding the Housing Commission's review and recommendations for a rental licensing ordinance. He explained the purpose of this memorandum was to provide some background on the cominission's review of ordinances from other municipalities, point out major discussion points from past Housing Commission minutes and to summarize the Housing Commission's preliminary recommendations for revisions to the City's rental licensing ordinance. The Coinmunity Development Director pointed out that it is apparent, after reviewing the material the Housing Commission has reviewed, that there are some gaps in the City's ordinance relative to rental housing. One of the things he pointed out was that the Commission might want to look at including all employees in background checks, noting the discussion the Commission had with regard to this item. The Community Development Director stated that essentially in the current City ordinance either an apartment complex has a license or they don't. He commented the current ordinance could be amended to better resolve problems relative to rental licensing. He explained that what the City's current ordinance does'not have is a way to reach solutions without pulling the rental license. He noted the City does not have a provisional license process in their ordinance so that the City does not have that option presently. The Community Development Director brought up the issue of service fees for extraordinary numbers of calls for service from Police and that it would be helpful to look into this as a possible option. With regard to Brooklyn Park's ordinance, he stated there are some complexities that may make it to difficult to administer and pointed out that Brooklyn Center's is a sound ordinailce but there is need for improvement. He pointed out an example that an ordinance could specify that after three violations at a particular unit, over a certain period of time, the ordinance could call for eviction from that unit. He added that the ordinance needs to clarify the calls for service are counted by unit and there is also a need to clarify the specific types of calls the ordinance would be concerned with. The Community Development Director concluded his initial remarks by commenting that he does not see the need to change the City's ordinance to create various levels of licensing and that while a provisional license should be implemented, the Brooklyn Park ordinance is overly complex in terms of how that is addressed. Commissioner Lawrence-Anderson commented that the Commission picked Brooklyn Park's ordinance and the use of various levels so that it would be an indicator of when apartments are moving from Leve12 to Leve13 so that they change in levels could serve as a red flag warning as to the performance of the apartment complex. 10-22-02 -2- The Community Development Director pointed out that the comments he has made with regard to the Conunission's review are his and that the Commission is certainly free to recommend the type of ordinance they want to see enacted. He suggested the next step would be to get a current nlunber for the calls for service for apartments in Brooklyn Center and draft a preliminary ardinance for the Housing Commission's review to allow the Housing Commission to make a final recommendation on the ordinance by the first of the year. The Community Development Director indicated he was looking at a model where one half the units are inspected each year and half the next year in each apartment complex so that inspectors are able to visit each individual complex each year. Commissioner Lawrence-Anderson stated provisional licenses would help flag problems before a physical inspection is done. She added she wants to have a system in place that allows owners to fix up and straighten out their properties by incentives before they become an extreine situation. Commissioner Carmody left the meeting at 7:50 p.m. Commissioner Lawrence-Anderson emphasized that whatever is the final result regarding an ordinance we need something on a par with Brooklyn Parlc. Chairperson Yelich stated he believed there was a sense of the commission that it was resolved about beefing up the ordinance with regard to increasing inspections and revising the methods for achieving the goals of the ordinance while not imposing a financial burden on the inspection process. The Community Development Director stated he would like to explore the service fee approach in more detaiL Commissioner Lawrence-Anderson inquired as to when the service fee would be activated. The Community Development Director stated he would recommend working with the Police Department to get an actual number or point at which the service fee for an extraordinary number of calls would be activated. Chairperson Yelich inquired how many rental licenses have actually revoked under Section 12-911. The Community Development Director explained that no licenses have actually been revoked under Section 12-911 to date. The Community Development Specialist pointed out that if an apartment complex has received its third notice regarding a particular unit and no eviction has occurred the ordinance requires the apartment owners to appear before the City Council but this is waived if the apartment owners have filed an unlawful detainer. Commissioner Lawrence-Anderson stated that she does not want the situation to escalate to even get to the third strike situation and she indicated she would like to see something that would send a message to the managers of the apartment complex before this gets to a third strike. 10-22-02 -3- Chairperson Yelich brought up the issue of a measuring system to determine at what point a provisional license is activated. He suggested that a system be developed where the apartments would be compared to their peers in terms of activity relative to a provisional license. The Community Development Director stated that the number is somewhat of a moving target and may allow apartment owners more latitude to dispute the method for establishing the point at which a provisional license is required. Chairperson Yelich stated that the number could�be fixed annually based on performances of all apartment complexes. The Community Development Director stated he was concerned with the various levels and fees the Brooklyn Park ordinance contains and in his opinion it may not solve the problems they are attempting to solve. He indicated there is a possibility that apartments will see the fee structure as merely a cost of doing business. Commissioner Lawrence-Anderson stated that the Commission all agrees on a provisional license concept but she questioned for how long the provisional license should be granted. The Community Development Director replied that the City Council should have some latitude to address a problem property with a provisional license. Commissioner Lawrence-Anderson stated that she would accept an ordinance with a regular and a provisional license as long as the time period for a provisional license is spelled out. Commissioner Thorbus commented that she believes another option that should be considered is the publication of the calls for service at apartment complexes and also stated she still lilces the positive aspect of the City of Woodbury's Star Program. Chairperson Yelich next addressed another issue which is the ambiguity of the term premises in Section 12-911. He pointed out the New Brighton ordinance carefully defined how they couiit calls for service which are brolcen down not simply to an apartment unit but to a tenant or even guests of tenants. Chairperson Yelich also brought up the issue of employee bacicground checks and inquired whether we are covered under existing state law or whether additional requirements need to be in place under the ordinance. The Community Development Director stated in his opinion he thought it would be advisable to get background checks on employees in addition to managers. Staff indicated they would attempt to bring back an ordinance for commission review at the November meeting. OTHER B USINESS I The Community Development Specialist explained that, based on information received froin the 10-22-02 -4- City's utility department, Commissioner VonDeLinde has apparently moved from 11e City. After a brief discussion, the Commission determined it would be appropriate to pass a inotion to declare Commissioner VonDeLinde's seat vacant. There was a motion by Commissioner Erickson and seconded by Commissioner Deuel to declare the position of Commissioner Michael VonDeLinde as vacant due to his move from the city of Brooklyn Center. The motion passed. ADJO URNMENT There was a motion by Commissioner Erickson and seconded by Commissioner Deuel to adjourn the meeting. The motion passed. The Brooklyn Center Housing Commission adjourned at 8:40 p.m. l f Cu.�� l,tj'�� Cha}�man v 10-22-02 -5-