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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1993 10-26 HCM MINUTES OF THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE HOUSING COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF BROOKLYN CENTER IN THE COUNTY OF HENNEPIN AND THE STATE OF MINNESOTA REGULAR SESSION OCTOBER 26, 1993 CITY HALL CALL TO ORDER The Brooklyn Center Housing Commission was called to order at 7:00 p.m. ROLL CALL Commissioners Ernie Erickson, Todd Cannon, Kathleen Carmody, John Kalligher and Jon Perkins. Also present were Council Liaison Barb Kalligher and Community Development Specialist Tom Bublitz. Commission members Neal Nelson and Robert Torres were absent and excused from the meeting. APPROVAL OF MINUTES JUNE 30. 1993 There was a motion by Commissioner Erickson and seconded by Commissioner Carmody to approve the June 30, 1993 Housing Commission minutes, as submitted. The motion passed. DISCUSSION: ELECTION OF CHAIRPERSON FOR HOUSING COMMISSION The Community Development Specialist explained Nick Eoloff had submitted his resignation from the City's Housing Commission due to the fact that he has accepted a position with the Izaak Walton League which will require a great deal of his time and that he would no longer be able to serve on the Housing Commission. With regard to the bylaws of the City commissions, the Community Development Specialist explained the chairperson is to be elected by a majority vote of the Housing Commission membership, and in the case of a vacancy, the election must be held within two (2) regularly scheduled Housing Commission meetings from the time a vacancy of the chair occurs. He indicated he had placed this item on as a discussion item for this meeting since the commission has not met formally since June of this year. The election of the chairperson would be held at the November meeting. The commission members discussed the chair position and Commissioner Perkins inquired whether any of the senior members of the commission may be interested in serving as chair. Commissioner Kalligher indicated that the senior members were Neal Nelson and Bob Torres, both of whom were not present this evening. Commissioner Kalligher stated he would talk to both Neal and Bob regarding their interest in serving as the chair of the commission. Commission members present agreed the election of the chair would be done at the November Housing Commission meeting. is 10-26-93 1 26 93 Commissioner Erickson commented that with the vacancies created by the resignation of Nick Eoloff and Pam Frantum, he would suggest asking the Mayor to consider appointing someone living in rental housing in the City to fill one of the vacancies on the commission. Commission members generally agreed that it would be helpful to have a commission member representing the rental community in the City. There was a motion by Commissioner Ralligher and seconded by Commissioner Erickson to request the Mayor to fill one of the Housing Commission vacancies with a representative from the City's rental housing community, if someone applies from a rental housing community and the applicant is qualified to serve on the Housing Commission. The motion passed. Commissioner Perkins requested that the City Council publish information in the local papers with regard to what the commissions do so that people could get a better understanding of what the various City commissions are set up to do. UPDATE ON HOUSING ACTIVITIES, First Time Home Buyer Program (Minnesota City Participation Program) The Community Development Specialist explained the City is again participating in the Minnesota Housing Finance Agency's first time home buyer program, called the Minnesota City Participation Program. He noted the program start was delayed this year because Congress did not authorize the sale of revenue bonds until late summer. As a result, the program began in September of this year and the funds set aside for first time home buyers in Brooklyn Center will be set aside for the next six months, through March 15 of 1994. The program has an interest rate of 6.25 with the seller paying 1k discount points. The Ponds Acquisition The Community Development Specialist explained Westminster Corporation, a nonprofit housing corporation, had been negotiating to purchase The Ponds for the past year. Westminster was not able to reach an agreement with the Minnesota Housing Finance Agency, the holder of the mortgage on The Ponds, and they are no longer pursuing the acquisition. Recently, however, a nonprofit called the Community Housing Development Corporation, has signed a purchase agreement on The Ponds and is intending to convert the 112 unit rental property to a leasehold cooperative. This particular model provides for participation of the residents in the management of The Ponds similar to the involvement of a condominium or a homeowners association. Additionally, the nonprofit in this instance is requesting the City of Brooklyn Center to issue revenue bonds to finance the acquisition of The 10 -26 -93 2 Ponds. The issuance of revenue bonds would allow the buyer to receive the City's tax exempt rate on the bonds, but the purchase would not be an obligation of the City and the City would have no obligation to repay the bonds. Earle Brown Neighborhood Landscape Project The Community Development Specialist reported that the Earle Brown Neighborhood Housing Advisory Committee was working on a project with the North Hennepin Vocational College to do landscaping plans for selected properties in the southeast neighborhood. He explained there were over 180 single family homes expressing an interest in having a landscape plan done for them by the students at the vocational college. He pointed out he is working with the landscape instructors at the vocational college and the project would begin sometime in December when winter quarter starts at the school. He pointed out that initially the project was to involve approximately 15 -20 landscape plans done free of charge for single- family residents in the southeast neighborhood; however, with the tremendous response shown by the neighborhood, the vocational college staff has indicated they will try to accommodate as many of the people interested as possible and will be able to do substantially more plans than the 15 -20 originally contemplated. Additionally, the City is attempting to find some way to obtain a significant discount for landscape materials to be planted by people receiving the plans. The recipients of the free plans done by the students are under no obligation to actually plant the materials recommended in the plans, however the idea is to make it as easy as possible for people to obtain the materials ,and actually install the plant materials according to the custom plans done for each property. Shingle Creek Towers The Community Development Specialist explained he had been in contact with the management at Shingle Creek Towers, which is the high rise apartment building next to City Hall, and explained the management informed him that it was their intent to maintain the current residents in the building even though the project was nearing the end of its commitment to HUD with regard to the original 236 program which provided the mortgage for the building. He pointed out that staff will continue to follow up on this item and continue to monitor the status of the building. The purpose of inquiring into the Shingle Creek Towers building is that this is one of the more successful buildings in the City and with the end of the 236 commitment period owners of the 236 buildings have the option of prepaying the mortgage and converting buildings such as Shingle Creek Towers to market rate buildings. One of the items recommended in the City's housing plan was to maintain the Shingle Creek Towers as a subsidized rental property. 10 -26 -93 3 Willow River Apartments With regard to the Willow River Apartments located at 6525, 6527 and 6529 Willow Lane, the Community Development Specialist explained that the City had purchased this 18 -unit building and is scheduling it for demolition in the spring of 1994. He explained the delay in demolishing the building was due to the fact that there is some asbestos in the building that needs to be removed prior to demolition, and that the most feasible approach to removing the asbestos was to wait until spring to actually perform the asbestos removal work since the cost would be greater during winter months for a project of this nature. Rental To Owner Conversion Program Commissioner Perkins inquired as to the status of the rental to owner conversion program and commented that from his perspective the program had not been promoted adequately with realtors. The Community Development Specialist explained that the rental to owner conversion program was a pilot project to promote the conversion of single family rental properties to owner occupied properties and that the program had not worked out at this point. He explained the program had not generated any activity to date and that the staff is currently winding down the project. He pointed out that there are a couple of borrowers who are still interested in pursuing the project, but that for the most part there had been no projects done. He explained that he was intending to prepare a formal presentation to the Housing Commission and the City Council on this project at a future date. Some of the problems encountered in the program were the fact that many of the people interested in purchasing the houses were not really ready to buy a home in terms of their credit records and financial situations. Many of the tenants would have to go into a 1 to 3 year program to get their finances in order before they can qualify for a mortgage. Additionally, he pointed out, many of the owners of the rental properties were in a tax bracket that created a problem in terms of capital gains taxes if they were to sell the properties. He pointed out he would return to the commission in the near future with a formal report on the outcome of the rental to owner conversion program. Commissioner Perkins brought up an item he became aware of at The Ponds and explained that a friend of his had been the victim of a shooting where no individuals were injured but shots were fired into their vehicle. He explained this incident, along with other incidents in the City, has concerned him with regard to the reputation of the City and he suggested that he would like to look at what the benefits of a program such as Brooklyn Park has instituted in their "Come Home to the Park" program. The Community Development Specialist stated he would contact the City of Brooklyn Park and put together some information on the Come 10 -26 -93 4 Home to the Park program for the next Housing Commission meeting. DISCUSSION OF FUTURE COMMISSION PROJECTS Home Rehabilitation Deferred Loan Program The Community Development Specialist pointed out that the Housing Commission reviewed this program in June of 1993 and at that time made several recommendations regarding issues assigned to the commission by the City Council. The City Council subsequently approved the recommendations of the Housing Commission. Also, during the discussion of the home rehabilitation deferred loan program at that time, the commission discussed the possibility of creating a true loan program rather than a deferred loan program which effectively becomes a grant to homeowners. During that discussion, the Housing Commission recommended that this item be brought back as a discussion item at a future meeting and that representatives from Hennepin County, who assist the City in administering the program, be invited to discuss the options for creating a loan program. Resident Exit /Entrance Survey The Community Development Specialist explained he had met recently with a Brooklyn Park Community Development staff member who had reviewed the results of a resident exit survey done in the City of Brooklyn Park in 1992, and that a summary of that discussion was included in the commission packets this evening. He explained that in June of 1992 the Brooklyn Park Community Development department conducted a survey of homes in Brooklyn Park that were listed for sale. The survey was conducted by randomly selecting homes observed for sale by City staff. Additionally, the survey was not intended as a scientifically sampled group, but was intended to give an insight into the issues facing homeowners in the City. Approximately 80 homes received the survey, of which 50 homeowners responded. Of those responding, 88% said their homes were on the market less than 9 months. If the home price was less than $100,000, 95% of the homes were on the market less than 9 months. In this lower price range, 61% of the respondents said they were selling their homes because the family had outgrown the home. If the home was priced over $100,000, the response listed included the "empty nest that is, the children had left home and the parents were buying a smaller home or perhaps moving "up to the lake He continued to review additional responses included in the survey and also pointed out that the Brooklyn Park staff had indicated that one of the things the survey did was to create an expectation on the part of people responding to the survey that their concerns expressed in the survey would be immediately addressed. This could potentially create some unrealistic expectations in individuals completing such a survey. 10 -26 -93 5 A discussion of the two projects presented by the Community Development Specialist and other projects previously discussed by the commission, Commissioner Perkins suggested that the commission develop a list which would establish a priority for projects discussed by the commission. He pointed out that over the past couple of years, the commission has discussed numerous projects and that he believes the commission should discuss which projects should be undertaken and in what priority. The Housing Commission members directed the Community Development Specialist to prepare a list of projects discussed by the commission over the past couple of years so that the commission could establish a prioritization of the projects. ADJOURNMENT There was a motion by Commissioner Ralligher and seconded by Commissioner Erickson to adjourn the meeting. The motion passed. The Brooklyn Center Housing Commission adjourned at 8:35 p.m. Chairperson I i i 10 -26 -93 6