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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1998 01-20 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 JANUARY 20, 1998 CONFERENCE ROOM B BROOKLYN CENTER CITY HALL CALL TO ORDER The Brooklyn Center Housing Commission was called to order by Chairperson Robert Torres at 7:00 P.M. ROLL CALL Chairperson Robert Torres, Vice Chairperson Ernie Erickson, Commissioners Lloyd Deuel, Mark Yelich, and Don Arm. Also present were Community Development Specialist Tom Bublitz. Commissioner Jonathan Carter was absent from the meeting. Council Liaison Bob Peppe was attending a Council work session and was not able to attend the Housing Commission meeting. APPROVAL OF AGENDA There was a motion by Commissioner Yelich and seconded by Commissioner Arm to approve the agenda, as submitted. The motion passed. APPROVAL OF MINUTES DECEMBER 16, 1997 The Community Development Specialist noted some corrections to be made in the December 16, 1997, minutes. He explained that on page 2 of the December 16 minutes the fourth bullet paragraph should be changed to read some hazardous items listed in the time of sale ordinance will require a building permit. The owner must obtain the permit and correct items prior to closing. Additionally, in the fifth bullet paragraph on page 3 of the December 16th minutes the word correction in the second sentence should be deleted and the word permits put in its place. Also, in the fifth bullet paragraph on the top of page 3, the words non hazardous and should be deleted from the third sentence in the paragraph. There was a motion b Commissioner Erickson and seconded b Commissioner Deuel to Y Y approve the December 16, 1997, Housing Commission minutes as amended. The motion passed. ELECTION OF CHAIRPERSON AND APPOINTMENT OF VICE -CHAIR Chairperson Robert Torres turned the meeting over to Vice Chairperson Ernie Erickson for purposes of conducting the election of Chairperson for the Housing Commission. 1 -20 -98 -1- Commissioner Erickson opened the nominations for Chairperson of the Housing Commission and inquired whether there were any nominations from commission members. There was a motion by Commissioner Arm and seconded by Commissioner Yelich to nominate Robert Torres as Chairperson of the Housing Commission. Vice- Chairperson Erickson inquired if there were any further nominations for Chairperson. Hearing none, he entertained a motion for a unanimous ballot to re -elect Robert Tones as Chairperson of the Housing Commission. There was a motion by Commissioner Deuel and seconded by Commissioner Arm to approve a unanimous ballot for the election of Robert Torres as Chairperson of the Housing Commission. The motion passed unanimously. Vice Chairperson Erickson then turned the meeting back to Chairperson Robert Torres and Chairperson Tones reappointed Commissioner Erickson as Vice -Chair for 1998. UPDATE ON TIME OF SALE ORDINANCE The Community Development Specialist noted that the Time of Sale Ordinance will be on the January 26, 1998, City Council meeting agenda as an information item. He explained the ordinance is not being proposed as a first reading on the 26th but as an information item for the Council. He explained that the Housing Commission had met its obligation of preparing and forwarding a Time of Sale ordinance to the City Council by January, 1998. He noted that this schedule had been agreed upon at the February 19, 1997, joint meeting of the City Council and Housing Commission. Commissioner Erickson noted that he would be able to attend Monday night's Council meeting. The Community Development Specialist explained that he would mail a copy of the item going to the Council on the 26th to Housing Commission members for their review prior to Monday's meeting. The Commission briefly discussed the proposed ordinance going to the Council on the 26th and encouraged as many commission members as possible to attend Monday's meeting. DISCUSSION OF FUTURE COMMISSION PROJECTS (Continued from December, 1997 Housing Commission meeting) The Community Development Specialist noted the Housing Commission had discussed several items at the December, 1997 Housing Commission meeting with regard to possible future items the Commission wished to explore further. He then distributed a current copy of Chapter12, the City's Building Maintenance Code. He suggested that if the Commission wanted to review this document it would be advisable to invite the City's Planning and Zoning Specialist Mr. Ronald Warren to a future meeting to review Chapter 12 as a starting point for the commission's 1 -20 -98 -2- discussion. There was a consensus of commission members that Mr. Warren should be invited to a future commission meeting to review Chapter 12 with the Housing Commission. The Housing Commission briefly discussed their interest in the Association of Rental Managers group and agreed to invite Janine Atchison, City Housing Inspector to attend the February meeting to discuss the Association of Rental Managers (ARM) group. Commissioner Erickson suggested that one future Commission project could be a tour of the City. He noted the first tour the Commission took many years ago was with Community Development Director Brad Hoffman and included a tour to scattered site redevelopment projects where the Commission looked at the condition of blighted properties in the City. He added that he would like to be able to see some of the interiors of some of the houses selected for the City's Scattered Site Program. Commissioner Erickson also suggested to the Commission that they may want to look at amending the name of the Commission to include Economic Development or Redevelopment since the Commission addresses issues relative to the economics of the City including the Comprehensive Plan review. He noted the Housing Commission cannot change their name on their own and this would have to be done through the City Council. There was a consensus of commission members to talk to the Community Development Director regarding this item. Commissioner Yelich suggested that the Housing Commission hold a joint meeting with the Planning Commission, the purpose of which would be to hold a strategic planning session to look at some of the longer range development issues in the City. The Community Development Specialist followed up on an item from the December, 1997 Housing Commission meeting regarding a future project to do an inventory of available housing rehabilitation resources for the City of Brooklyn Center. He noted the following items as possible areas of inclusion in the inventory. MHFA Housing Rehabilitation Program includes a deferred loan program, revolving loan program and accessibility loan program. MHFA Home Improvement Loan Programs include the fix -up fund and the community fix -up fund. Greater Minneapolis Metropolitan Housing Corporation (GMMHC) to provide a Housing Resource Center for the cities of Brooklyn Center, New Hope, Crystal and Robbinsdale. The Resource Center is to be a one stop shopping area for housing information including construction advice, access to loan programs and assistance in the home remodeling process. Non profit agencies addressing housing rehab include the Center for Energy and the Environment and as a technical resource, Sustainable Resources Corporation. 1 -20 -98 -3- Chairperson Torres suggested that the Commission add volunteers to the list of items to research. Commissioner Erickson suggested that one future speaker might include Representative Carruthers. OTHER BUSINESS Commissioner Yelich stated that he recently attended a town meeting with Representative Carruthers and Representative Linda Scheid. He noted that a number of speakers at the town meeting spoke to the issue of affordable housing. He added that a number of the speakers were housing advocates. The Commission discussed the issue of affordable housing and Commissioner Erickson stated that he believes Representative Carruthers and Representative Scheid would be receptive to redevelopment of areas in the City including multi family housing areas. He noted that in his opinion, mistakes were made in the 1960's with regard to overbuilding the amount of multi- family units in many suburbs and now, especially in cities like Brooklyn Park there are significant problems related to this over construction. The Commission briefly continued this discussion of affordable housing noting that the overwhelming majority of housing in the city of Brooklyn Center is affordable by most standards including those established by the Metropolitan Council. ADJOURNMENT There was a motion by Commissioner Erickson and seconded by Commissioner Arm to adjourn the meeting. The motion passed. The Brooklyn Center Housing Commission adjourned at 9:35 P.M. Chairperson i 1 -20 -98 -4-