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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2016 05-23 CCM Work SessionMINUTES OF THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE CITY COUNCIL/ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY OF THE CITY OF BROOKLYN CENTER IN THE COUNTY OF HENNEPIN AND THE STATE OF MINNESOTA WORK SESSION MAY 23, 2016 CITY HALL - COUNCIL CHAMBERS CALL TO ORDER The Brooklyn Center City Council/Economic Development Authority (EDA) met in Work Session called to order by Mayor/President Tim Willson at 8:13 p.m. ROLL CALL Mayor/President Tim Willson and Councilmembers/Commissioners April Graves, Kris Lawrence-Anderson, Lin Myszkowski, and Dan Ryan. Also present were City Manager/Executive Director Curt Boganey, Interim Assistant to the City Manager Reggie Edwards, Deputy Director of Building and Community Standards Jesse Anderson, City Attorney Troy Gilchrist, and Michaela Kujawa-Daniels, TimeSaver Off Site Secretarial, Inc. CHAPTER 12 AMENDMENT LIMITING THE DENSITY OF RENTAL HOUSING IN THE CITY Councilmember/Commissioner Ryan started discussion on the proposed Chapter 12 Ordinance Amendment, Limiting the Density of Rental Housing in the City. He asked Councilmembers/Commissioners to review the document provided titled 12-901 Ordinance Amendment, Placing Density Limit on Single Family Rental Properties: Work Session Questions/Comments. Mayor/President Willson stated that would be helpful. Councilmember/Commissioner Ryan read through the document line by line. Mayor/President Willson stated if they move forward with this ordinance they will need to consider extenuating circumstances and hardships and have a process which allows those individuals to seek an exception that allows them to rent their home for a certain period of time in certain circumstances. City Manager/Executive Director Curt Boganey stated he is not in a position to respond to all questions in that document currently, but he would answer what he could. In response to questions Al and A2, he stated he does feel there is a profit based motive for realtors to not want to pass the ordinance. He stated based upon most of their comments on this item, they seem to be reflective of their bias. In response to question A3, he stated he believes the MAAR has the most reliable and current data available. He noted he would be surprised if there is better information out there. Councilmember/Commissioner Ryan stated he agrees with Mr. Boganey's analysis. 05/23/16 -1- Councilmember/Commissioner Myszkowski asked how many rental license applications the City regularly receives. Mr. Boganey stated he does not believe the moratorium has ended as of the current date. Councilmember/Commissioner Myszkowski stated she would like to see data showing the number of single family homes being converted into rental properties within the City. She noted her assumption would be it is considerably fewer than when the recession occurred in 2008 and the few years following. Mr. Boganey stated he thinks when looking at the decision if they will adopt this ordinance, it would serve them better to think about the housing market as it currently is, stable and normal. As opposed to thinking of it being an exceptional period in the market such as the 2008 recession. He stated if the ordinance is adopted it would create a cap and limitation on the ability to convert some properties into rental homes, and while that may be an issue if another catastrophic period occurs, the question that needs to be considered is if the ordinance is adopted and it stays in effect for a long period of time, will there be more value to having it in place for the stable and normal periods in the market. Councilmember/Commissioner Ryan stated he has personal experience with property management companies and he believes it is a valid observation to make, that homeowners who occupy their homes have more motivation to maintain their home value and neighborhood character, whereas renters and landlords don't have the same motivation in most cases. Councilmember/Commissioner Myszkowski stated she is having a hard time finding the rationale behind adopting this ordinance. She stated she would like to see more data on the homes that are being poorly maintained to distinguish between if they are renter occupied or owner occupied. She also stated she would like to see data on which homes have what license types and if they have maintained them. She noted the City Council/EDA may not need her vote to adopt this ordinance, but she is not in a position to make a decision as she needs more data. Mayor/President Willson stated there have been many good points raised. He stated he feels the City has good ordinances and codes in place currently that help keep rental properties well maintained. He stated the issue is residents are bringing forward their concerns with having too many rental properties in their community, 5-7 blocks are currently over 30% rental density. He stated he is comfortable moving forward with this change; however, he wants to ensure there is some sort of process which allows for hardships and mitigating circumstances in which if a home owner would need to rent their home in a block that would put that block over the allowed 30% rental density, they would have that option. He stated an example could be a homeowner who is a member of the National Guard and gets ordered to deploy overseas. In that case, an administrative hearing or something similar would allow that resident to bring forth his circumstances of which he needs to rent his home, regardless if it will cause the block of his home to exceed the 30% rental density ordinance. Mayor/President Willson stated it could be for a certain period of time having a finite ending date, in which, the expectation would be the owner returns and occupies the home down the line. He noted the only people speaking out in open hearing have been realtors and that credits to Councilmember/Commissioner Ryan's previous points regarding their motive being profit. 05/23/16 -2- Councilmember/Commissioner Ryan stated he appreciated what Mayor/President Willson mentioned in regard to potential military members. He noted his intention is not to stigmatize renters; rather his intention is to remember what made the City great, the homeowners who started their lives here and built the community. Mr. Boganey stated the issue he is hearing is that the ordinance will prevent renters from coming to Brooklyn Center; however, the data doesn't support that or show that will be an issue. He stated they should speak with West St. Paul officials to learn how they handle any hardships or exceptional situations, given they have a 10% rental density ordinance in effect, they most likely have experienced it many times. Councilmember/Commissioner Ryan stated he spoke with someone under the Director of the City of West St. Paul and she indicated the program is working very well and it has high citizen support. He noted there was a high demand for the ordinance due to neighborhood issues similar to what Brooklyn Center has also dealt with in the past. The consensus of the Council is to seek information from West St. Paul regarding what their experience has been with situations they have concerns about. Councilmember/Commissioner Graves stated she is frustrated with this proposed ordinance. She stated she hasn't seen any letters in support of this ordinance from residents. She stated she has however received a few letters from residents against the ordinance. She noted she needs more information to make an informed decision. Councilmember/Commissioner Ryan stated he has a good amount of personal insight regarding the requests from residents for an ordinance in support of a rental density limit. He stated since 2006 while running for Office, he and Mayor/President Willson have personally knocked on almost every door in the City and they were informed this is a problem residents want addressed. He stated this ordinance is the way to address the issue. He noted the lack of support of the ordinance from residents, he believes, is due to the lack of knowledge regarding its proposed existence. Councilmember/Commissioner Myszkowski stated there are plenty of issues with home owner occupied properties and as long as they continue to monitor the expected standards of all properties, that should keep the community in good standing. Councilmember/Commissioner Lawrence-Anderson stated she believes if this ordinance passes there will be a reduction in renters and that it is a code enforcement issue mainly. She noted she would like to see data on the police calls and get clarification on what types of properties they are coming from. She stated ultimately she does not agree with telling people what they should or shouldn't do with their homes. City Attorney Gilchrist stated his initial research was focused on the Winona case and the powers involved. He stated he would like to look into it more and get useful information on the differences between Winona and Brooklyn Center. He noted he does not believe there is a yes or no answer on this issue but more information could only help. 05/23/16 -3- Councilmember/Commissioner Ryan stated they need to remember there are ownership rights on both sides of this issue and they are not taking rights away from owners, owners have rights regarding if they want to live next to several rental properties. Councilmember/Commissioner Graves stated it is important to take into consideration that renting and low income are not conclusive. She stated in reality they usually pay more for renting a home than a person with a mortgage on a comparable property. She noted renters of single family homes are usually dual income households and families with children and it may not be that they can't own a home but it is possible they don't want to own for whatever reasons. Mr. Boganey stated it is simply the data that shows the correlation between rental properties and police calls, and it can be assumed if nothing is done to mitigate the potential issues that many concentrations of rental homes in a community could have, blocks of homes could end up having excessive code violations and police calls, which in turn may affect the stability of the neighborhood and the city. Mayor/President Willson asked if there was still consensus to gather more information before deciding if they want to remove this item from the table at a future meeting. Mr. Boganey stated if directed, staff can get information on the police calls for their review; however, getting data together on code violations may be too complicated at this time. The majority consensus of the City Council/EDA was to put this item on the agenda for the next meeting to review and decide then if they want to move forward with the ordinance. ADJOURNMENT Councilmember/Commissioner Myszkowski moved and Councilmember/Commissioner Graves seconded adjournment of the City Council/Economic Development Authority Work Session at 9:25 p.m. Motion passed unanimously. 05/23/16 -4-