ASHLAND HOUSING COMMISSION

MINUTES

NOVEMBER 20, 2006

CALL TO ORDER – Chair Faye Weisler called the meeting to order at 6:30 p.m. at the Community Development and Engineering Services Building, 51 Winburn Way, Ashland, OR. 

APPROVAL OF MINUTES - Peck/Street m/s to approve the minutes of the October 16, 2006 meeting.  The minutes were approved.

PUBLIC FORUM

ALAN DEBOER, 2265 Morada Lane, said ICCA is scheduled to open on December 1, 2006 at the old Handyman Store on Ashland Street, near Bi-Mart.  It has always been DeBoer’s hope that the proceeds of the sale of the City owned Strawberry Lane property would be given to the Ashland Community Land Trust (ACLT) for purchase of the Handyman site to provide a permanent home for ICCA. 

PRE-APPLICATION REVIEW PROCESS

117 Garfield Street, Condominium Conversion

Peck recused herself from the review.  Hauck noted that he works for a non-profit and Tom Giordano is the architect on one of their projects.  He is not recusing himself, but noting it for the record.

TOM GIORDANO, 2635 Takelma Way, agent for the applicant introduced Bill Koenigsberg, 1395 Ponderosa.  Giordano said this is a ten-unit apartment complex built in 1972.  They are requesting a Conditional Use Permit to convert the units to condominiums.  Three units will be affordable. They have not had a pre-application conference with the planning staff, but have proposed minimal upgrades in order to keep the project affordable. 

Koenigsberg said he is doing the conversion in order to keep his options open. If he sells the units, he would expect to sell them between $150,000 and $200,000.  Giordano added, if the units are sold, they will first be offered to the residents. 

REPORTS AND UPDATES

SUBCOMMITTEE REPORTS

Pre-Application Review Board – Mackin, Benjamin and Street reviewed met and reviewed two pre-apps. The owners of Faith Tabernacle on Faith Avenue were considering a zone change from R-1 to R-3 in order to gain more density.  They were planning to remove the church in order to develop housing on the property.  The review board strongly recommended that the applicants talk to a non-profit organization to gain from their experience in terms of design, layout, financing, etc. on how this project should be presented.

Land Use – Mackin, Henderson and Peck met twice to discuss annexation proposals for changes to the ordinance and looked at options for items for consideration by the Housing Commission.  They are trying to find a balance between setting the bar high enough for annexations but not setting it too high.  

Goldman announced a joint study session of the Planning Commission and Housing Commission on Tuesday, November 28, 2006 at 7:00 p.m.  The topics will include:  1) Housing Authority and 2) Annexation Ordinance.  Goldman will notify the City Council of the meeting. 

Education – Street reported they completed the hour long television program featuring Goldman, Hartzell, Street and Rick Kirshner, talking about the roles, actions and plans of the Housing Commission.  Goldman will try to have it put on the City’s website and also have copies made

Benjamin recommended another show that would include the non-profits. 

PROJECT UPDATES

Rental Needs Analysis – A copy of the proposal is included in the packet from Ferrarini and Associates who were selected from the three proposals submitted. They will begin the analysis in December. The consultants will contact up to 500 households in order to get a sampling of about 250 renters along with doing a market analysis.  The Commissioners discussed the consultant’s presentation and thought they should consider a presentation of their final report to both the Housing Commission and City Council or Planning Commission because those meetings are televised and it would be a way for more citizens to hear and understand the results of the analysis.

Housing Trust Fund Revenue Sources – Goldman reported that no responses were received from the Request for Qualifications that was sent out. They might want isolate the request to look at the municipal financing side and clarify how much can be put into a housing trust fund through incremental tax increases, document recording fees and other avenues that might be at the City’s disposal. 

COMMISSION OPERATIONS

Resignations:  Weisler resigned effective December 31, 2006 resulting in the need to elect a new Chair.   Henderson will be moving to Cincinnati and her resignation is effective immediately. 

Election of Chair and Vice Chair – Henderson/Voisin m/s to nominate Bill Street for Chair, effective January 1, 2007.  Street was elected unanimously.  Voisin/Mackin m/s to nominate Liz Peck for Vice Chair.  Peck was elected unanimously. 

SUBCOMMITTEE STRUCTURE

Two things are needed for more effective structuring of the subcommittees:  1) Responsible person for making sure the subcommittees meet and 2) Accountability.  Chair assignments are needed to make sure the above two items get done.  The subcommittees are as follows:  [(*) denotes Chair]  It was suggested the subcommittees use the last eight minutes of their one hour meetings to recap what the report back to the Housing Commission will be.

Finance

                Steve Hauck *                                        Second Monday

                Cate Hartzell                                          6:00 to 7:00 p.m.

                Carol Voisin                                           Next meeting:  December 11th

Education

                Bill Street *                                            First Wednesday

                Aaron Benjamin                                    5:15 p.m.

                                                                                Next meeting:  December 6th

Land Use

                Liz Peck *                                               Second Thursday

                Don Mackin                                           Noon to 1:30 p.m.

                                                                                Next meeting:  December 14^th

Liaisons

                Cate Hartzell                          Council

                Bill Street                               School Board

                Aaron Benjamin                    Planning

                Steve Hauck                          Parks

                Don Mackin                           Chamber

Reminder:  A Liaison is not authorized to speak on behalf of the Housing Commission without the approval or vote of the Housing Commission.

Pre-Application Review Board - First Thursday - 5:00 to 6:00 p.m.

                Steve Hauck                          December through February

                Aaron Benjamin                    December through January

                Bill Street                               December

ADJOURNMENT – The meeting was adjourned at 8:30 p.m.

Respectfully submitted by,

Sue Yates, Executive Secretary