Amesbury Housing Trust

By City Clerk at 12:32 pm, Jun 12, 2023 AMESBURY CITY HALL 62 Friend Street Amesbury, MA 01913 Amesbury Housing Trust MEETING AGENDA April 12, 2023 @ 4:30pm City Hall Auditorium Public comment can be made by: • Emailing your comment before the meeting to oced@amesburyma.gov. Your comment will be read aloud at the appropriate time in the agenda and entered into the public record. Minutes 1. Call to Order  Chair Margaret Hoffman called the meeting to order at 4:30  Members absent- Katelynn Lemieux, Steve Stanganelli 2. Minutes from March 8, 2023  Motion to approve Kathy Troiano  Second by Nancy Frick  Approved unanimous. 3. Public Comment  Carol Finn 412 Main St.- wondering what the plan is for Money collected from developers.  Margaret Hoffman- no plan right now, funds will be allocated as needed.  Public Comment closed. 4. Communications  Housing Trust Account update i. Principal $139,991.10 ii. Interest: $500.12 iii. Total: $140,494.97  Update on Trust name: Amesbury Housing Trust i. Margaret Hoffman - we have been calling it affordable housing trust, charter says Amesbury Housing Trust, agenda, minutes and website will be updated accordingly. 5. Existing Business  At Home in Amesbury Initiative Update  o Angela Cleveland provided update, Housing summit held on 3/29, RKG is putting together a summary, materials uploaded to at home website. Video is also available on same site. Adam will be the contact moving forward. Next steps are big zoning changes, MBTA Com, change zoning for east end smart, 40R, encourage to review, and stay up to date.  I AMesbury 2030/Housing Summit Update – Katelynn Lemieux o Kathy Troiano- very positive reaction, good presentations, Jeff Levine should be asked to come speak to the trust. Adam can reach out to him for that invite. o Mayor Gove- great event, good attendance, ADU, IZO potential tools, RKG will give recommendations for a timeline etc. o Angela Cleveland - RKG will not do that, at home in Amesbury will create a timeline, it’s on the website for all zoning changes, Jeff is writing what we will adopt, will not help implement. o Nancy Frick- can we bring this up to the council and make a recommendation. o Mayor Gove - we can submit a letter of support with bill, back to trust after first reading.  Update on Affordable Housing Units for Sale o 140 Main St. no buyers located. o Angela Cleveland - this does not meet fair housing standards, that’s why Lynne was brought in, the process was messy, we are much more involved now.  Progress Tracking – Drew LeFleur o Drew LaFleur- reviewed the progress tracker with the trust, went over what it is for, and how it will be updated moving forward. Adam still has to create updates, this creates bottleneck of info, Katelynn Lemieux has championed the campaign, hopefully one person would own one issue or more each. Each champ will work to get updates on each issue for each meeting. The goal is to get it on the website so that the public can get these updates as well. Trust agreed that individual ownership is a good idea, as well as consolidated information in one place. o Margaret Hoffman will take city owned land updates. o Angela Cleveland - OCED Director will take over. o Cynthia Rd. has been delayed until Trader Allan’s project is complete. o Mayor Gove - many things we can do to work with landlords, educate about affordability and deed restrictions, Kathy Troiano- will champion, we would create a program. o Margaret Hoffman - Adam Garvey will be at May meeting, Margaret Hoffman will own Housing Authority outreach. o Ordinance updates- ADU, IZO, comes through Adam with RKG and update tracker. o Revenue from short-term rentals will come to the Trust, Steve Stanganelli will champion that issue. o Bartlett Cottages- 278 Main 40B- will be new affordable units. Drew LaFleur, Kathy Troiano will champion. o Adam will do affordable unit as well. o Thursdays before the meeting by 5 PM for updates. 6. New Business  Request to allocate funds to hire a Housing Project Manager i. Angela Cleveland - Trust will fund the position, 80-85k per year. The position needed to ensure completion of all the housing initiatives currently  going on in the city, will be for one year initially, then funded with CDBG program income. Adam Krans will be working with CDBG advisory committee to allocate misc. income account to the Trust. This could create a renewing funding source. Nipun does not have the bandwidth to handle all the changes. Funding should be used for housing, that’s why we’re trying to put structure into the process. Funds can be moved from misc. income account to the AHT account, ii. Kathy Troiano- What is the next step, meet with CDBG advisory committee, then a recommendation will be made to the council, and a bill drafted for the council to approve authorizing the Amesbury Housing Trust to control the Misc. income funds from CDBG. Adam will drive the process, Councilor Hickock, Keith Ratner, Nipun, Adam on advisory committee. iii. Drew LaFleur- who will this person report to, will any other dept have access to this person? iv. Angela Cleveland - OCED Director, and no, but the next OCED Director will have discretion over that. v. Margaret Hoffman – Would this person understand this could be temporary? vi. Angela Cleveland - Yes, same as Adam, MBTA communities is a lot of work and having a dedicated manager will be vital, has to be done by December 2024. Grant funding may be available, position can be creative about funding. vii. Mayor Gove - this position is necessary; more and more communities are hiring dedicated housing staff. Would feel more comfortable once we have all the funds in one account under the AHT control. viii. Margaret Hoffman suggests that the trust draft a letter of support of accepting control of the Misc. income account.  Disposition of City Properties for Affordable Housing i. List provided, tax titled properties, vetted for wetlands, current use etc. ii. Drew LaFleur- what is a tax title property. iii. Angela Cleveland - the owner didn’t pay their taxes, so the city took the property through land court. iv. Mayor Gove - could also be acquired by friendly takings, or purchase. There may be more but they may be protected, or not buildable. v. Drew LaFleur - what makes a good plot for housing. vi. Angela Cleveland - size, zoning, wetlands, buildable area, vii. Margaret Hoffman - who chooses to put a CR on a plot viii. Angela Cleveland - we did mostly due to wetlands, or non-buildable lots. Also reviewed by open space committee and planning board. They re- moved 14 properties. Over 100 acres protected after list was compiled through article 97.  Meeting format: In-person or hybrid meetings. i. Kathy Troiano- made request to make meetings hybrid, ii. Mayor Gove - no boards are holding hybrid meetings currently, at least not for members. Works best when ACTV is present for sound management. Several boards are still doing all virtual meetings. Most due to non-local members or participants, consultants etc. iii. Margaret Hoffman - can members call into a meeting? iv. Mayor Gove - that would be considered a hybrid. v. Angela Cleveland- we could move to South Hunt Road and make it virtual; people could call in and video into the meeting. vi. Margaret Hoffman - if we provide a remote option to members do we have to provide it to the public?  vii. Mayor Gove - No, we can ask legal counsel about what is and is not allowed. 7. Next Meeting Date – May 10th, 4:30pm 8. Adjourn  Motion- Kathy Troiano  Second Drew LaFleur  Vote- unanimous, meeting adjourned at 5:46 PM