Affordable Housing Advisory Committee

City of Deltona 2345 Providence Blvd. Deltona, FL 32725 Minutes Affordable Housing Advisory Committee Tuesday, March 15, 2022 5:00 PM 2nd. Floor Conference Room 1. CALL TO ORDER: The meeting was called to order at 5:01 pm. 2. ROLL CALL: Present: 8 - Chair Jodi Pena-Castaldi Vice Chair Patricia Ulicny-Hoback Member Terri Ellis Member Sylvia Hayes Member Eric James Member Cassie Landron Member Manny Rodriguez Member Michelle Wallace-Chin Excused: 1 - Member Commissioner Avila-Vazquez Election of Officers Motion by Member James to nominate Jodi Pena-Castaldi as Chair, seconded by Member Ellis. The motion carried unanimously. Motion by Member James to nominate Patricia Ulicny-Hoback as Vice Chair, seconded by Member Ellis. The motion carried unanimously. 3. APPROVAL OF MINUTES & AGENDA: A. Minutes of February 15, 2022 Member Ellis wanted the following included in the February 15 minutes: * the possibility of having workshop(s) to discuss specific issues; and * is the end result of the Committee to bring about Affordable Housing or is the Committee a product on how to bring about Affordable Housing? Motion by Member Wallace-Chin, seconded by Vice Chair Ulicny-Hoback, to approve the AHAC Minutes of February 15, 2022, as amended. The motion carried unanimously. City of Deltona Page 1 Printed on 5/24/2022 Affordable Housing Advisory Minutes March 15, 2022 Committee 4. PRESENTATIONS/AWARDS/REPORTS: A. Sunshine Law Presentation by City Attorney Marsha Segal-George City Attorney Marsha Segal-George gave a presentation to the Committee on the Sunshine Law, which is very strict in Florida. Members may not communicate with each other about items on the Agenda via text, email, online, over lunch, and social media just to give some examples. The AHAC is a Sunshine board. If you have an issue or need to communicate to other members you would work through Staff. Staff would then determine what can and can't be sent. Ultimately, there's liability if Members communicate inappropriately on a Sunshine board; liability for the person who does it, the person who answers, and liability for the City. As a Sunshine board, the meetings have to be open to the public, noticed, and minutes must be recorded. Members may talk or email Commissioners with the stipulation that the conversation is outside the realm of the AHAC, for example, the weather, a movie, your cat. Doing research on a specific issue/subject via a subcommittee can be done; however, you have to observe the Sunshine protocol -- the meeting has to be open to the public, noticed, and minutes must be recorded. In addition, this will require City Staff and an Attorney. The subcommittee can then bring back their information to the Committee. City Attorney Marsha Segal-George said she's willing to participate. It's up to the AHAC how to proceed. 5. PUBLIC FORUM: Time permitted, public comments shall be limited to items on the agenda and shall not exceed two minutes. Please be courteous and respectful of the views of others. Personal attacks on Committee/Board members, City staff or members of the public are not allowed and will be ruled out of order by the Chair. None. 6. OLD BUSINESS: None. 7. NEW BUSINESS: A. Affordable Housing Advisory Committee Survey Discussion There was consensus among all the Members about the need for affordability. Most Members feel that homes on scattered sites, condos, townhouses, duplexes are the properties best suited for Deltona. There was minor interest in affordable multi-family. The Committee requested average timelines for the rezoning process (please see below). City of Deltona Page 2 Printed on 5/24/2022 Affordable Housing Advisory Minutes March 15, 2022 Committee B. Request for information on Rezoning and Expedited Permitting In response to a request by the Committee to provide information on the "rezoning process", Mr. Paradise introduced a Rezoning Timeline handout. In addition, the Committee asked for an example of expedited permitting. Mr. Paradise provided a recent example of expedited permitting. C. AHAC Incentive Guide Sections 5-8 5 - Flexibility in Density (lot configuration) 1st strategy-2nd meeting Mr. Paradise reminded the Members that the AHAC Committee recommends incentives for Affordable Housing. One incentive is Flexibility in Density. Discussion ensued. The Committee will make a recommendation at a later date. 6 - Allowance of Affordable Accessory Dwelling Units (2nd strategy-2nd meeting) Mr. Paradise provided an overview of the City's current Accessory Dwelling Units policy (aka granny flats/mother-in-law suites). There was discussion of things to consider including but not limited to (policy of HOAs, parking, infrastructure, etc.). The Committee felt they should focus on other types of dwellings first, as a multi-pronged approach and readdress this strategy during final recommendation. 7 - Reduction in Parking and Setbacks (3rd strategy-2nd meeting) Mr. Paradise mentioned that Deltona is an automotive community and every land use in the City is subject to parking ratios. He described the parking requirements for single-family, multi-family, etc. The conversation moved to setback requirements. Setback refers to the amount of space a structure has to be located away from the road, the side yards and the rear yards. Members voiced concerns for better mass transit due to rising gas prices (this strategy will be reviewed during the "development near transportation hubs" strategy). To summarize: Do we want to reduce parking requirements? Do we want to allow for reduced setbacks for greater density within residential areas? Or, do we want to maintain the status quo? Decision deferred to a later date. 8 - Allowance of Flexible Lot Configurations (4th strategy-2nd meeting) Mr. Paradise began to speak about flexible lot configurations and shared upcoming development with the Committee Members. The Committee had several questions: * Are townhomes allowed in the City? City of Deltona Page 3 Printed on 5/24/2022 Affordable Housing Advisory Minutes March 15, 2022 Committee Yes, the City does allow townhomes. * Are any of the multi-family units coming online set aside for affordability? No, not at this time. Why? We can't force the developer to do anything and the developer would need to be made whole. Someone has to pay. Moving forward we could include inclusionary fees to incentivize a project. Perhaps impact fee relief, using SHIP/CDBG funds, or other mechanisms deemed appropriate. * Is there a possibility to find partners that would develop multi-family zoned lands if we provided monetary resources to those kinds of partnerships? Yes. Staff mentioned that any multi-family units would need infrastructure. Staff was asked the following: * In areas zoned multi-family could the Committee recommend dollars be spent on putting in the sewer infrastructure improvements to attract affordable housing developers? Mr. Paradise stated that's a fine approach to take. * Does the CIty have a sewer build out plan for Deltona? No, not to my knowledge. Mr. Paradise asserted a good direction from the Committee might be to start looking at inclusionary zoning and linkage fees. 8. STAFF COMMENTS: None. 9. BOARD/COMMITTEE MEMBERS COMMENTS: Member James stated the Committee is going in the right direction; more clarity was provided. Member Rodriguez said has a better understanding what his mission is. How did Palm Beach allocate 10% for Affordable Housing? Mr. Paradise said they made the developer whole somehow; they made the developers do it. Member Wallace-Chin would like insights from builders who are interested in doing Affordable Housing, possibly a presentation/Zoom call as well as developments in other areas with the goal to learn best practices rather than reinventing the wheel. Vice Chair Ulicny-Hoback suggested Members get on channel 491 and watch the Commission and Magistrate meetings. She thanked Ron and Marsha for their City of Deltona Page 4 Printed on 5/24/2022 Affordable Housing Advisory Minutes March 15, 2022 Committee presentations as well as Staff for putting the AHAC binder together. Member Ellis asked if we are going to get that foreclosed property? Mr. Paradise stated, "Unknown". She would like to see Member comments from the survey. She wants to see data. How many Affordable Units do we need? 100, 10, 20 units? What's the current Census data about population? She referenced the 2030 Census study. She was advised to go to census.gov (Census / American Community Survey) to obtain data about the population. Member Hayes stated the Committee is going in the right direction. She suggested it may be beneficial to contact the City of Palm Beach to see what they did regarding Affordable Housing. Need to make an impact on the neighborhoods, traffic, and the basic needs in the City because we don't have anything to sustain Affordable Housing for seniors or families. Member Landron was impressed to see Mr. Paradise so vocal in the meeting. Happy about the Sunshine Law clarification. Wondering about the two (2) addresses for the lots? She would like guest speakers for every meeting. Per Mr. Paradise we will provide Tax ID numbers of the properties. Chair Pena-Castaldi said she wanted in the minutes that Member Landron said Mr. Paradise was quiet and does not have a lot to say. Our job as a Committee is to push the boundaries and ask the Commission to push the boundaries or things are never going to change. What do we do to keep our young people in Deltona? Community Legal Services is still doing Emergency Rental Assistance; they've assisted over 700 applicants. The Volusia County Section 8 waiting list will be open from 7 AM to 7 PM on Thursday, March 24, 2022. The Home Ownership Assistance Fund/Mortgage Assistance program is open. 10. ADJOURNMENT: The meeting adjourned at 7:19 pm. _________________________________ Chairperson, Jodi Pena-Castaldi ATTEST: _________________________________ Board Secretary, Damaris Miranda City of Deltona Page 5 Printed on 5/24/2022