Affordable & Fair Housing Partnership

Easthampton Affordable and Fair Housing Partnership August 3, 2023 Minutes Meeting called to order at 6:10pm Present: Shira Simon, Jackie Brousseau-Pereira, Janna Tetreault (chair) , Benjamin Breger, Kiam McQuaid Staff: Jamie Webb, Senior Planner Guest: Jess Allan, Valley CDC 1) Approve minutes of prior meeting Breger, motion to approve, Brousseau-Pereira second. Motion passes. 2) EDIC meeting follow up -Kiam McQuaid spoke with EDIC chair Gwynne Morrissey about projects the two committees might collaborate on. • Housing and parking requirements were one task. • Public transportation was another possibility. -Jackie Brousseau-Pereira suggested that regular joint AFHP and EDIC meetings would be useful to both groups to define community needs, discuss assessment and information sharing. -Janna Tetreault agreed to discuss with EDIC chair about next joint meeting. 3) Moving forward with housing goals a) Breger and McQuaid agreed to revisit ideas about developing a housing trust fund. Discussed idea of meeting with stakeholders to discuss how and if this might work b) Zoning changes. Any change to Zoning would begin with sponsorship by a city councilor or a petition signed by at least 10 people. Some potential Zoning changes might be: i) Eliminating single-family only zoning districts by allowing duplexes in all districts by right (as an example, the city of Austin, TX has done this). Senior Planner Webb commented on current zoning, which allows duplex/multi-family by right in all districts except R35, R40 & R80 which only allow single family. Also, accessory dwellings are allowed in all districts now. Ben Breger volunteered to look at lot requirements, setback regs and other things, that might be useful for AFHP members to know. Jackie BP suggested that we bring ideas to the Easthampton Housing Coalition and loop in some city councilors gauge their interest in these goals. ii) Lifting/changing 18-units per building cap  Steps: talk to housing developers to ask what they believe is a reasonable cap. Or, does it make more sense for this to be defined by the plot that the development will be built on? Jess Allan from Valley CDC reminded AFHP members that any development is going to be limited by the specifics of the property being developed – land, soils, storm water and parking requirements. Zoning in 40R districts already have to comply with specific design standards and tax credit projects have to have at least 20 units “ iii) Finding places in the Zoning Code that use the term “community character” or similar descriptions and changing this language, as it is typically meant to keep people out of communities. Members questioned whether it makes sense to keep the % of affordability per project in the Zoning Code. We’d like to find ways to better encourage multifamily housing? Senior Planner Webb recommended approaching the zoning items separately because they each may have challenges. For example, it may help to wait until the Tasty Top project is approved and use it as an example of the ways “Community Character” was used in the conversation. City Planner Webb agreed to go through the Zoning Code to share the parts that AFHP would like to recommend changes to. 4) Additional items: a) Chair Tetreault is writing a letter on behalf of AFHP in support of the 385 Main St. project. b) 1 Ferry St. is working through the ZBA and Planning Board Process. It is not clear who the non-profit developer that Mr. Michon is working with. c) We have two potential new AFHP members: Lindsay Rothschild and Maxine Alicea. d) What does the state budget update mean for affordable housing? CHAPA has some information on the website. Jess Allan from Valley CDC agreed to share some information with AFHP. 5) Next meeting is Thursday, September 28 at 6:00pm Motion to adjourn – Jackie BP motioned, Kiam McQuaide second, meeting adjourned 7:08pm Respectfully submitted, Jackie Brousseau-Pereira