Community Development Advisory Committee

MINUTES OF THE COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT ADVISORY COMMITTEE PUBLIC HEARING FOR CONPLAN HOUSING/BROWNFIELD/REDEVELOPMENT April 7, 2010 3:00 P.M. Members Present: Vice-Chairperson Les King, Lynn Norris, Ed Derr Others Present: Charles Whitty, Norwich Housing Authority; Patrick McCormack, Uncas Health District; Beverly Goulet, Linda Lee Smith Vice-Chairperson Les King called the public hearing to order at 3:10 p.m. The CDAC committee wanted to see what the priorities are going to be over the next 5 years so they can be included with the 5 Year ConPlan. Charles Whitty from the Norwich Housing Authority spoke and handed out a communication dated March 30, 2010 that he put together with statistics of their 5-year Capital Plan for Federal & State project. He stated they have 177 Federal properties, and they get a partial operating subsidy each year and the rest paid by the tenants and it’s divided between 77 family units and 100 units for senior’s handicapped, disabled individuals. One important thing is the age of the properties all of the 686 units of housing and only one has been built since 1990; many of them are 60 years old. The Norwich Housing Authority receives approximately $211,905 each year for federal capital improvements. The number of federal units that need attention greatly exceeds anticipated capital funds for the 5-year period. Consequently most of the improvements listed in the plan with a nominal estimated cost will not be undertaken unless they receive additional funds from American Recovery & Reinvestment Act or CDBG. Their funds also cannot be commingled. Public housing authorities do not receive annual capital funding for State housing projects. The only monies they have are the monies they get for rents. Rents are either established base rent or 30% of income minus certain deductions. The less income they have the less revenue they have to do anything. The 5-year plan has to encompass the needs of the community as a whole. A good portion of their housing units are old properties. They were built in the 1948 -1953, 1960-1970 and then building of public housing stopped. Their goal and objective is to try and maintain the properties they have and they appreciate the assistance that the Community Development Advisory Committee AND THE City Council have given in the past. Of their 686 units, in the federal properties the waiting lists are very long. Oakwood Knoll has a three-year waiting list. The Federal elderly is well over a year wait list and it’s popular because they don’t pay any utilities. On the State properties the list has been building up but with no vacant units. The turnover rate has become very small, and the tenants don’t have any options. Pat McCormack from Uncas Health District wanted to make sure that he was in line with what the City has in mind for the 5 Year ConPlan. Education outreach has caused people to be more aware of their surroundings making sure children aren’t put at risk. Uncas Health gets involved with children under the age of 6, and with issuing orders to correct the violations. At this point there were 0 children with elevated lead levels. Mr. McCormack said that there is lead in Norwich Housing Authority buildings but it meets standards. Uncas Health District gets involved with chipping of paint, paint complaints, and they can bring it into compliance without remediation. Properties that are built before 1978 are going to have lead paint in them and there is a need to address and eliminate it. They haven’t solved the problem of removing lead but these are steps in the right direction. The State is moving toward a healthy home procedure, which is being done under the healthy homes and a positive thing. It forces inspectors to go into homes and look at all these issues at once including and dealing with the paint issue, basement asbestos on pipes, mold, moisture, breathing and asthma issues. Mr. McCormack said presently they are complaint based, and if they are going to spend money to start moving in the direction it would be towards prevention and to follow up with illness, poisoning, and keeping children out of the hospitals. There is a mandate to look for lead and they want to deal with the prevention but there is no funding. They do an Airs Program where they do an assessment at the request of the tenant/owner to see what may be causing some child to have asthma and work with the doctor on finding out if they are being seen more often than they should. They check with the school nurses to find out how their asthma levels are and if they are making referrals to the emergency room. They also talk to the parents on preventive measures. Mr. McCormack said there is also a need for inspections on buildings prior to being occupied. If there were any way to get the previous program up and running again Patrick McCormack would be completely in support of it. He said that anywhere there is an older housing stock such as here in Norwich, and primarily landlords vs. tenants there is definitely lead. Beverly Goulet said that the City is very lucky to have Patrick McCormack. He has done a wonderful job as the Uncas Health Director. The Housing Management team meets monthly to look at properties to make sure that they are on top of those not providing a good living space for their tenants. Housing is an issue, as well as a combined sewer system, which they would like to see the need recognized and addressed. They are still finding connections into the rivers from old pipes that could be addressed if they could assess and identify them and issue an order to the owner to disable the pipe being used put a holding tank on the building. Patrick McCormack is always concerned with buildings, warehouses and places that are public safety and environmental risks. He has worked with Fire Chief Scandariato and he maintains a list of the buildings to start the assessment process. There was some concern over abandoned buildings becoming blighted if they are allowed to deteriorate. The strategy has to be with the public safety component and keeping people out of the building. To be able to secure the building, try and identify a developer and work with the current owner of the property or to the City to begin the process of at least removing the most identifiable hazards. This is what Chief Scandariato has been working to do. Clean up the building and make it a viable building. If they are going to make it a viable building they have to meet the code requirements, remove the material and bring it up to code. The CDAC committee set up public hearing/deliberation meeting schedule as follows: April 19, 2010 at 3:00 p.m. April 26, 2010 at 3:00 p.m. May 10, 2010 at 3:00 p.m. The CD office just received the RFP’s for the Consultant for the 5year ConPlan. The public hearing closed at 4:35 p.m.