Housing Task Force

Housing Task Force Meeting #14 Thursday, June 27, 2024 7pm Port Chester Senior Center Attendants: Arley Arno, Chester Edwards, Monica Fonseca, Jane Lippman, Kathy Pandekakes, Catrina Shivers, Andrew Weiss, Ursula Winchell, Aldo Vitagliano. Absent: Margaret Adamson, Lisa Cordasco, Luis Yumbla Meeting started at 7:06 pm. Motion to accept the June 13, 2024 meeting minutes, made by Aldo Vitagliano and seconded by Andrew Weiss, was passed unanimously. We had a discussion regarding missing members. Chester Edwards will speak to Trustee Joan Grangenois-Thomas regarding what to do next and provide an update at next meeting. Motion made and passed unanimously by Chester Edwards, and seconded by Jane Lippman, to reduce our quorum to 5 which is a majority of the active 9 members. We discussed requesting a professional consultant to help guide us towards our goal of new housing options, the legality of it all, as well as potential incentives. It will take the Board of Trustees several months to hire a consultant. They will need time for the procurement process and to authorize the Village manager and Planning Department to seek a consultant. Monica Fonseca has reached out to Rose Noonan and Tiffany Zezusa from the Pace Land Use Law Center to see if they could guide us towards our goal. Tiffany Zezusa discussed with Monica Fonseca that there may be funding through block grants to pay for a consultant. We should ask Blanca Lopez to give us her ideas on what could be helpful in achieving our task, and how to go about getting a consultant to assist us. She will also know about the CDBG funding obligations and if they restrict us in any way. We will also need to know the process of how the upcoming units will be managed, and to get her perspective of what she has seen on a local level. How should they be enforced per Westchester County? What needs to be changed to facilitate enforcement? Are there incentives for existing landlords and/or homeowners that could create more affordable units in existing buildings/properties? Schedule of future guest speakers was discussed. Blanca Lopez, Westchester County Commissioner of Planning, along with her colleague Len Greenfield are scheduled for Thursday, July 11, 2024. Greg Cutler and Curt Lavalla, the Port Chester Planning Director and Assistant Director are scheduled for Thursday, August 8, 2024. We would like to see if any preferences are legally viable to benefit Port Chester residents. There seems to be no enforcement caveats built into our zoning code. Other communities have an enforcement arm for their municipality, and Port Chester doesn’t seem to have that. There is a drafting flaw that could potentially need to be corrected, whereby Westchester County handles the initial lottery and verifying financial requirements of the affordable units, but the yearly check is the responsibility of the developer. So, who will enforce the developer to adhere to that? We can ask Blanca Lopez what enforcement mechanisms exist in other communities and what changes to recommend. If there are Federal, State, or County funds used for developers of affordable housing, there are monitors in place. There is no such mechanism in place for the 10% affordable set asides in our current zoning code. Are there affordable units that are currently monitored and enforced in Port Chester? This would be a question to ask Greg Cutler, the Port Chester Planning Director. There are no yearly audits currently required by the IDA to ensure affordable units are maintained as it is the Village’s responsibility. Next meeting: Thursday, July 11, 2024 7pm at the Village Conference Room with guest speakers Blanca Lopez and Len Grunfield.