Housing Committee Meeting

1 VILLAGE OF SISTER BAY HOUSING COMMITTEE (VIRTUAL) 2 MEETING MINUTES 3 TUESDAY, JANUARY 7, 2025 4 (APPROVED) 5 6 1. Call Meeting to Order & Roll Call 7 Chair Patrice Champeau called the meeting to order at 11:05 a.m. 8 9 Present: Chair and Trustee Patrice Champeau, Lori Allen, Gustavo Gallardo, Kay Smith 10 Absent: Lauren Aurelius, Razvan Ciobanu, Marissa Downs 11 Staff: Administrator Julie Schmelzer 12 Others: Louise Howson, Meg Ziegelmann, ‘Barb’ 13 14 2. Approval of Agenda 15 Motion by Smith, second by Gallardo, to approve the agenda as presented. Motion carried 16 unanimously. 17 18 3. Approve Minutes 19 Motion by Allen, second by Smith, to approve the minutes from the November 12,2024, meeting as 20 presented. Motion carried unanimously. 21 22 Schmelzer explained there was no quorum for the December meeting, but those in attendance still 23 met with the speaker. Schmelzer is compiling the notes so members know what the speaker covered. 24 25 4. Comments, Correspondence and Concerns from the Public 26 (None) 27 28 5. Discussion/Action Items 29 a. Crested Butte; Colorado model; Erin Ganser, Housing Director 30 Ms. Ganser gave a brief history of her role and history of the housing crisis in Crested Butte. She 31 explained Crested Butte is a small tourist town with a population of about 1500 people in a county of 32 18,000. They are about one square mile in size. The last time homes were affordable to 100% AMI 33 was 2012. At that time a highway project resulted in the popularity of the town and ever since then 34 they’ve had a severe housing issue – they have less than a 1% vacancy rate and the average home sells 35 for over $2 million. 36 37 In 1990 they adopted an accessory dwelling unit (ADU) code which required a minimum of a six-month 38 tenant lease. Until 2010 that helped with housing, primarily seasonal workforce housing, and they had 39 about 100 ADUs. However, now that they have been ‘discovered’, a lot sells for about $1 million and 40 the homes are often $5-6 million; people no longer want ADUs on their lot with their expensive home. 41 42 They chose to build their own housing developments so they can put their own deed restrictions on 43 the sales and so they could prioritize who they sell or lease to. They have built a mix of homes and 44 long-term rentals (primarily occupied by town employees). They have a five-year wait list. They do 45 have some developer owned units as well. 46 1  Minutes – January 7, 2025 - Village Housing Committee - APPROVED 1 They have a buy down on their deed restriction. About 330 units are deed restricted, or 25-30%. About 2 30% of the developer owned units are also deed restricted. 3 4 They tried to figure out how to slow the growth of the multimillion-dollar homes. In 2019 they 5 proposed a vacant home tax, but the wealthy, real estate agents and nonprofits voted it down. They 6 switched to a planning approach by involving the public in their housing meetings, developed a parking 7 and mobility plan, updated their historic preservation plan, and their culture, climate and commercial 8 plan, and then their zoning code. The zoning code now offers incentives to generate more affordable 9 housing. For example, in lieu of a fee, they pay full or partial towards employee housing. 10 11 They too have been struggling with the few affordable homes becoming short-term rentals. 12 13 The struggles they face with their program are staff time. Monitoring the deeds long-term is time 14 consuming. They finally hired a company to monitor the sales. 15 16 Their deed restrictions include a provision that the occupant’s income and assets can’t exceed 140% 17 AMI, which is about 3 x the value of the home. Also, one member of the home must be a full time 18 employee of the Crested Butte workforce. Appreciation (sale price) cannot exceed 3% a year. When 19 asked by a committee member what they do if the resident no longer works full time in the county, 20 she said they have to sell. She added, “these homes are not to create ‘nest eggs’, they are to create 21 ‘nests’, a place to stay until you can afford something else”. 22 23 They issued RFPs for developers, had them sign Development Agreements, and welcomed different 24 building models and materials than they traditionally allowed. 25 26 They realized how much they changed and knew something had to be done immediately. They now 27 call themselves, “the Fading West”. 28 29 Following Ganser’s call, members felt the committee needed a master plan. Schmelzer explained once 30 they feel they have gathered enough background information, she’ll compile everything they learned, 31 and the committee will create a model. She also explained there are others helping the committee 32 get what is needed for a plan and explained the Plan Commission will be reviewing their codes to see 33 if the R-4 district is too restrictive and doesn’t allow for affordable housing, and what changes are 34 needed to not hinder development. 35 36 Gollardo asked if the committee has considered different types of construction and volunteered to 37 research different development styles. 38 39 6. Discussion Regarding Matters to be Placed on a Future Agenda, Referred to a Committee, Official 40 or Employee 41 The committee would like to hear from a multi-family developer. 42 43 7. Set Meeting Schedule & Topic(s); Speaker Invite List. 44 Schmelzer explained by the time they meet she’ll have the draft housing models from the builder and 45 the committee can review them, and she’ll try to line up a speaker. The committee agreed to meet on 46 January 21 at 10:30. [Meeting was cancelled] 47 2  Minutes – January 7, 2025 - Village Housing Committee - APPROVED 1 8. Adjournment 2 Motion by Smith, second by Allen, to adjourn. Motion carried unanimously. The meeting was 3 adjourned at 12:30 p.m. 4 5 Respectfully submitted, 6 Julie Schmelzer, Acting Recording Secretary 3