Housing Commission

I. Call to Order F T 10/28/2019 - Minutes Members Present: Robert Millar, Anna Wageling, Chris Melynk, Deac Decarreau City Staff Present: Heather Carrington Guests Present: Councilor Jim Duncan, Fernando (St. Michael’s student) A Call to Order by: Robert Millar Minutes Recorded by: Anna Wageling II. Public Comment None R III. Approve Previous Meeting Minutes Decision: Approved Motion by: Chris Second: Anna Meeting minutes from the 9/9/19 meeting were approved. IV. Department and City Updates D The City welcomes “Deac” Decarreau, the new Executive Director of Winooski Housing Authority as the newest member of the Housing Commission. Deac brings tremendous knowledge of the City of Winooski, as a lifelong resident and prior City Manager. The Winooski Housing Authority is a vital partner in the discussion of affordable housing in Winooski, and is the largest single landlord in the city. With this appointment, the Housing Commission has a full membership slate. V. Housing Trust Fund Progress Update The HTF policy issues raised by City Council have been addressed as recommended at the previous Housing Commission meeting. Work to move the HTF program forward continues through staff coordination of Memoranda of Understanding (MOU) with both Opportunities Credit Union for loan servicing and with Champlain Housing Trust for income compliance monitoring. VI. Minimum Parking Requirement Impacts on Housing Affordability Housing Commissioners reviewed data on vehicle ownership in the city as compared with the minimum parking spaces required by the Unified Land Use and Development Regulations. Inconsistencies between required parking minimums in various zoning districts in the community were discussed, as was the impact of parking requirements on housing affordability. The national average increase to rental cost for units with parking spaces is 17%. The Commission discussed various possible approaches to mitigating the cost of parking requirements including: eliminating parking minimums, reducing parking minimums, setting parking maximums, aligning minimum requirements in all zoning districts, reducing or eliminating parking minimums for affordable units, and decoupling rent from parking costs. Concerns were raised about who benefits from the reduction in development costs, developers or tenants. Concerns were raised about more cars being parked on the street and the impediment that could be to improving bicycle infrastructure. Many of the case studies presented were results in large cities like Minneapolis and Seattle, thus the Commission sought results from smaller cities that would be more comparable to Winooski. Staff will come back with potential recommendations for parking minimum reductions in combination with decoupling parking from rental pricing, and case studies from smaller cities. VII. Adjourn Motion by: Deac Second: Chris Time: 7:21 PM