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Home My WebLink About1995-01-09 Reading Housing Authority MinutesREADING HOUSING AUTHORITY Minutes of the Meeting of January 9,1995 A regular business meeting of the members of the Reading Housing Authority was held on Monday, January 9, 1995 at 7:30 P.M. at the office of the Authority, 22 Frank D. Tanner Drive in the Town of Reading, Massachusetts. The meeting was called to order with the Vice- Chainn , Mr. Sweet, presiding. Those members present and forming a quorum were: Mr. Reynolds, and Mr. Allen. The Executive Director, Ms. Plansky, was also in attendance. Upon a motion duly made by Mr. Allen and seconded by Mr. Reynolds, it was unanimously VOTED: To approve and accept for the record the minutes of the meeting of December 12, 1994, as presented. The Chairman then declared said motion carried and said vote in effect. Upon a motion duly made by Mr. Allen and seconded by Mr. Reynolds, it was unanimously VOTED: To approve and sign the checkroll/billroll for the period from check #1914 -1965 inclusive, and payroll check #514 -551 inclusive, as presented. The Chairman then declared said motion carried and said vote in effect. Upon a motion duly made by Mr. Allen and seconded by Mr. Reynolds, it was unanimously VOTED: To accept and forward to Town Hall for publication, the 1994 Annual Report as submitted. The Chairman then declared said motion carried and said vote in effect. The Board reviewed the submittal to the Community Planning and Development Commission as presented by Longwood Associates. After review by the Board and upon a motion duly made by Mr. Allen and seconded by Mr. Reynolds, it was unanimously VOTED: To send a letter to CPDC and the Board of Selectmen noting the following I) - Under the current proposal, Longwood Associates has an 80:20% market rate: low-income housing unit requirement. Longwood proposes that all low - income units be set aside for GAFC qualified applicants only. This means that anyone currently earning $6600 or less would qualify for the GAFC low- income units. In reviewing the Authority's tenants, who Page 2 Minutes 1/9/95 must be low - incometo qualify for our program, only 3 of our clients would be GAFC- qualified for this facility. Mr. Casper from Longwood has informed this Board that the market rate units would cost between $2000- 2700 /month. This would mean that those residents would have to have annual incomes in the $32,000+ range in order to support this payment. From our analysis we see that there is a large segment of this vulnerable population with incomes between $6601- 32,000 that would be excluded from eligibility. From our tenant information, 89% our population would qualify as low - income persons (not in eluding the GAFC eligible tenants) under HUD and MHFA low - income guidelines. Unfortunately, this facility woul not be accessible to this population. We believe that this facility should provide some ac< to this assisted living facility for this segment of the population. 2) - The next issue is the complex problem of parking. The petitioner is seeking relief from thi current parking requirements. We would like to ask the Commission to seriously consider the complex parking problems with other such facilities (e.g. - Wingate at Reading [Somer Nursing Home], North Main Street) and plan parking for this facility carefully. In urban areas, l space per 2 employees might be adequate, but we do not believe that employees working at this facility will be using public transportation or carpools to this degree. Adde to employees' parking will be visitors, health care providers and people using the ballfield. We ask that CPDC consider these in their deliberations. 3) - The developer states in his proposal that there will be an elder van. It is not clear to this Board if this van would be provided by the facility for residents of the facility only, for neighboring residents, or if the Town's van would be utilized. 4) -The Authority is also concerned that there is no provision for adult day care by the Bevel, at this facility. We are aware that they have made or will make accommodations for this service in other developments of theirs. We ask that this also be discussed with the deve during CPDC's review process. The Chairman then declared said motion carried and said vote in effect. The Board reviewed the agreement presented by Andrew Dolben from Bear Hill Limited Partnership in conjunction with the required linkage units for Bear Hill. Upon a motion duly made by Mr. Allen and seconded by Mr. Reynolds, it was unanimously VOTED: To forward to our attorney, Mr. Greco, the following concerns with the agreement as presented: 1) - As noted by Bill McIsaac at the negotiations, the Board was concerned that all 2 BR w/o garages would be easily identifiable as "affordable" units. Therefore, the Board does not agree with all 2 BR being w/o garages Page 3 Minutes 1/9/95 2) - Page 3 b - Board does not agree to Maximum Affordable Price being adjusted 1/1/95, but wants to change to 1/1/97. 3) - Board wants to be sure that the turnover of the "affordable units" will be the same as the market rate units. No discount to be allowed to market rate units unless likewise for "affordable units" if buyer agrees to take "as is" at turnover. 4) - Deed Restriction - Exhibit B; Need to refer to RHA approval at time of transfer of deed to new "qualified" owner. Need to have some authority to oversee that unit and buyer are kept as "affordable ". 5) - Page 5, p 4 - delete "reasonable" from reasonable approval 6) - Review selection of owners at conversion 7) - RHA selects tenants at rental; owners at conversio,;n and resale - RHA approves eligible family. 8) - Page 4, last paragraph - delete "reasonable" from reasonable approval 9) - Page 7, #7 - delete "reasonable" 2 times in that paragraph. 10) - During rental phase - 2 BR @ $576; 3 BR @ $666 not as described in attached Schedule 1. tAll 2 BR units should not be w/o grages as noted above. 11) - During rental phase, we agreed to have 10 @ 2BR and 3 @3BR (per schedule done during negotiations). The Chairman then declared said motion carried and said vote in effect. The Board reviewed the concerns noted by one of our contractors regarding the furnace room being contained within the basement apartment. Upon a motion duly made by Mr. Allen and seconded by Mr. Reynolds, it was unanimously VOTED: To approve the following work at both Summer Avenue and Main Street properties the furnace room: 1) - fire -stop the furnace room 2) - repair the ceiling damaged by replumbing during renovations 3) - install and outside air vent 4) - install a steel door to the furnace room from the apartment unit 5) - install a carbon monoxide detector for safety purposes The Chairman then declared said motion carried and said vote in effect. Page 4 Minutes 1/9/95 Upon a motion duly made by Mr. Allen and seconded by Mr. Reynolds, it was unanimously VOTED: To accept the Single Audit Report for fiscal year 1994 for all programs of the Rea Housing Authority as prepared by Sandra Wrona, CPA and to forward copies to all required parties. The Chairman then declared said motion carried and said vote in effect. Upon a motion duly made by Mr. Allen and seconded by Mr. Reynolds, it was unanimously VOTED: To forward a letter to Mr. Richard Coughlin, President of Stoneham Cooperative Bank, stating: It is with deep regret that the Reading Housing Authority has to inform the bank that it is not able to exercise the award from the award from the Federal Home Loan Bank for its Mass. Community Building Program through the Stoneham Cooperative Bank in the amount of $825,000.00 for a multi -unit family housing development in the Town of Reading. The owner of the initial property that the Authority was interested in acquiring refused to sell. Every effort was made to seek other properties through a public bidding process as well as direct contact w'th individual owners who might be interested in selling their multi -unit properties. We are sorry that this award cannot be taken to fruition. We extend our deepest thanks and appreciation to Mr. Coughlin, the bank, staff and Board for helping us solicit and win this MCBP loan from the Federal Home Loan Bank. We hope that there will be another opportunil to work together in the near future on a similar project. The Chairman then declared said motion carried and said vote in effect. There being no further business before the Board, it was unanimously voted to adjourn at 9:30 P.M. The next meeting is scheduled for Monday, February 13, 1995 Respectfully submitted, Marg t K. Plansky, Secretary and Executive Director