HomeMy WebLinkAbout2018-02-15 Metro North Regional Housing Advisory Committee Minutes Town of Reading
z Meeting Minutes L-
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Board - committee - Commission - Council: 2111 OCT -9 PM 6: 33
Metro North Regional Housing Services
Committee
Date: 2018-02-15 Time: 10:00 AM
Building: Reading Town Hall Location: Berger Room
Address: 16 Lowell Street Session:
Purpose: Bi-Monthly Meeting Version:
Attendees: Members - Present:
Julie Mercier, Laurie Stanton, Valerie Gingrich, Krista Leahy
Members - Not Present:
Danielle McKnight
Others Present:
Liz Rust, Andrew MacNichol ( Planning Intern, Town of Reading)
Minutes Respectfully Submitted By: Laurie Stanton
Topics of Discussion:
The Committee was called to order at 10:10 AM.
Minutes
The minutes from 12/7/2017 meeting were amended and approved unanimously.
Status update
The self-monitoring letters went out in January. The findings will be presented next
meeting.
L.I.F.E. - Lynnfield Initiative for the Elderly - Elderly Housing run by the Town for former
and present Town residents. Not homeownership, but deeded for life. The units are not
counted on the SHI, and not totally compliant with DHCD regulations.
Trusts and DHCD - DHCD allows units to be put in trusts only if the owner is incapacitated.
Housing Authorities are allowed to use local preference when they allocate their units. The
four emergency criteria come first, then local preference.
Reading
24 Gould Street 40R - There were 91 LIHTC applicants, 58 were invited back for a second
round, with a letter from the Town (deadline is 2/15/18). Of the 58, 30 will be funded.
Announcements will be made in July, 2018. Town was advised to get a copy of the One Stop
from the developer.
Discussion on how Safe Harbor works.
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Housing Authority units
Marketing Plan and a Tenant Selection Policy must be advertised and fair. During turnover is
the time to do this, unless they can prove the process the last time a new tenant moved in.
Get the rent roll from Julie Johnston.
1004 Gazebo Circle
Owner will need an appraisal. Ms. Stanton should visit the apartment and see its condition,
also, what's staying and what's going, appliances, curtains, etc. We'll need to write a resale
plan ( with a resale agent?). All documents are available in the LIP application, including the
deed rider. The property needs an appraisal, a resale price, and a discount rate (20%)
where the price is affordable. We can lower the price if the deed rider allows. The condition
of the apartment is very important. If the deed rider has expired, then we can put any price
on it that's acceptable to the owner.
North Reading
Whittridge Place - There was a complaint regarding the condo fees there. Everyone pays the
same. The affordable units had been going up by $100, and now are going up by $150. Ms.
Rust advised to look at the schedule of beneficial ownership percentages in the Master
Deed, as typically the affordable owners own less, thus pay less in condo fees and special
assessments.
Saugus
Essex landing (TB Holdings) - The mixed use building is up. Ms. Leahy wants Ms. Rust to
walk through the LIP process with the Town Manager, but no interest yet. The Developer is
responsible for the LIP application, not the Town.
Avalon Bay is moving along. 280 units in 3 buildings.
Toll Brothers - 300 unit mega-building. 40B. It may be preserving a lot more this way.
Prankers Pond is behind the site, which is the"sacred cow' of the Town, a beautiful spot.
Also near the Iron Works. It has some wetland issues. MassHousing will do their walk-thru
site visit.
Assisted living facility - may have changed project, as there hasn't been any recent
information.
HPP not approved yet. The Town should want to get this approved before the next census.
Ms. Rust will help Ms. Leahy make a case for the HPP certification. Saugus's median income
Is only $2000 above 80% AMI.
Oak Point condo Resale - 9 Nirvana Dr. Unit 3D. no word from CHAPA yet. It is not listed on
massaccess yet. 90 day window starts when it is listed.
Wilmington
Inclusionary Zoning Bylaw - Town is starting the process. There are a lot of resident
developers in Town who get people to vote in Town Meeting. The Town needs to work with
them.
HPP - Wilmington needs one for Safe Harbor, but not for 10%. The Town can be above 10%
without the plan.
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Sciarrappa Farm (62 acres) - Proposed rezone from R60 to neighborhood mixed use.
Petition article, as it is not really the intent of Neighborhood Mixed Use to be used in more
rural areas. Developer wants to include affordable component, but no details yet.
Avalon Oaks - monitoring date scheduled for March 6
DHCD LIP "change"
They are no longer approving units that prohibit children. They didn't intentionally approve
them in the past. They claim this is not really a change. LIP makes a special exception to
the 62+ developments, where every occupant has to be over 62. In the 55+ developments,
where 80% of the units are occupied by 55 and older, they don't always prohibit children.
The ones that do prohibit children cannot get on the SHI through LIP or any other process.
There is a Framingham Bylaw that requires 55+, and SHI, but prohibits children. The
Attorney General didn't catch this or deny the bylaw. The developers who use it are usually
in a bind. There are not many rental projects that prohibit children or rentals that are age
restricted that aren't the Housing Authority.
Meeting adjourned 11:55 AM
Next meeting
April 26, 2018 @ 10.00 AM
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