HomeMy WebLinkAbout2018-03-23 Metro North Regional Housing Advisory Committee Minutes N ofH£�
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Metro North Regional Housing Services
Committee
Date: 2017-03-23 Time: 10:30 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, Danielle McKnight, Valerie Gingrich, Krista
Leahy
Members - Not Present:
Others Present:
Liz Rust
Minutes Respectfully Submitted By: Laurie Stanton
Topics of Discussion:
The Committee called to order at 10:30 AM.
Minutes
The minutes for January 19,2017 will be voted on at the next meeting.
Recruitment of Additional Towns
Other Towns—Reading Assistant Town Manager lean Delios suggested we reach out to the Towns
Involved In the initial study,such as Danvers and Peabody,to see if they are interested now that it is up
and running.
• Danvers—wanted to revisit the project after R was in place.
• Peabody—This would be an interesting Town to join,as they have a lot of housing programs and
housing staff.
• Winchester—Liz mentioned that they may be interested in a new form of housing oversight.
There is a MassHousing program in the works to provide funding for Towns that are close to 10%.Towns
are worried about dropping below after the 2020 census recounts total housing units.
Self-Monitoring Letters
Laurie went over the results, percentages are up for some towns and down for others.Liz mentioned it
can take a few years to get consistently high percentages.
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Status Update
North Reading:
270 Main St.—The Town is working on getting it counted on the SHI. Liz can help with the LIP LAU
process for this.A key piece is the AFHMP,which was not done by the North Reading Housing Authority
(NRHA).The unit was rehabbed in part to charge a higher rent.A discussion of thresholds is needed with
the NRHA. Rents will be close to Section 8 rents,which were charged in the past.
Edgewood(State Hospital Property)—406 units under Chapter40R,with a 30-year limit on affordability
timeframe under zoning.The Town wants to extend the affordability. It is now set to expire in 2038.The
project next doorto Edgewood, nearthe quarry,is 450 market-rate,over-55,homeowner units,and will
likely be built by 2020.The proponent is paying the Town$30 million, in lieu of affordable units. Perhaps
some of that$30 million can be used to preserve the affordable units at Edgewood.
Reading:
Reading Woods— There is a suspected"sober house"issue. Laurie contacted DHCD and they are in the
process of sending a letter to the owner. Zoning enforcement by the Town will come later if needed.
Post Office 40R Project—This project is currently undergoing revisions due to a MassHistoric Protective
Covenant.The question came up regarding 40Rs and if they must have 10%3 bedrooms,per the State
Interagency Agreement.Julie contacted DHCD,and it was explained that under Chapter 40R,there is no
requirement for 3 bedroom units. It seems this is the exception to the rule.
Residence at Pearl—The Town is the monitoring agent.After the meeting,Liz, Laurie and Julie will
conduct a site visit to review files and check out units.
Saugus:
Four out of the 5 CDBG loans are now filed at the Registry of Deeds.The other property does not look
like R will be easy to register.
The Town was approached to do a friendly 40B.The proposal is located on Route 1,and is one lot.The
Town is looking to have it be a 40R instead,for incentive payments. MAPC wants Saugus to look at the
40R,beyond just one parcel.Julie and Danielle clarified that the Town can do a 40R for just one parcel.
Saugus was approached about assisted living in an inclusionary zoning district.Krista asked how the
Town would have this counted on the SHI.Liz can help with this.
The 30 unit project on the marsh is now 7 units,and the developer is trying to get out of providing one
affordable unit.Julie asked if the zoning allows for payment-in-lieu,and noted that a special trust would
need to be established to receive the funds.The Town has a trust, but as of now,there are no funds.
Essex Landing(site of orange dinosaur)—This is a 255-unit mixed-use project. It consists entirely of one-
bedroom units,with 10%affordability(26 units),per Saugus Inclusionary zoning regulations.Two of the
buildings in the project plan to be built by March,2018.
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VTS Website
It is now a scaled-back,inventory-based website with no public interface. It seems we already have that
capacity with Google Drive.It might not be worth having an inventory-based website considering only
Laurie and Liz currently use the Google Drive interface.The public component is the real benefit from a
budget standpoint.Julie and Valerie will continue to discuss.
Presentation at Senior Centel
Laurie and Julie will give a presentation on affordable housing at the Pleasant Street Senior Center in
May.Valerie gave a similar presentation at the Wilmington Senior Center this month.She explained
what affordable housing is and the difference between rental and ownership units.She talked about
using Town land for affordable rental housing.She said it seemed people just want housing that is
available now.About 15 people came to her presentation.
Contract with ECR
Julie will find contract and see if R needs to be renewed for FY18.
Next Meeting:lune 22,2017 at 9:00 AM in the Berger Room at Town Hall.
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