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HomeMy WebLinkAbout02. February Agenda NEW HANOVER COUNTY PLANNING & LAND USE AGENDA COUNTY-CITY WORKFORCE HOUSING ADVISORY COMMITTEE Conference Room 500, 230 Government Center Dr., Wilmington, NC February 2, 2022 3:00 PM Estimated Minutes 5 I. Call to Order Establish Quorum 5 II. Approve Agenda 5 III. Approve Minutes December 8, 2021 30 IV. Public Comments 15 V. New Business Information Items o Presentation and Updates from WARM (Presenter-JC Lyle, WARM) 30 VI. Old Business Housing Work Plan Updates Program Rollout and Framework 5 VII. Announcements VIII. Adjourn Attachments: Draft Minutes of Updated December 8, 2021 Meeting tǒƩƦƚƭĻʹ The Committee shall be organized for the purpose of developing a comprehensive workforce housing study, workforce housing opinion study and public awareness campaign, support for increasing equitable access and the supply of workforce housing that is affordable; informing the Appointing Authorities and other organizations of their findings; and making recommendations, in an advisory capacity, to the Appointing Authorities and other organizations, as necessary. New Hanover County-City of Wilmington Workforce Housing Advisory Committee December 8, 2021 Regular Meeting Committee Members Present: Sharm Brantley, Patrick Brien, Tom Gale,Melanie James, Eric Knight, Katrina Knight, Paul Stavovy Staff Present:Amy Beatty (CoW),Rachel LaCoe (NHC), Margaret Peth (NHC), Suzanne Rogers (CoW), Rebekah Roth (NHC), Ron Satterfield (CoW) Call to Order The meeting was called to order at 3:11PMbyMs. Brantley and quorum was established. Public Comments None Approve Agenda& Approve Minutes Chairperson Brantleymade a motion to approve the minutes from the November 3, 2021 meeting, which was seconded by Eric Knight and adopted unanimously. ChairpersonBrantley made a motion to approve the agenda. Katrina Knight made a motion to amend the agenda to start with an update on theballot initiative, seconded by Vice-Chair Tom Gale. Vice-Chair Gale made a motion to approve the amendedagenda seconded by Ms. Knightand adopted unanimously. New Business Ballot Initiative Planner RachelLaCoe updated the committee on discussions at the City-County elected official small working group. Discussion included the results of a public opinion poll coordinated by the Chamber of Commercefor the proposed housing bond and quarter cent sales tax for transportation.The poll showed that while the greater community is interested in the issue of affordable housing, area residents do not favor property tax as a funding mechanism.It was noted that another small working group th meeting was scheduled forDecember 15to continue their discussions and finalize recommendations. A joint City-County meeting is anticipated to be scheduled in January, but County Commissioners would have untilApril to decide if the bond would be on the ballot in the fall. Planning Director Rebekah Roth informed the committee that the small working group of elected officialshadrequested the Workforce Housing Advisory Committee make a presentation at their next meeting todescribe a framework for program roll-out and land use recommendations from the housing work plan. Committee members questioned the validity and relevancy of the polling and lack of transparencywith its coordination and interpretationof results.Several members expressed frustrationwith, and confusion over, the loss of collaborative momentum they felt had been established with theelected officialsthroughout the summer months, when they expressedsupport for affordablehousing generally and a housing bond specifically.Members stressed that theyshould attend the upcoming small working groupmeeting toshow that the WHAC believes thata housing bond on the November 2022 ballotis still the best option for housing, regardless of it passes or fails. Membersexpressed that it is a time sensitive issue and the longer that it takes to decide whether the bond will be put on the ballot, the less time there is for community education. It wasrecommendedto have the Cape Fear Housing Coalition lead the education effort. Members decided that six of the attendees the December WHACmeetingwouldattend the upcoming small working group meeting,with Vice-Chair Gale making the presentation. Considerationsfor the rollout included organizational capacity needed to distributeany source of fundingand availability of funding needed at one timesince the County would only take out as much bond as necessary at any given time.Funds from the proposed bond would first be available in July 2023.The committee discussed staff and organizationalcapacity,including the need for a partnership between the City and County so that participants could seek housing outside of the City. Committee members also discussed the use ofincentive-basedaffordabilitybonuses, including the importance of finding the pivotal point that would make a voluntary incentive-based policies make sense for developers. Vice-ChairGaleasked if there was a need for the committee to create official recommendation or endorsement via a vote today for the upcoming city-county working group. The committee agreed that the WHAC should recommend against mandatory inclusionary zoning. Vice-ChairGale made a motion to recommend the subcommittee support a $50 million bond in 2022. The motion passed with a majority vote. Mr. Brien recommended increasing the amount of gap financing to make it the largest amount of the options given that there is still an issue of supply. It was recommended to add GAP financing to NOAH preservation and noting in the presentation that the presented units only display beneficiaries from źƓźƷźğƌ investments of fundsMr. Brien stated he would edit the existingframeworktable to better reflect actual initial results. Committee members discussed whether it would be best to include the housing bond on the same ballot as the upcoming transportation bond. Consensus continued to be that there is merit in proceedingwith both for Fall 2022. It wasnoted that there hasnot been much discussion about the potential power of community education and outreach. The committee stressed that with the right outreach to the right groups of people, the bond will pass. Approve Calendar for Next Year: Ms. LaCoe noted that the County will be moving into the new building in September, so the location of the meetingsscheduled after August will be determinedlater in the year. ChairpersonBrantley made a motion to approve the calendar aswritten, seconded by Mr.Knight and approved by a majority vote. Announcements None Adjournment With no further questions or comments, Chairperson Brantley adjourned the meeting at 4:56PM.