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HomeMy WebLinkAbout10. October 2021 minutes New Hanover County-City of Wilmington Workforce Housing Advisory Committee October 6, 2021 Regular Meeting Committee Members Present: Sharm Brantley, Patrick Brien, Ashley Daniels, Tom Gale, Melanie James, Kristen Keser, Eric Knight, Katrina Knight, Katrina Redmon, Frank Smith Staff Present: Amy Beatty (CoW), Tufanna Bradley (NHC), Rachel LaCoe (NHC), Margaret Peth (NHC), Suzanne Rogers (CoW), Ron Satterfield (CoW) Call to Order The meeting was called to order at 3:02 pm by New Hanover County Senior Planner Rachel LaCoe and quorum was established through roll call. During the roll call, members introduced themselves Election of Officers Ms. LaCoe facilitated the election of officers. Ms. Katrina Knight nominated Sharm Brantley as the chairperson, seconded by Mr. Tom Gale. Ms. Brantley accepted the nomination and adopted unanimously by the committee through roll call. Ms. Brantley then made a motion to elect Mr. Gale as the vice-chairperson, which was seconded by Ms. Knight and adopted unanimously by the committee through roll call. Approve Agenda & Approve Minutes Ms. Brantley made a motion to approve the agenda for the October 6, 2021 meeting and the minutes from the August 4, 2021 meeting, which was seconded by Mr. Frank Smith and adopted unanimously through roll call. Public Comments None New Business Discussion Item: Housing Work Plan Next Steps, Ms. Rachel LaCoe Chairperson Brantley recognized Ms. LaCoe for an update on the Housing Work Plan. Ms. LaCoe reminded the committee that in addition to recommendations for program and funding, land use and policy recommendations were included in the Housing Work Plan. Ms. LaCoe gave a brief presentation on New Hanover County’s recent proposed text amendment to update height standards in the Unified Development Ordinance. Key intent and purposes: • Allow for 4-story buildings in all multi-family zoning districts • Adjust height standards in nonresidential and mixed-use districts to accommodate changing construction standards, structures needed for specific uses, and building scale outlined in 2016 Comprehensive Plan • Offset impacts of taller structures on adjacent residential properties • Modify setbacks in nonresidential districts to ensure consistency A public hearing would take place at the Planning Board meeting on October 7, 2021. Ms. LaCoe informed the committee that New Hanover County intends to explore other recommended text amendments from the Housing Work Plan. Mr. Frank Smith indicated that while it was still too early to evaluate the City of Wilmington’s Land Development Code, he was interested in working with other members of the committee to review existing conditions to make recommendations for future text amendments and code updates. Ms. LaCoe gave an update on the ballot initiatives. There has been work internally on data for use by the elected officials that are leading the message development effort for the ballot initiatives. The subcommittee will be meeting in early November to determine the next steps. Discussion about the potential housing bond took place, including marketing efforts, advocacy, education, and the need to keep moving forward. To assist, a future session will be planned with legal staff to review the role of City/County staff, elected officials, and the Workforce Housing Advisory Committee in future bond education and advocacy campaigns. Ms. Knight offered to write a letter to the elected officials on behalf of the committee, requesting the housing committee be more involved in the ballot initiative process. The committee expressed interest in forming subcommittees to continue the work outside of the regular monthly meetings. For now, the subcommittees would focus on land use and funding. Land Use Subcommittee - Frank Smith, Eric Knight Funding Subcommittee - Sharm Brantley, Patrick Brien, Tom Gale, Melanie James, Katrina Knight Chairperson Brantley requested that the committee work on goal setting at the November meeting for the potential bond or other funding sources. Announcements None Adjournment With no further questions or comments, Chairperson Brantley adjourned the meeting at 4:26 PM.