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HomeMy WebLinkAbout07/21/1999 AGENDA MAPLEWOOD HOUSING AND REDEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY WEDNESDAY, JULY 21,1999 7:00 P.M. CITY HALL MAPLEWOOD ROOM 1. Call to Order 2. Roll Call 3. Approval of Minutes November 10, 1998 4. Approval of Agenda 5. Communications Annual City Tour - Monday, AU9ust 30,1999 6. Unfinished Business 7. New Business a. Possible Future Housing Programs 8. Date of Next Meeting 9. Adjournment c:memoIHRAAGEND.MEM MINUTES OF THE MAPLEWOOD HOUSING AND REDEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY JULY 21,1999 1. CALL TO ORDER Chairperson Fischer called the rneeting to order at 7:04 p.m. 2. ROLL CALL HRA Commissioners: Lorraine Fischer, Tom Connelly, Larry Whitcomb, Joe O'Brien 3. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Commissioner Pearson moved approval of the minutes of November 10, 1998, as submitted. Commissioner Connelly seconded. Ayes-all The motion passed. 4. APPROVAL OF AGENDA Commissioner O'Brien moved approval of the agenda as submitted. Commissioner Connelly seconded. Ayes-all The motion passed. 5. COMMUNICATIONS Annual City Tour-Monday, August 30,1999 Ken Roberts, associate planner, reminded the members that the annual tour is Monday, August 30, 1999. He asked to be informed if the commissioners had any particular sites that would be of interest to them. The tour will leave city hall at 5:30 so the participants are asked to be there by 5:15 p.m. 6. UNFINISHED BUSINESS There was no unfinished business. 7. NEW BUSINESS A. Possible Future Housing Programs Melinda Coleman, director of community development, told the commissioners that the city council would like them to attend a Monday, August 2, 1999, workshop. The meeting begins at 6 p.m. The council would like to talk about some housing issues. She said there is a surplus of tax-increment money, primarily from the Carefree Cottages, that needs to be spent on housing projects. Mary Ippel of Briggs and Morgan, the city's bond consultant on TIF projects, will be at the meeting. Ms. Ippel will review many of the items contained in a memorandum that was included in the HRA packet. HRA Minutes of 07-21-99 Ms. Coleman asked the commission to review the QSA study that was done for the City of Maplewood in June 1996. She said one of the primary recommendations of this study was to do a home replacement where the city would buy a deteriorated house, tear it down, and then sell the lot for development to create a revolving loan fund to continue this program. Chairperson Fischer mentioned that the HRA's priority, as discussed at a previous meeting, was to renovate "borderline" housing by means of low-cost loans, etc. Ms. Coleman said that Steve Quam of QSA, who did the housing program evaluation for Maplewood, recommended that the city start with the home replacement program and then possibly get into remodeling or repair. It was Ms. Coleman's recollection that the HRA was not fully in agreement with Mr. Quam's procedural recommendation to set up ad hoc committees composed of representatives from all over the city. Ms. Fischer thought another criticism was Mr. Quam had not considered the areas designated in the comprehensive plan as sites that needed to be watched because they were older, marginal housing or next to subsidized housing. Ms. Coleman suggested the commission consider housing project options that they would want to recommend to the city council. Ms. Coleman also wanted to discuss the tax-forfeited parcels located across County Road B from city hall on the west side of VanDyke Street. She said there is some interest in combining these parcels with the parcel on the corner to do a townhouse project. The HRA's involvement is necessary for the city to sell and buy land. A public purpose, such as affordable housing, is also a requirement. The city would let the county know that they are interested in selling these parcels, pay the market price to Ramsey County, and then enter into an agreement with a developer to the affordable townhouse project. Ken Roberts, associate planner, asked if TIF money could be used to buy this land. Ms. Coleman thought it could but wondered if the council would want it all spent on this project. She felt a better approach would be to market the land and request maximum density development. Mr. Roberts also wondered, if the proposed housing was low-moderate, would the TIF money be used to subsidize the rent or pay for infrastructure. Ms. Coleman urged the commissioners to be prepared to ask this type of question at the August 2 meeting. Commissioner Pearson suggested designating specific types of remodeling projects that would be available at low interest, subsidized rates to get certain properties rehabilitated and to try to get the blight corrected in affected areas. Mr. Roberts liked the idea of "getting rid of three, four or five really problem homes." City staff has compiled a list of ten "bad" homes. Mr. Roberts also asked it the city should wait until one of these homes is put on the market or if the owner should be approached before that time. Various options were discussed. Ms. Coleman felt that Maplewood was very fortunate in that they do not have a lot of blighted housing. She thought most of the council members wanted to stay ahead of the problem. Ms. Coleman emphasized that if this money is not used it will be lost so the council should come to a consensus on how it should be spent. She suggested that the commission summarize to the city council what program they would have as their priority. The consensus was the first priority would be to replace substandard housing. Ms. Fischer emphasized that "it isn't as though we are intentionally starting off to demolish affordable or HRA Minutes of 07-21-99 our only low-cost housing in the city." Those houses being considered would have definitely deteriorated to a point where it was no longer feasible for improvement. The HRA was also interested in a town house project on VanDyke Street, if possible. 8. DATE OF NEXT MEETING The date of the next meeting has not been determined. 9. ADJOURNMENT The meeting adjourned at 8:15 p.m.