HomeMy WebLinkAbout07 28 1992 PC Minutes7-28-92
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JULY 28, 1992
The Albemarle County Planning Commission held a work session
on Tuesday, July 28, 1992, Meeting Room 7, County Office
Building, Charlottesville, Virginia. Those members present
were: Mr. Phil Grimm, Chairman; Mr. Walter Johnson, Vice
Chairman; Mr. William Nitchmann; Mr. Tom Jenkins; Mr. Tom
Blue; Ms. Ellen Andersen; and Ms. Babs Huckle. Other
officials present were: Mr. David Benish, Chief of Community
Development; and Kobby Hoffman, Thomas Jefferson Planning
District Council.
The Chairman called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. and
established that a quorum was present. The minutes of June
30, 1992, and July 14, 1992 were approved as submitted.
WORK SESSION - Housina Advisory Committee Stud
Commissioners Andersen and Jenkins, who had served on the
Housing Committee, read summaries of their recommendations.
(These are made a part of these minutes as Attachments A and
B.)
Commission comments, requests and recommendations included
the following:
JOHNSON: He asked for a copy of the "charter" given to the
Housing Advisory Committee by the Board of Supervisors.
JOHNSON: He asked if any information from HUD had been
sought or taken into consideration by the Committee. He had
received two reports from HUD which he felt would have been
very useful.**(Ms. Hoffman reported that the documents
referred to by Mr. Johnson had been used by the Committee
but she had not approached HUD directly with a request of
"What can you do for me?") He felt that some of the
recommendations in the document entitled "Affordable
Residential Land Development" could be applied immediately
to the Crozet Crossing project. He could see no indication
that this report had been given significant consideration by
the Committee. He recommended that all Commissioners read
these two documents.
JOHNSON: He asked for a list of persons, and their
affliliations, for those who had appeared before the
Committee.
JOHNSON: He expressed concern about the recommendation to
"expand the growth area and put in infrastructure" because
of the increase in property value that would result if the
County acquires property and then puts in the
infrastructure. He did not think this was a good approach
to getting affordable housing. He noted that there may be a
** See back of page for moment to this statement.
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legal problem with the County upgrading property and then
keeping the price down.
JOHNSON: Rather than addressing the report item -by -item, he
suggested that "we step back, at least for a while, and look
at the overall picture and look and see what are we doing as
far as education goes." He felt the "overall, long term
solution was to approach the poverty situation." He called
attention to the fact that the Charlottesville -Albemarle
Vocational Educational Center is not being used at its
capacity. He also noted that Crozet Crossing has not been
"sold out.". (Mr. Forest Kerns, CHF, later explained that
there are 100 applicants (for 30 units) on the waiting list
for Crozet Crossing, but only 12 have received approval thus
far.) He felt "we have some latent capabilities that have
not yet been exhausted." He felt the capability and
expertise to address this problem is in the private sector
because "the County is not going to have any significant
money and it is not going to come from the State or the
Federal government...."
JOHNSON: He recommended coordinating delicate efforts by
consolidating area offices into one.
JOHNSON: He felt the goal was unclear, i.e. "are we
chartered to get more structures or to try to reduce the
problem?" He cautioned against become "counterproductive"
and ending up hindering rather than helping the situation.
GRIMM: He felt it was important that there be someone
addressing this issue on a daily basis (in the form of a
coordinator as recommended by the Committee). He also felt
the most important first steps were to work with the already
existing AHIP program to expand its capabilities and also to
study the land trust possibility.
HUCKLE: She suggested that only land currently served by
water and sewer be used. She suggested the areas served by
the southern loop recently constructed by the RWSA. She
also was in favor of expanding AHIP.
BLUE: He felt the recommendations in the Housing Report
needed to be addressed directly, now, and that further
"discussion" was not needed.
BLUE: He expressed concern about the number of committees
which are recommended by the Report. However, he was in
favor of a Citzens' Committee because he felt the issue
should be expanded beyond the special interests groups. He
disagreed with Mr. Johnson's suggestion that the whole issue
of poverty be addressed. He felt this was an impossible
task.
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BLUE: He felt the County needed to decided "either we want
to do something about affordable housing, or we don't; we
want to leave it up to the private sector." He was in favor
of the County addressing the problem but he had questions as
to how that could be done. He favored those things which
can be done immediately and those things which do not
require a lot of political support.
BLUE: Regarding Ms. Andersen's report which noted an
"inbalance between growth limitations and adequate
opportunities for people to afford housing," he interpreted
this to mean there is a "conflict" between growth
limitations and affordable housing. [Mr. Benish addressed
this comment and stated he felt it was a reference to the
Comprehensive Plan and distributions of land use and how
that effects market availability of land. Mr. Benish
stated: "There is a conflict in the market; it could be due
to an inbalance of how we designate land for growth. If we
have too constricted a market so that the amount of land
that is available and designated for growth is minimal then
it elevates the price because there's less competition for
the land."]
BLUE: Referring to Mr. Johnson's statement about the
presence of infrastructure increasing the value of land, he
stated he disagreed "because no matter who builds the house,
you have to have some sort of infrastructure; just because
the County provides it and that land becomes more valuable
doesn't, in itself, make it any more expensive than if a
private developer puts in that infrastructure. I see it
that ultimately if the County gets into this sort of thing,
if the infrastructure is not there, it seems to me, with
property regulations, that that is probably the best way to
go. The County can encourage that. The fact that it makes
the land more valuable is obvious. I don't see that as a
problem."
BLUE: He disagreed with Mr. Reuben Clark's suggestion
(referenced in Ms. Andersen's opening statement) that
"accessory apartments should utilize existing development
rights in the Rural Areas." On this issue, he concluded:
"Maybe we ought not to allow every unit in the rural areas
to be able to increase the residential density (with an
accessory apartment), but if we say 'no, it can't increase
it at all,' that's counterproductive and I disagree with
it."
BLUE: He disagreed with Ms. Andersen's statement regarding
mobile homes. He did not think the fact that the County has
more mobile homes than other counties was bad. He
explained: "I'd like to get away from this idea that a
number of people have that mobile homes are for second-class
citizens and they're always a disgrace. I think that is an
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arrogant attitude; I really don't like it." He concluded:
"I agree with what I thought was the Housing Committee's
approach, that single-wides ought to be allowed by right and
make no distinction between the two."
BLUE: He summarized his position: "We've been discussing
this thing for a long enough time that I think it's time to
either make a decision that we're going to recommend to the
Board of Supervisors Albemarle County do some specific
things for affordable housing now --by 'now' I mean as fast
as we can direct staff what we want to do and they can get
it back to us --or we ought to say if we don't feel that that
is the proper thing for the County to do, or if they feel,
like some of you I think do, that we ought to study it for a
while longer, then say so. But I would certainly be opposed
to that."
HUCKLE: She pointed out that Mr. Payne (former Deputy
County Attorney) had proven in Court that mobile homes do
lower the value of adjoining properties. She felt the
County's current procedure for approval of mobile homes
allows the County an "oversight" while at the same time
allowing mobile homes for those persons who need them. She
felt that adjoining property owners have a right to expect
that their property values will be protected. She did not
think the current provisions should be changed.
BLUE: He disagreed with Ms. Huckle's position.
JOHNSON: He asked staff, as soon as possible, to present a
proposed amendment "relative to manufactured homes." (Other
Commissioners voiced their agreement with this suggestion.)
NITCHMANN: He felt that in order for a project to be
accomplished there must be a focal point. He felt that it
was very important that a list be developed of "things that
can be done immediately." He was in favor of the appointment
of a Coordinator and also suggested that local business
people be recruited to conduct classes on various home
ownership related topics. He was in favor of the formation
of a citizens' committee who would work with the
Coordinator.
JOHNSON: He was in favor of coordination, but he noted that
there are a "multitude of activities" already in existence,
some of which are already receiving County funds, and he
felt it might be possible that these could satisfy the
coordination requirement without adding another "layer of
bureaucracy.
GRIMM: He agreed with Mr. Nitchmann. He felt that having a
coordinator would increase the efficiency of the work to be
done.
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JOHNSON: He suggested that a job description be developed
for a coordinator and then be submitted to interested groups
for their input. He felt" "The more we get out of this
building, the better off we are."
BLUE: He felt that a lot of the project could be worked
through AHIP though he admitted that he was not completely
familiar with the relationship between AHIP and the County.
[Mr. Benish explained that AHIP is a subsidiary of the
Charlottesville Housing Foundation (CHF) and is funded
largely by the County He explained AHIP briefly.]
NITCHMANN: After hearing Mr. Benish's explanation of AHIP,
he wondered why AHIP isn't already performing some of these
tasks. (Mr. Benish explained that AHIP is an
"implementation tool, field workers.")
JENKINS: He agreed that there are already activities in
place to address some of the issues and it is for that
reason that the Housing Committee recommended increased
funding for these activities.
GRIMM: Referring to staff's report on the Housing Report
Strategies, he proposed the following were items which
should be addressed immediately: (1) A2 - Appointment of a
full --time coordinator; and (2) A3 - Establishment of a
Citizens' Committee. With the implementation of these two
strategies, he proposed the following items should then be
addressed first: B1 - Emergency home repair fund; B2 -
Rehab substandard housing; B3 - Create a non-profit Land
Trust; B8 - Accessory apartments; C1, 2, 3, 4 - Establish an
educational program (Mr. Johnson suggested seeking comment
from the Education Department); D1 - Address the growth area
issue; D2 - Estimation of infrastructure costs; F1 - Study
the possibility of establishment of a revolving fund (added
to list at suggestion of Mr. Benish); F4 - Seek available
housing related funding; H1 - Participate in regional
housing committee (already implemented).
JOHNSON: He suggested the inclusion of G1 - Review current
ordinances and regulations, and G2 - Allow single and double
wide manufactured housing by right in rural and growth
areas. (Mr. Grimm noted that those items were already being
studied.)
NITCHMANN: He felt Mr. Grimm's summary expressed the
sentiments of a majority of the Commission.
BLUE: He noted that Mr. Grimm had omitted recommendation E
- Increase the supply of assisted rental housing. He
pointed out that those persons who needed housing most are
those who will never be able to own their homes. He seemed
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to indicate --hat he felt E2 chid E4 should be included in Mr.
Grimm's list. (Mr. Grimm felt this was a "step 2.11)
JENKINS: He suggested that staff identify those items which
could be included in the upcoming budget process.
NITCHMANN: He asked staff: "Is there any way that you can
quantitatively say that if you put an additional amount of
funds into this program, it would take this many people off
the street or get them into more healthy living conditions?"
(Mr. Benish responded that staff could "do a ratio of number
of units done per capita cost." He stated he would rely on
some of the staff at CHF for assistance with this.)
NITCHMANN: He noted that there are many skilled laborers
looking for work who could be put to work "building houses
or fixing something."
JOHNSON: He suggested that in order for this project to be
successful it will be necessary to get the builders and
bankers involved.
PUBLIC COMMENT
FRANCIS FIFE (CHF): He supported the idea of the County
acquiring land and making it available for the development
of affordable housing. He described the history of the
Crozet Crossing project. He noted that though the original
request had been for 50 houses, the County had only approved
30. He stated that the City already has educational
programs in homeownership (as suggested by Mr. Nitchmann).
He stressed the importance of "outreach" personnel who work
directly with perspective homeowners. (It was noted that
there are currently approximately 100 persons on the waiting
list for Crozet Crossing and of those who have been screened
thus far, 10-12 have been approved.) Mr. Fife explained
that one of the big problems in qualifying is credit
ratings.
KAREN LILLILET: She pointed out that even though the
presence of infrastructure makes land more valuable, it also
allows the land to be developed with more units thus
bringing down the per unit cost. She stressed that it not
be forgotten that there are many residents of Albemarle
County who will never be able to own their own homes and "if
the County is going to provide rounded and truly useful
affordable housing for everybody, it is going to have to get
into low-income rental."
The following upcoming schedule was noted:
Housing Work Session - August 4, 5:15. (To receive public
comment)
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Field Trip - Juiy 31, 8 : 3 0 a.m.
Mr. Johnson asked that, in the future, a separate full size
of site plan notes be provided, since the notes on the
reductions are often illegible.
Mr. Nitchmann asked staff to comment on a permit being
applied for by Jim Price Chevrolet (from the State Water
Control Board) to allow dumping of water (from washing cars)
into the South Fork Rivanna. Mr. Benish explained that the
State requires a commercial permit for discharging. He was
not familiar with the requirements for the issuance of a
permit. He suggested that the question be directed to Mr.
Robertson, the Water Resources Manager.
The work session ended at 10:00 p.m.
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