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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1977-01-19January 19, 1977, 3:00 P.M. (Adjomrned from January 12, 1977) 042 An adjourned meeting of the Board of Supervisors of Albemarle County, Virginia, was held on January 19, 1977, at 3:00 P.M. in the Board Room, County Office Building, Charlottesvi] Virginia; said meeting being adjourned from January 12, 1977. Present: Mrs. Opal D. David and Messrs. Lindsay G. Dorrier, Gerald E. Fisher, J. T. ~enley, Jr., F. Anthony Iachetta and W. S. Roudabush (arrived at 3:20 P.M.). Absent: None. Officers Present: Mr. Guy B. Agnor, Jr., County Executive. Agenda Item No. 1. Call to Order. Mr. Gerald E. Fisher, Chairman. The meeting was called to order at 3:07 P.M., by Agenda Item No. 2. Housing Seminar. Mr. Fisher said the purpose of this meeting is to inform the Board of Supervisors and others in the County of the results of a survey on the housing situation in the County. At this time, Mr. Fisher introduced Mrs. Karen Lilleleht, President of the Charlottesville Housing Foundation. Mrs. Lilleleht said the purpose of this seminar is to review problems of low-cost housing and the framework in which to judge housing needs. She feels the problem is so old that individuals tend to look away from it, thus it grows. She also feels the job of the Board would be easier if they had some help in coming to grips with the problem. She noted that this seminar is being sponsored by the Housing Foundation, League of Women Voters, Albemarle County Housing Committee, and Citizens for Albemarle. Also, help has been given by the Planning District Commission, Community Action Agency, Albemarle County Social Services Department, Jefferson Area Board on Aging, and the Albemarle Housing Improvement Program. She then introduced Mr. George Evans, staff member of the~anning District Commission. Mr. Evans said housing problems basically fall into two groups; peoplexresiding in substandard units and those paying a disproportionate cost (more than 25% of their income) for shelter. He said "substandard" is defined as lacking one or more plumbing facilities, lacking all plumbing facilities, or a unit i'n a dilapidated condition. [~iHe then referred to information handed out and on permanent file in the Clerk's office. Table A showed a 1970 analysis of substandard housing units. He noted that in 1970, 10,541 housing units were occupied in Albemarle County. Of this, 1,887 were substandard units and 337 were overcrowded. These figures show Albemarle's desperate problem. On Table B, 60.7% of the substandard units are shown as being occupied by blacks, whereas only 13.3% of the population in the County is black. The southeastern, southern and northeastern portions of the County have substandard housing Units, but 8hottsvi!le District has the most~_~ Al~marle County has more substandard units than any other locality in Planning District s Mr. Evans said another item to be addressed conaerW ~hose families ~ho pay excessive rent for their housing. In 1970, 780 households had to pay more in rent. Between 1970-75, the market increment was 3,549 households. This points out that the cost of housing ~kyrocketed and the income of families did not increase in comparison. As a result, the number of families who~ould not afford the asking price of new rental units was greater. Mrs. Joan Graves asked if this was gros~ or net income. Mr. Evans said it was the gross income. In 1975, 6,216 households needed some type of subsidy in order to bring their rents down to within 25% of their income. He said 381 subsidized~units can be subtracted from the number of units built in Albemarle County between 1970-75. Of this, 5,835 units need some typ~ of subsidy, either completely new units, rehabilitated units or rent supplement at one time or the other. This 5,835 units gives the Board some idea of the magnitude of the problem. He noted that there has been talk within the Planning District that housing problems are being exported to other localities. If each locality took care of its own housing problem, the problems would be solved. Mrs. Rosa Hudson from the Monticello Community Action Agency was next to speak. She said the type of people living in substandard housing units are generally those who are underemployed, elderly, or on a fixed income. These people do not choose to live this way. She said that a lot of these families ~m~ot understand the use of money, thus this creates a lot of problems and these people need to be educatad~ She feels mobile homes only Create problems for low-income families becauSe th~se people ~o not understand the many regulations on mobile homes. There are many different permits that have to be obtained. The temporary permit is only good for five years. While living in the mobile home they &~s~p~Sed to be buying land and building a house. There is no way these families can ~ecome home owners without some type of subsidy because of the rise in costs of land and h~!din-g. Mr. Fisher said temporary permits for mobile homes are approved because of the recognized need for temporary housing and to reduce the complexities of ~btaining approval. M~s. Hud~.on said these people do not understand the purpose of the permit they have to obtain. She Suggested doing away with these temporary permits and said she is not an advocate of mobile homes. She said a lot of people get mobile homes because they are available immediatel and because of the cost of land. Mr. Roudabush asked if mobile home parks would offer any solution to the problem. Mrs. Hudson felt mobile home parks and subdivisions ~ould offer some solution, but d~ not feel those obtaining permits can afford to build and buy land plus paying for a mobile home at the same time. Mr. Fisher said even though mobile homes offer a solution for some peopie,~mb~ile homes depreciate rapidly, interest rates are high, and upkeep and maintenance is also required. Mr. Roudabush said it is hard to build a home with all the mandated building codes. Mr. Evans said those involved in building have seen how much the cost of building has skyrocketed. He felt the purchase of a site is now more expensive than building a home. He also felt it would help if road requirements could be lessened. Mrs. Lil!eleht felt it would be a help if the jurisdictions could coax the highway department into being more reasonable. Next to speak was Randy Wade, member of the Albemarle County Housing Committee, and au~-2 builder. He said there is no way for the building industry to produce houses costing less 04'3 January 19, 1977, 3:00 P.M. (Adjourned from January 12, 1977~ live closer together, and willing to have a more regimented life style and if,~tha~il :~ public is willing to go through the financing process. He said many of the people living in substandard units now are unable to buy without some form of subsidy. The Farmer's Home Administration will only subsidize an income of $10,000 or below'. These applications usually take from six to twelve months to be approved. For a house costing $24,500, subtract the hard cost of labor and materials needed~and tha~acost is $16,000. With an overhead of 6%, the price then drops to $7,000.00. He said it can be assumed that if houses are marketed in any sort of volume, the cost would rise by 10% for financing, closing and sales costs. Direct costs are high and are not entirely due to economic standards but by public demands. At this time, he read an article showing how extravagant the public has become. Next to speak was Peter Daley. He said that while governmental help is necessary to get housing costs down, private enterprise and private efforts have to be involved and used to the maximum extent possible. The private sector provides housing~for most of the population. The're is a Federal commitment to housing which is primarily the Federal income tax. This figure was about $22 billion for the year 1976. The greatest part of this goes to middle class and affluent families. Tha~Farmer's Home Administration is the housing program available primarily to rural families. At this time, he mentioned the Federal programs available. (These are in permanent file of the Clerk.) The ones mentioned were the Home Ownership, Section 502.3, Housing Rehabilitation Loan, Section 504, Housing Rehabilitation Grant, Section 504, Site Development and Purchase, Section 524, Self-Help Technical Assistance Grants, Section 523, Rental Housing, Section 515, Farm Labor Housing, Sections 514 and 516, HUD Section 8 Leased Housing and State Programs, Virginia Housing Development Authority. He then said the Albemarle Housing Improvement Program hh~helped solve some of the problems in Albemarle County by working to bring homes to a more l±vable standard~ He said FHA is unable to finance homes that are still substandard dwellings. One program available to county governments.TS~he Site Development and Purchase, Section 524, which is at the current market interest rates. It is available to private non-profit groups and local governments. This program can develop subdivisions of varying sizes. Generally, this program is not workable for many community groups because it is complicated. H~t~en noted Rental Housing, Section 515, which is available for loans to local governments, non-profit groups or private developers fore, loans up to 50 years. It is a subsidy of rent payments and can be combined with the HUD Section 8 program. He said State Programs are available through the VHDA program. It administers a variety of housing programs~hat g~e~financed through bond issues. Mr. Daley said that with private and public efforts, low-income housing can be promoted in the County. The Albemarle Housing Improvement Program is a private labor contribution (subsidized with County funds for materials) to low income housing in the County. He S~lS?~if~he cost of a house is reduced by contributions of labor and material it may make it possible to get private financing for even poverty level buyers, using the sweat equity and materials as a downpayment. L~cal governments should take the initiative by lending the time of county engineers, surveyors, land planners and office facilities. There are also several direct contributions such as the contribution of labor, land banking for future low cost housing, and county subsidy of county imposed development costs such as water and sewer connections, permit fees, recordation fees, and inspection fees. He then mentioned several aspects in the realm of administrative and legislative encouragement such as county funds being allocated to area banks on the basis of involvement in low cost housing. The idea is to have economic power in which to encourage lenders. Another encouragement would be to review zoning laws which affect housing. ~n~mDte of this would be permission for a small development to build in an area zoned agricultural, where land costs are lower. Pressure could be applied to the Highway Department with the idea of using highway trust funds for ~nilding roads in low income subdivisions. Housing code requirements could be evaluated for cost impact. Mr. Daley said some type of subsidy is needed in order to get anything done. Mr. John English, member of the Housing Committee, asked if these families are willing to relocate. Mrs. Hudson did not feel relocation is a problem at this time. Mrs. Lilleleht felt the survey presently being conducted by Mr. Evans will justify the relocation aspect. Mr. Jason E6kford, Chairman, Albemarle Housing Committee, asked if there is any indication tha~people would move into cluster developments if this mean~'~ngaway from areas where they grew up. Mr. Evans said this question will be answmred by the housing survey. Mr. Eckford said work needs to be done on this aspect ~ore building this type of housing. Dr~IaOhatta suggested looking at areas close to jobs, transportation capabilities and paths of growth. From this information, determine the carrying pattern and then · determine from that the sewer and water facilities. He suggested funding these requirements~ from revenue sharing funds, setting this up on a pro rata basis, with the money being fed back into the revenue sharing fund as development occurs. He asked if this would be an amenable approach to builders. Mr. Wade felt it would, but unless there is some control put on the land affected, the value of the land would increase. Mr. Frank Smith was in agreement with Dr. Iachetta. He said this type of h~using should be referred to as low cost housing instead of low income. He did not feel private enterprise is able to provide large scale subdivisions of land for other than middle and upper income families. At this time, Mr. Fisher thanked the members of the group for their participation and work on the problem. He realizes that not much can be done without smmei~ype of subsidy, and the demand for housing increases much faster than private enterprise can supply same. ~He felt the suggestion of the water and sewer systems as proposed by Dr. Iachetta is a good proposal and~the Rivanna Water and Sewer Authority or the Albemarle County Service Authority should be encouraged to adopt a plan of reduced connection fees for qualified purchasers. This, of course, would increase the cost to the other users. Mr. Roudabush said the discussion had made him more aware of the problem. Mrs.u~Dakid::~s. aid.~.the more the problem is discussed, the more depressing it becomes. felt the suggestions offered by Dr. Iachetta are a good start. She Mr. Dorrier expressed his concern about the percentage of housing problems existing in the Scottsville District. He agreed with the suggestion to use revenue sharing funds. ~anuary 19, 1977 (Regular-Night Meeting) to accept cluster developments~lf the~e developments are made attractive and economical!y~ feasible. Mr. Doff!er hoped the Board would direct the staff to come up with some type of proposal and obtain information from other counties using clusters. He said this problem needs to be addressed as quickly as possible. ~gen~a I~m~N~-~ 3~" ApDoi.~ment: Housing Coordinator. Mr. Jason Eckford, Chairman, Housing Committee, recommended to the Board Mr. Peter Daley, a 1972 graduate of the University of Virginia.i He has a Bachelor of Arts with concentrations in government and religion. He served from 1972 to 1976 as Executive Director of the Greene County EConomic Corporation and during that time participated in the development..of the Greene County Housing Authority. Presently, he serves as vice president of the Charlottesville Housing Foundation and is a member of the Board of Directors of the Charlottesville Housing Improvement Pro~ram. Mr. Agnor supported the recommendation made by Mr. Eckford and asked for the Board's confirmation. At this time, motion was offered by Dr. Iachetta to appoint Mr. Peter J. Daley as Housing Coordinator to be effective January 24, 1977. Motion was seconded by Mrs. David and carried by the following recorded vote: AYES: NAYS' Mrs. David and Messrs. Dorrier, Fisher, Henley, Iachetta and Roudabush. None. Mr. Roudabush suggested that Mr. Daley be put in touch with the Steering Committee for the Comprehensive Plan since low cost housing is part of the plan. At 5:35 P.M.~ Mr. Fisher requested that the Board adjourn into executive session to discuss personnel matters. Motion to this effect was offered by Mrs. David. Mr. Dorrier seconded the motion and same carried by the following recorded vote: AYES: NAYS: Mrs. David and ~essrs. Dorrier, Fisher, Henley, Iachetta and Roudabush. None. The Board reconvened at 7:35 P.M. and upon proper motion adjourned the meeting which had begun at 3:00 P.M. January 19, 1977 (Regular - Night Meeting) A regular meeting of the Board of Supervisors of Albemarle County, Virginia, was held on January 19, 1977, beginning at 7:30 P.M. in the Albemarle County Courthouse, Charlottesville, Virginia. Present: Mrs. Opal D. David and Messrs. Lindsay G. Dorrier, Jr., Gerald E. Fisher, J. T. Henley, Jr., F. Anthony Iachetta and William S. Roudabush. Absent: None Officers present: County Executive, Guy B. Agnor, Jr.; County Attorney, George R. St. John; and County P~lanner, Robert W. Tucker, Jr. Agenda Item No. 1. that he has received re mental Services Committ as they had anticipated together at a level not several recommendations there could be a vove o vised and carried on Ca the report be distribut The meeting was called to order at 7:41 P.M. Mr. Fisher announced ommendations from the Chamber of Commerce, Coordination of Govern- e. The committee was surprised that there are not as many problems , and ~ecognized that the City and County governments are working realized by'most of the general public.. The committee has made · the Board should hold its meetings in City Council chambers so ~ the members without roll call, board meetings could then~be tele-. ~le T.V., and other such proposals. Mr. Fisher asked that Copies of ~d to all Board members. Agenda Item No. 2. ZTA-76-09. Osborn L. Huff. Deferred from November 17, 1976. Mr. Fisher said th%s petition had been deferred so Mr. Roudabush could check with the property owners in theaarea to get their comments on the rezoning of their properties from RS,1 to A-1. Mr. -Roudabush said he contacted all but two of the property owners and had received the following answers Parcels 29B and 31, Richard H. Jones. Mr. Jones and his wife are split 50/50 on the question. At this time they would not say definitely that they would agree to any downzgning of their property,~'but would nov object if their neighbors requested same. Parcel 30, Maxey Gentry would not object to A-1. Parcel 25A, Burruss Land and Lumber Company. This property has been_divided into tracts that comply with A-1 zoning; a mixture of lots ranging in size from two to five acres. The land is no longer owned entirely by Burruss. A repre- sentative of Burruss felt the Company would not object to A-1 zoning, and did not feel the purchasers of lots would object to A-1.