Orange County NC Website
that they would know whom to go through at the Planning Department. She usually speaks with <br />Craig Benedict ar Robert Davis, but they are overwhelmed. <br />Chair Brown made reference to the training issue and said that she has suggested before that all <br />Planning Boards in the County come together and have the Institute of Government do the training. <br />She thinks that the Institute of Government has not responded to this request. <br />Affordable Housing Advisory Board: <br />Chair of the Affordable Housing Advisory Board Brian Crawford referred to his letter. They would <br />like to have a special RFP for affordable housing in northern Orange County since there is a lack of <br />affordable housing in the northern part of the county. They would also like to be involved with the <br />process of planning for the Greene Tract. The third issue is the accessibility, adaptation, and long- <br />term housing process. They would like the County to adopt some sort of resolution that affordable <br />housing should focus on long term livability. They want to look at their 99-year affordability <br />housing policy and they are going to do some research across the State. Some counties have a <br />much shorter affordability policy. Regarding the bond policy, they want to do an annual review and <br />submit a report to the Board of County Commissioners. They are also doing education and <br />outreach. They would like to set up a series of town meetings across the County to talk with <br />citizens and to see what their needs are for affordable housing. <br />Commissioner Carey asked about the lack of response of affordable housing in the northern part of <br />the County. He said that it might have something to do with the non-profits being located in the <br />southern end of the County. He suggested that rather than having a separate RFP process for the <br />northern end, perhaps there can be same tinkering with the scoring. <br />Commissioner Jacobs agreed with Commissioner Carey. He made reference to Richmond Hills <br />and said that something is being done in the northern end of the County. There is also a lack of <br />water and sewer in the northern end. He said that the Mayor of Hillsborough is interested in <br />affordable housing issues in the Fairview community. He also heard from the non-profits that the <br />universal design is cost prohibitive, so it was not included as a requirement in all of the affordable <br />housing units. He would be interested in some analysis of the additional costs versus the lifetime <br />use of the property. <br />Chair Margaret Brown asked about reinvestigating the long-term affordability policy since the <br />Board of County Commissioners has not asked the advisory board to reopen this. Brian Crawford <br />said that he is the general counsel for the statewide funding intermediary. They fund <br />EmPOWERment and they also develop housing. Regarding the long-term affordability policy, they <br />have found that when you are trying to match funding sources with the long-term affordability <br />policy, some of the funding sources are not consistent. He said that they are not questioning the <br />policy; they just want to make sure that it is consistent with some of the other resources. <br />Chair Brown would like to hear some examples of projects that would not be funded because of the <br />long-term affordability policy. Brian Crawford gave some examples of funding sources that would <br />be inconsistent with the long-term affordability policy. <br />Chair Brown said that the Board of County Commissioners is trying to protect the citizens' tax <br />money. She mentioned that Chapel Hill has a process to accomplish more affordable housing <br />through their special use process. She urged the Affordable Housing Advisory Board to <br />understand how Chapel Hill accomplished 8b units last year and try to spread this information <br />throughout the County. <br />