Minutes 03-03-2015 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Commissioner Price said there are several affordable housing organizations in the County, and she wonders how one is chosen over another. Chair McKee said he would suggest taking the first and second recommendations as separate motions. A motion was made by Commissioner Jacobs, seconded by Commissioner Price to approve a land recombination ("land swap") transaction with AlterVue, LLC involving adjacent parcels to mutually benefit the County and AlterVue, LLC with regard to the integrity of a single family residential property located at 416 Faucette Mill Road. Commissioner porosin said he echoes Commissioner Price's comments regarding the selection of the organizations they work with moving forward. He praises this effort, and he thinks it is a good way to maximize resources. He said he wishes that two homes could be built on the lot. He said this is the kind of opportunity where the County could approach Hillsborough to ask for flexibility in these efforts to work on affordable housing. VOTE: UNANIMOUS Chair McKee opened the floor for a discussion on the issue of donating to the various affordable housing entities. He asked if anyone else is following Habitat's scattered site model. Jeff Thompson said not directly. He said Habitat was approached by AlterVue as part of the due diligence process to see if this lot was attractive to them. He said other organizations can certainly be approached. Nick Nickerson said it was his initiative to contact Habitat, and it was not a conscious decision to not go with someone else. Commissioner Rich questioned whether this is a lot where only one home can be built. Jeff Thompson said, per the Unified Development Ordinance (UDO) for Hillsborough, it is available for only for one home. He said it is possible to go back and ask for a special exception, but as it stands now, it is an administrative adjustment to the UDO. Bonnie Hammersley said this can be done in a way that will allow proposals from other organizations. This can be for this one parcel or for other properties going forward. She said the County could give specifications to the affordable housing entities requesting that they provide proposals. Commissioner Rich said it is also important to get the towns involved. Bonnie Hammersley agreed and said it is important to maximize the potential and work with the partners as much as possible. Commissioner Pelissier said if the County is going to talk to different organizations, there needs to be some sort of criteria in place to determine which is chosen. Bonnie Hammersley said this would be determined at a staff level. Commissioner Jacobs said that the point about working with different organizations is a good one. He said Nick Nickerson partially got excited about this transaction because Habitat worked so well with him. He said he would not want to pull the rug out from Habitat on this particular transaction, but he thinks it is a good idea not to default to one organization moving forward. Commissioner Jacobs said he feels that the acreage on this should be enough for more than one unit, so he thinks staff should have some discussion with both Hillsborough and Habitat about the possibility of a duplex.