Orange County NC Website
20 <br /> 1 Chair Dorosin pointed out that there is a clarification of this point in column 3 or 4. <br /> 2 Annette Moore said to add, "and the home may be then sold to a qualified buyer" at the <br /> 3 end of the sentence. <br /> 4 Chair Dorosin asked if there is general consensus with staff recommendations in the two <br /> 5 definition columns, with the addition of the sentence stated by Annette Moore. <br /> 6 The Board indicated general consensus. <br /> 7 Chair Dorosin asked if there were any questions on the Land Trust Model, and there <br /> 8 were none. All recommendations are acceptable. <br /> 9 Chair Dorosin asked if there were any questions about the Period of Affordability. <br /> 10 Commissioner Rich said this is already in place. <br /> 11 Chair Dorosin turned to the second page, and reviewed the recommended changes. <br /> 12 The Board indicated general consensus to accept. <br /> 13 John Roberts said unqualified should state non-qualified, in order to be consistent with <br /> 14 the rest of the document. <br /> 15 Chair Dorosin said the big issue is the exceptions to the 99-year affordability, located on <br /> 16 page 3. He said the County is maintaining the 99-year affordability as the base policy, but the <br /> 17 County is creating some provisions for waiving that, or adjusting it to 40 years, if certain <br /> 18 circumstances are met, or if it is deemed appropriate by the BOCC. <br /> 19 John Roberts said the reason for this change was due to several deviations from policy, <br /> 20 and he said there was concern about not having guidelines or standards, and that is why these <br /> 21 have been proposed. <br /> 22 Commissioner Price referred to Exception C, and asked if this is particularly for CHT, or <br /> 23 does it apply to any provider of affordable housing. <br /> 24 John Roberts said it is for any provider that complies. <br /> 25 Chair Dorosin said this is a good step forward, and he would be in favor of reducing the <br /> 26 base of 99-years lower. <br /> 27 Commissioner McKee agreed with Chair Dorosin. <br /> 28 Annette Moore said the reason 99 years was chosen was due to wanting to keep the <br /> 29 houses in the affordable housing program, and no other reason than that. She said there are <br /> 30 banks that lend with the 99 years provision. <br /> 31 Robert Dowling said the CLT was created in 2000, and a ground lease of 99 years was <br /> 32 adopted. He said the County Attorney at the time crafted the affordability policy with a 99-year <br /> 33 affordability term to mimic the ground lease. He said the only entities that do home ownership <br /> 34 in Orange County are CHT and Habitat, and Habitat does its own financing. He said CHT has <br /> 35 struggled with financing since the financial crisis, but the banks are not concerned with the 99 <br /> 36 years affordability term, but rather the ground lease. He said the banks do not want to have a <br /> 37 leasehold interest in property. He said the CLT model is a pain to administer, but it is the only <br /> 38 way to insure perpetual affordability. <br /> 39 Commissioner McKee said he thought the 99-year ground lease and the 99-year <br /> 40 affordability ran separately, and asked if the 99-year affordability were changed, would the <br /> 41 ground lease change as well. <br /> 42 Annette Moore said all properties have a 99-year ground lease, which has affordability <br /> 43 provisions in the restrictive covenants. <br /> 44 Commissioner McKee asked if the affordability could be reduced on the house, but not <br /> 45 the ground lease. <br /> 46 Robert Dowling said the County's deed restriction is 99-years, and the ground lease is <br /> 47 also 99 years. <br /> 48 Commissioner McKee repeated his question. <br /> 49 Annette Moore said these are two separate programs. She said the first is the ground <br /> 50 lease program, which is for different properties than the deed restrictions being discussed. She <br /> 51 said the ground lease properties in the CHT have a 99-year restriction on the ground. She said <br />