Agenda - 10-03-2017 - 8-a - Minutes

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13 1 Sherrill Hampton, Housing, Human Rights and Community Development Director, said 2 staff is looking at how to build the capacity of the non-profits, so that they can take on more. 3 She said there may be opportunities to bring in a national non-profit to assist and she said staff 4 is encouraging private developers to look at what the County is offering, especially County- 5 owned parcels. She said she hopes to update the BOCC at a later date. 6 Commissioner Rich referred to the idea of tracking new construction versus existing 7 construction, and asked if the decision-making process, for fund allocation to these two types of 8 construction, could be clarified. 9 Travis Myren said staff is not recommending setting aside any bond money for 10 preservation of existing stock, but rather looking at the projects independently, and then 11 bringing them to the Board for a discussion about the top priorities that the BOCC is seeking to 12 accomplish. 13 Commissioner Rich said she had concerns about this, and she is glad that staff is not 14 doing this. She said there are advantages and disadvantages to both new construction and 15 preservation, and she wants to stretch the dollars as far as possible 16 17 PUBLIC COMMENT: 18 None 19 20 Commissioner Jacobs said his first suggestion is that if the BOCC wants to better define 21 the criteria, he is unsure that spending 1/3 of the points on project feasibility is a good idea. He 22 said a lot of this is pro forma, and should be expected of any solid application. 23 Commissioner Jacobs said workforce housing is not really being addressed, and he 24 would like to do a better job of capturing this population. He said there is a lot of need, but it is 25 hard to determine who is most needy, other than simply looking at income. He said he spoke 26 with Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools' (CHCCS) Superintendent Pam Baldwin, who was 27 involved in a project in Asheville, where teacher housing was built on school property. He said 28 he would like to consider these types of creative ideas. 29 Commissioner Jacobs said there is almost nothing in this discussion about the private 30 sector developers, and he said staff could work with the local chambers, businesses, etc. 31 Commissioner Marcoplos said the developer experience category goes against private 32 sector participation, and this is not in the County's best interest. He said the County should 33 seek innovation. 34 Commissioner McKee said he agreed with both Commissioner Jacobs and Marcoplos 35 on the private developer issue. He would like to see a discussion between the Manager, 36 Attorney and the Planning Department, to see if this type of housing can be done, or would 37 there need to be changes in the Unified Development Ordinance (UDO). 38 Commissioner Price said private developers expressed interested by attending 39 information meetings, but they did not apply for funding. She said it is important to understand 40 what deterred them from doing so. 41 Commissioner Rich said she thought the first cycle was for non-profits, and the second 42 cycle for others. 43 Bonnie Hammersley said everyone was invited to participate. 44 Chair Dorosin said the rentals were prioritized in the first cycle, which favors the non- 45 profits. 46 Commissioner Price said she did talk with one person that was interested in developing 47 a rental property. 48 Chair Dorosin said the special needs definition was a great addition, and he would add 49 section 8 vouchers holders to the list. He said he would be amenable to eliminating the 50 residency question in number 3.