HomeMy WebLinkAbout2016-0303 VLHA Meeting MinutesMinutes
Vail Local Housing Authority (VLHA)
March 3, 2016 at 11:00 AM
Attending the meeting were members: Scott Ashburn
Steve Lindstrom
Mary McDougall
James Wilkins
Town staff attending the meeting: Alan Nazzaro
George Ruther
A quorum of VLHA Members being present, Steve Lindstrom called the meeting to order at 11:25.
I. Meeting Notice and Approval of minutes
The Board considered the minutes sent with the Meeting Packet for previous VLHA Meeting held on 2/25/16. James Wilkins moved to accept all of the minutes as presented. Scott Ashburn
seconded the motion and it passed unanimously.
II. Lottery Recommendations
The discussion opened about the Lottery System. The question was posed, “Is there a problem with the existing lottery and if so, how to address it? The current lottery is biased towards
longevity in the valley and doesn’t allow you to own property (except for deed restricted) at time of application. This would seem to favor long-time renters in the Town of Vail over
others. This also seems to be a competing objective with the Chamonix Neighborhood objective of attracting families back to town from down valley.
On this topic of ownership, it was noted that if a current owner of a “free-market” property sells it down valley sells it to buy a deed restricted property in Vail, then there is no
net gain in employee housing. This assumes that the free market unit would go to a second home owner, as happens most often. Several ideas were offered:
What if the free market owner were allowed to keep the property, if it were rented to a qualified employee?
What if we were to purchase a deed restriction to be placed on the free market unit from the owner?
The overall question here is, “what are we trying to achieve”?
Is the goal to bring people back or add new families to the population?
Is this a true lottery or just a priority list for long-time residents?
Discussion ensued about the minimum requirements to enter the lottery. Basically, you must meet the deed restriction requirements:
use a unit as their primary residence
must be employed an average of 30 hours/week per year - Eagle County business
75% of their income and earnings from that Eagle County business
prequalified with a mortgage lender
may not own residential real estate in Eagle County at the time of application, except where that real estate is deed restricted Town of Vail EHU
for the 3-bedroom lottery must have a household size of 3 or more persons
The group consensus was that existing property ownership should not be a lottery consideration, but taken into account under the deed restriction. Furthermore, the family size limitations
seem to be in conflict with the stated goal of attracting young families. What about people whose need for housing have changed or are starting a family? The consensus was that the
three member household rule for 3-bedroom units should be eliminated for the lottery.
After much discussion the following recommendations for changes in the lottery system were outlined for Town Council consideration:
Basic compliance with deed restriction requirements outlined above, except:
Can still own property in Eagle County
True Lottery, i.e., pull names of all qualified applicants from hat
Lottery will be for units as they come available not just once a year
All applicants must take the approved homeownership class
It was decided that along with these recommendations, staff would present background information regarding:
the consequences, both intended and unintended of the current lottery system
the achievements toward goals
the historical number of units per year that get sold
how much work is entailed in carrying out the lottery
III. Deed Restrictions Recommendations:
Due to the length of the discussion regarding the Lottery, this topic was tabled to the next meeting.
IV. RFQ/RFP Recommendations:
The RFQ recommendations to Town Council will include:
Affordable housing experience
Experience with well-built mountain environment housing, relative to elevation, climate slopes, etc.
Architectural design capacity
The RFP will include:
Construction phasing plan
Ability for some flexibility (but the basic product is set)
How will you achieve our goals and objectives
Some free market units
Design-build
Vertical construction sold to Town at set price
Town resells to public
Warranties – work out relationship among Builder/Town/buyer
In order to achieve a level of continuity staff will ask Town Council, “What are the five non-negotiable, must haves for the Chamonix Neighborhood”? These are the things that must be
in the development agreement and can not be changed. There will be a list of suggestions from which they will be able to choose.
The group discussed some of the elements of the RFP and/or development agreement that would be needed to achieve success. Those included:
Complete specifications
Specifying the unit count and type
Phasing will need to go on TOV cash flow – bonded project
Most dollars = Least risk on the free market lots
These recommendations will be circulated to the group for review prior to submittal.
V. Next Meeting
It was decided that there needs to be a follow-up meeting with the staff and VLHA to crystalize some of the Lottery, Deed Restriction and RFQ/RFP recommendations to Town Council. It
was decided to meet the same time next week to continue the discussion.
There being no further business the meeting adjourned at 2:05 PM.
Respectfully Submitted,
____________________
Housing Staff
INTRODUCED, READ, ADOPTED AND APPROVED this ______ day of ___________________, 2016.