[Year-Round Housing Committee] March 14 minutes and request for your selection criteria ideas

[Mlongreene2 at aol.com]

Hi All,  Attached (and below) are the minutes of the last  meeting.  A 
reminder:
 
ALL  COMMITTEE MEMBERS SHOULD SUBMIT THEIR IDEAS IN WRITING (e-mail is fine) 
FOR  SELECTION CRITERIA BY SUNDAY MARCH 25 so we can have a list to work on at 
the  next meeting.            Also,  many good questions  are being asked 
that need some research. It would be most helpful if folks  submitted them in 
writing or e-mail  (anytime) so that the responses reflect accurately what has 
been  asked.
 
 
Town of Long  Island
Year-Round Housing Committee
Minutes – March 14,  2007

Present:  Mark Greene (chair); Ruth Peterson (Selectman); Steve  Train 
(Selectman); Will Tierney; Amy Tierney; Jonothan Norton; Katie Wegner;  John 
Billings; Mary Nanos; Tom Hohn; Tammy Hohn; Chris Papkee; Patti Papkee;  Brad Brown; 
Cade Brown; Alden Robinson (Island Fellow).

1.         Meeting called to order - 7:05 p.m.    The committee voted  
unanimously to accept the minutes of the February 28th meeting.

2.         Old business:
Mark Greene said that the necessary papers had been filed to incorporate  the 
Year-Round Housing Committee as a non-profit organization.  He said the  next 
step for the committee would be to apply for tax-exempt status from the  IRS, 
which the Genesis Foundation is assisting with.

In response to questions raised at the last meeting about bank loans on  
leased property and value of improvements to land vs. house on a leased lot,  
answers were sought from others.  The first response was from Joanne  Whitehead of 
Islesboro Affordable Property, which offered suggestions for  financing 
construction on leased land.  She suggested that houses on leased land are really 
no different  loan-wise than condos.  She said  Camden National Bank was an 
active player in this field of such housing  financing and that there were banks 
in the Portland area that do same.  (Alden will be attending a conference on  
March 20 on these financing issues sponsored by Camden National and will 
report  to the group next meeting).   She also stressed the need to think of  town 
lands as a community resource for the benefit of the town and not just  
another commodity to be bought and sold and that the lease model is a common  one.  
The second question was  addressed by an e-mail from Town Assessor Robert 
Konczal on how houses are  assessed when built on leased land and indicated that a 
house on leased land  would have added value because of its right to be on 
the leased land (leasehold  interest) and the improvements made to the land by 
the building of the house.  This added value will need to be considered when we 
work on the buyback  provisions should the lessee desire to sell the house.  
Both of these  emails will be forwarded to the committee's listserver. 
3,         New Business

The public hearing for Hannah Pingree's bill LD 762, on funding for  
affordable housing in communities was postponed to March 14th.  Mark said  he still 
plans to attend the hearing and testify on the committee's  behalf.

Paper maps of town-owned land parcels were distributed.  A couple of 
additional lots were found  to be more accessible than previously thought. In 
addition, several more lots  will legally become title-clear and available for town 
use in the coming  year.  Committee members requested digital versions of the 
mapping data,  which will be sent to the listserver as soon as final corrections 
are made to  the new GIS platform and parcel layers.

Steve Train described two potential grant sources.  The Island  Institute's 
newly-created "Affordable Coast" fund offers grants to non-profits  and 
municipalities for the purchase, upgrade, and/or maintenance of affordable  housing 
projects.  It plans to distribute $105,000 in grants in 2007.   The Genesis 
Fund also offers matching grants to housing authorities.  Mark  suggested that 
committee members start thinking about potential grant  proposals.  The Island 
Institute grant sounded as if it might even help  individuals purchase and/or 
rehab private properties deemed  affordable.

Cade Brown briefly summarized the results of the Year-Round Housing  survey 
that he and Melissa Brown have been tabulating.  The responses of  both 
year-round residents and non-residents to the proposed starter project was  generally 
quite favorable.  Although  the proposed starter project has evolved somewhat 
from a town owned rental house  on town land to a owner built house on leased 
town land, the favorable response  to both the original concept and also to 
seek a “different proposal” was very  good.  A description of the modified  
starter project proposal to be brought to Town Meeting will be outlined in the  
upcoming Long Islander.   Cade plans to send out the complete results to  the 
committee in the near future.  Thank you to Cade and Missy for their great 
work in tabulating the  returns.

The committee then discussed its position in the debate over the Planning  
Board’s proposed multi-family housing on the island.  Mark and Steve  suggested 
that the YRHC not involve itself in the debate to avoid confusing its  
message. While some form of multi-family allowance in the ordinances could  benefit 
the housing crunch on the island, Mark said unless it was very specific  and 
targeted to social needs of the community, it could allow more seasonal  rental 
development that would possibly hurt the year round housing market even  more. 
 Such multi-family development  is clearly not what residents in both the 
past and present comprehensive plan  surveys wanted.  Brad Brown said that by 
working to create a multi-family  housing ordinance, the Planning Board was 
working to solve the same housing  problems as the YRHC.  Tom Hohn said that the 
YRHC should not ignore  multi-family housing, even if it doesn't work on it 
immediately.

Chris Papkee asked how any ground-lease fee would be determined, and how  the 
land would be taxed.  Steve Train said the land would be leased for the  
amount of money it would generate in taxes if sold privately; any buildings  built 
on it would be taxed separately.  Mark stressed that while not a  perfect 
solution in the eyes of some who might prefer outright purchase, it was  the best 
compromise available and would cost much less than an outright land  purchase 
because it avoids all the mortgage costs (principal and interest) that  a new 
buyer would have to pay to outright buy the land, yet the town would  benefit 
tax-wise as if the land had been sold.  If we are trying to help first time  
homeowners stay on island, this is a major way to make it  affordable.

The committee discussed the proposed town meeting warrant article.   Steve 
Train said he has submitted a preliminary article, which can be  revised.  He 
said that specific parcels can be added or removed from the  article at the 
meeting. 

Chris Papkee asked whether buildings constructed on leased land would  have 
to be handicapped-accessible.  Mark said that the buildings themselves  would 
be private property and probably not subject to accessibility  requirements.  
However, he said, all lease provisions would be subject to  the town attorney's 
scrutiny.

Chris asked about potential conflicts-of-interest on the YRHC  board.  Mark 
said, as an example that Leah Doughty had offered to resign if  she applied to 
the housing program.  Cade Brown said that under Maine law, non-profit  board 
members need not resign to avoid a conflict-of-interest provided all  parties 
concerned were aware of, and comfortable with, the conflict. Mark said  the 
selection process needs to be worked on now, so that all aspects of this  
proposal would be clear and upfront for Town Meeting questions.  Chris Papkee asked 
whether the selection  criteria would score applicants by age.  Steve Train 
said that age-based  selection would be discriminatory and not legal.  Mark said 
that there are other  individuals on the island in need of permanent housing 
and that all ages would  be welcome to be part of this program. 
ALL COMMITTEE MEMBERS SHOULD SUBMIT THEIR IDEAS IN WRITING (e-mail is  fine) 
FOR SELECTION CRITERIA BY SUNDAY MARCH 25 so we can have a list to work on  at 
the next meeting.       Also,  many good questions are being asked that  need 
some research. It would be most helpful if folks submitted them in  writing 
or e-mail  (anytime)  so that the responses reflect accurately what has been 
asked.

The  committee agreed that the next meeting is on March 28th and to bring 
lists of  possible selection criteria for housing applicants.

Meeting adjourned -  8:35 p.m.  







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