Affordable Housing and Community Equity Development Commission - Regular Meeting

Great. All right. Good evening everybody. Um this is the meeting I'm going to get our my agenda pull my agenda up of the house um affordable housing and community equity development commission for um November 20th, Thursday, November 20th. Um so why don't I call roll call? Okay. Patrick Sheridan

present. Karen Britain. And that's it for tonight. I don't think we have anybody else. This is it. Um so with that, um I'd like to introduce or have Patrick introduce our guest speaker tonight. Um because I think that's next on the Oh, actually, I'm sorry. I'm out of order. Uh well, we can approve our minutes, can we Meline? Because we don't have a quorum tonight. So that will have to wait till the next meeting, right? So, um, let's go to our next item and I'll let Patrick introduce our guest speaker tonight.

Well, for a woman that needs no introduction, Melissa Maddox Evans, our executive director of of Hacka and uh I've had the pleasure of working with her now was it four and a half years, something like that. anywhere. Uh but uh it's actually been a very interesting time between the pandemic and what I'd say now is the rebirth. Uh but uh the big news, I think, is all the redevelopment that's coming up. And uh I'll let Melissa tell everybody else a little bit about number one, I guess, how we're structured, but also what's going on on the redevelopment. All yours. Well, thank you so much uh commissioners for inviting me uh to attend your meeting and to provide with you an update on some of our development projects. And um we're glad to say that all of our public housing sites, uh Robinwood, Bloomsberry Square, Eastport Terrace, and Harbor House are all under plans and in the stages for redevelopment. And so we're very excited um for that and that would mean the transformation of all public housing communities in the city of Annapolis. We uh uh will be completing soon uh Morris H. Blum the substantial rehabilitation of that high-rise, a senior high-rise. um 154 brand new units um uh newly revitalized um from top to bottom. All of the units, the common areas, community spaces, all of it. Um great recreation space for our seniors. So,

we're happy about that. And that is project is essentially 97% complete and we look forward to having a grand opening um early next year for that project and we'll invite you to of course attend uh with that that was in partnership with the community builders and they are handling management of the property as we speak. Um, Robinwood and Bloomsberry Square are also under redevelopment uh with the community housing partners and we will be pursuing both a substantial um redevelopment of uh Robinwood and moderate redevelopment of Bloomsbury Square. Most recently with the state, we were awarded uh tax credits for the Robinwood property um for 9% tax credits. So, we're very glad for that. It's a very competitive process. And we will also add 4% tax credits to Robinwood and 4% tax credits to Bloomsberry Bay Square. And we're in a process of applying for that now. And we look forward to initiating those projects. We hope to close on those development deals either late next year or early 2027. And so we intend to also add mixed income in those properties to um increase density at Robinwood. Um it's currently 150 units. We hope to go, we can now go to 214 under the current coding um regime, but we hope to to do more if there are changes that we are able to achieve uh in the future with regards to the code to maybe 226. Our development plans can go up to 220

251. And so we plan to add um home ownership units at Robinwood for families. One of the issues that we are addressing as a housing authority is trying to provide housing for that uh missing middle demographic which are persons that no longer qualify for traditional public housing or voucher assistance but still can't afford market rate housing. So, our goal is to address uh that population and provide a variety of housing options um through all of our projects. That's that's what we do. So, we're excited to pursue that. Um we've already had several resident meetings at both sites. We have our next big resident meeting at both Robinwood and Bloomsberry Square on December 8th and December 10th at those respective properties. All of our meetings are open to the public. Anyone can attend and um as well as uh geared towards uh getting resident input. In all of our projects, we're required to obtain resident input, community input, and um have that documented and captured in our planning efforts. Um today, I wanted to also speak to you more specifically about our plans at Eastport Terrace and Harbor House. We recently selected in partnership with the city a uh a development team to assist with that project. And if someone can pull up the presentation I have with regards to Eastport Terrace and Harbor House, that would be great.

I'm ready, Melissa. I'm getting ready to share it.

Great. And just to give us background, as you all may be aware or some may not be, we were involved in a very extensive planning effort with the city in which we were able to be awarded a um planning grant for Eastport Terrace and Harbor House in which we were able to come up with a transformation plan. The results of that planning effort uh you will see talked we will talk about briefly today that serves as the foundation of our redevelopment effort. So the planning efforts contains elements that are aspirational and conceptual. They are subject to change based on a number of factors, environmental factors, uh financial factors, funding, any other legal constraints we may run AC we may run across and also uh learning more and more about the residents in the local community need. And so um with regards to the redevelopment of Harbor House and Eastport Terrace, we plan to pursue an implementation grant which is a separate grant under the choice neighborhood uh grant that HUD provides which helps pro supplement funding needed for the our uh transformation plan. Overall, these efforts are in upwards of $3 to $400 million with regards to projected um funding needed for these redevelopment efforts. They encompass um both residential um upgrades and commercial addressing uh commercial amenity needs, infrastructure needs, design of community to uh help the uh general neighborhood become more uh livable and improve the quality of

life not only for Harbor House Eastport Terrace residents but Eastport residents overall. And so here in the map you see just the general area in which our properties um lie and which is the jurisdiction of the area that we are uh uh are responsible for. As far as grant, um the city has also committed to uh adding uh Spa Road as a potential redevelopment site uh for this project and we will add that site uh uh more it will be a more definitive um pursuit once there are certain environmental elements uh cleared uh for the site to be used for residential purposes. You can move to the next slide. And so uh these are the names of the development partners we have for our team um Manadnok Development which is out of uh New York uh as well as Genesis Companies. They've done a lot of major redevelopment um with the New York City Housing Authority and other housing authorities across the nation. NFP, affordable housing to assist with financing um and also other redevelopment efforts, local um firms such as Wack Architects and local builders which are Hamill builders. Next slide. And so, uh Manadnok Development has served over, um has developed over 10,000 units, um and over 50 projects. So they have access of over $3.5 billion worth of redevelopment projects um across the nation. And so we're excited to work with a developer. They have uh

extensive experience working with public housing uh agencies and communities. and they have a uh great vision for both the residential and commercial development that we can potentially uh achieve at the different sites. Next slide. Genesis is the other developer. Um they too have a great number of projects uh that they have uh been a part of redeveloping. Excuse me, I have a new puppy and so sometimes he likes to voice his opinion. I thought that was my dog. I know.

We're gonna see him. I mean, just putting it out there.

Yes, this is his zooi time. So, um so um uh Genesis, which is the other co-developer, um and so they uh will assist us with all or relocation efforts, finance financing, um construction efforts in terms of managing uh the process. And so we're excited to work with them. Next slide. NFP as a as a nonprofit um here in the based in the uh DMV um and so they have a very large portfol port portfolio in which they have extensive experience in um providing um helping to provide financing for uh these types of projects. Next slide. Windseek uh builder is also a um local architect and engineer firm, a very large firm um with over a 100,000 units in their portfolio in extensive experience building in the Maryland, Virginia, and DC areas. Next slide. And Hamill Builders um also having expense extensive experience in the Mid-Atlantic region with regards to redeveloping and new construction. uh for affordable housing. Next slide. So our plan overall um consists of a required plan. Oh, you can go back to the previous slide of uh redeveloping at a minimum the 357 units that are already there at Eastport Terrace Harbor House. We have to do that and provide current residents with the right to return to the project. But under the planning efforts, we can go up to over 900 units for the site. And so what we're going to be doing in the next 18 months is

determine where exactly that number will land. And a number of factors go into that. Environmental factors, um financing factors, and overall what is going to be best um for the local community and what's allowable um under law. and um zoning um codes. And so it will be a phased as all our projects are phased redevelopment projects. We anticipate for Eastport Terrace Harbor House to have at least four phases. Um and so but one phase uh does not have to be completed before the next phase starts. They will definitely be over overlapping. There's a potential to add some small retail, maybe a convenience store, healthc care clinics, um recreation facilities, and other amenities that we are looking at entering. We're already entered into a partnership with the YMCA, who currently started a pilot, uh Head Start program at the Eastport Community Center with the intention of building a larger facility once we redevelop. And we also uh have plans to hopefully incorporate Spa Road into this overall redevelopment uh project which will add other commercial offices, business spaces for the city of Annapapolis and hopefully for Hacka uh mixeduse space for residents as well. And so those are are some of the uh key elements that we will be focusing on with regards to the overall plan. Next slide. And so here is the um uh some of the and then you might not be able to see it all the way um but is the potential a

potential uh layout for the community. And so where are our our uh current offices are are towards the back or towards the green area. But we plan on revitalizing that space which currently has our um administrative offices to be housing and mixed use space. Also, there are is a vacant uh parcel on the harbor house lot which is next to the baseball field. We plan on adding new units and we will be redeveloping in clockwise uh fashion uh going through each segment of the community. There will, as you see, there's some um remapping of streets uh that will um that will um that we will uh uh address. Um and so uh if you go to the next slide, you'll be able to see it laid out uh a little bit better. And so um we plan to sort of we reinvision the community as was planned in our um uh transformation plan. And this we uh was is our initial design that is the result of uh the input of hundreds of people uh business leaders, local community, neighbors, our residents, all of our stakeholders. We uh were able to come up with this potential design for the site. And as you see, more of centralizing more of the um uh the pedestrian path as well as the streets. Uh so there could be more of a even flow in and out of the community with a central hub that has not only uh homes but also uh other amenity spaces that other persons that don't that don't live in the community

can also easily access. There are several um green areas within the plan, not just one big area that there is now. Um, we of course will still have the pool and plan to have that and it be a communitywide pool. Um, and there are many features uh in this plan as you can see uh that are are a bit different from how things are laid out right now um within the um the uh community. And so um all of the different colors in the plan symbolizes different forms of housing. We don't plan to have one form of housing. There will be um a multifamily housing, row homes, single family homes, um homes as we said for home ownership purposes, walk up homes. So it'll be a variety of housing uh structures and uh so the elements that will be uh determined in terms of the final design will be determined over the next year or so. And this is all done in partnership with the city. So how we have constructed our redevelopment plans is more of a collaborative nature. Uh Hacka doesn't create a plan or the developer and then bring the plan to the city for approval. Now the city does need to approve most of the elements if not all of the elements that go into this plan. But this plan will also be the creation of the city because we have representatives from the city government in on the planning process and as well as uh local stakeholders and residents. So that by the time we get to approval processes, it is a plan that everyone is in agreement with and it has been fully vetted for all the variables that will

uh come into play uh when you do a redevelopment uh project. And so we're excited um to be able to move forward um with this with this project. Um, currently under current zoning uh rules, we can build uh up to I believe 626 units at the site right now, meaning right where Eastport Terrace in Harbor House is now. Um, additional units that we intend to add, we would need to be able to utilize other sites uh to be able to do that. Spa Road or if there is another site available um that site um as well. And so uh we look forward to um engaging in this project. And I believe that is um all we have as far as our present my presentation. I'll be happy to answer any questions that you might have.

That was great. Thank you, Melissa. I'm so excited for this redevelopment. That's awesome. Thank you. How um this is not like a h anyhow, how are the residents feeling? Excited. I think they're very excited. I don't think the redevelopment can happen any sooner. Um

as far as uh they're concerned. you know, they obviously are interested in having either newly constructed units or um substantially renovated units uh to be able to enjoy. There also always is a bit of trepidation um when you talk about redevelopment. Um so we have to address those concerns like whether you know we have concerns will be able to come back you know once the redevelopment is finished. um you know, are there other issues that I'll have to deal with? Is my rent going to stay the same? Those kinds of things. And so the programs that we are utilizing when we redevelop the program for our current residents is essentially the same uh income qualifying requirements uh that they are under now. So there's uh virtually will be very little impact on their rent obligation. So they don't have to worry about that. But there's always some concern mixed with the excitement um of a new new direct new uh development um new development team uh new management team and so it's it's our role um in Hacka uh to be able to ensure uh that there is a smooth transition.

That's awesome. So So I raised my hand. So do I get to go next?

Yes, you get to go next. I I and I just wanted to you know um with what Melissa is talking about in the public meetings that she has the some of these are the things that are discussed there and the residents are are fully informed as to what you know what they're doing there and so as the public meeting goes go on um the residents will be more and more informed and I think that that will help with their anxiety of this change. So, they they do keep the residents well informed about what they've been doing from from day one. Melissa has had open and public meetings throughout this redevelopment phase or the the beginnings of this phase.

Yeah. So, I just want to let you know that the residents there are meetings for them and and it's a lot. It's it's a lot. It's a lot. I mean, Melissa, just tell them the rehabilitation at Morris Blum. It was it it you know the way they did it you know there was there was just sometimes disruption of what they're used to and and and that's one of the elements that Melissa taps on when meeting with the residents. So okay Denise shut up. Okayise

I think you're totally right because I was one of those um what are they called? shuttles where they did the planning for the community and there were a lot of residents there but there were a lot of people that weren't connected but had a lot of opinions so I could feel the anxiety so I hope this is working out the way that works best for them I'll I'll add a few things to the board member just kind of my observations too I mean the sharette was really a great idea sharette thank you

initiative anyway but I was uh actually very happy with the president uh meeting the Eastboard neighborhood participation in it also and their support to date seems to be probably much better than you'd even expect. Yeah. Um you know and then as far as the actual you know team for Eastport Harborous is I think a very experienced team. uh my old old career when I was doing affordable housing myself, we used WindC and also Hamill and Hamill's actually I think is it Hamill that's doing plug or is that Hawkins? I get mixed up which one

well in my heyday Hamill and Hawkins was the same company. They were at one point. Yes, they were at one point

along with along with Humphre was a third one. Anyway, they're very experienced. uh and uh Bill Gibbs who was a former board member actually is the president of Hamill down in North Carolina I believe now but uh you know I've got a lot of lot of uh expectations of what they can do and and I think they're certainly capable of it and the kind of last piece too is that with Dport Harbor being converted to uh a limited partnership or LLC whatever it's going to from the tax credit standpoint that will be the last property that will actually be owned outright by uh PAKA. So all of the properties will be converted into the seller type of ownership interest where we have either a nonprofit or a for-profit uh managing partner uh with many cases of the property management uh responsibilities also. So you know the role of hacker within the community will change somewhat when that happens uh be much more operational related to vouchers whether they're project based vouchers or tenant based vouchures but uh you know still with the ability to continue to do more in the community partner because we also set up a nonprofit that is a subsidiary of that can enter into development agreements uh with other partners and do new projects or you know potentially even do them on their own. But uh it also opens up a lot of opportunities for uh grant receiving grants from other organizations for whether it's tenant services or actually hard you know bricks and sticks in the new project. But it's going to give us a lot more uh flexibility as far as what we can do.

That's great. It's really exciting. I mean, it's been a lot of work and it's great coming to come into a good place. Um, I had just one question and I'm glad that the Eastport residents that was going to be my questions whether citizens outside of the area and if they're participating that's that's fantastic. That's fantastic. Um, so the question I and you you probably have already considered this but the recreation piece um reckon parks runs wonderful daycare programs. my kids both, you know, and I'm hoping that maybe that could that would just be a wonderful thing to do on site for all those new families

and we are open to all the possibilities with regards to additional services and that's pro that's why we have the city um at the table as far as partnering.

Yeah, that would be great. I I believe that when they do the backside where the offices are that they're going to make better access for the community there to get also to the Pit Moyer Center is if I Melissa, correct me if I'm wrong, but part of the comprehensive plan is to open that area up over there by um to bring them by the water to bring people to Truckton Park as well, so they'll have access a better access to Truckton Pac. If I'm not mistaken, I think the concept plan shows that. Yeah, that's correct. Yeah, which is great. As well as Hawkins code.

Yeah. Any other questions or comments? Thank you so much, Melissa and Denise for your skills and sharing your PowerPoint. Um, that was great. Thank you. Thank you for inviting. Appreciate you, Melissa. And, you know, work any you you need help, you need advice, you know, work with us. We're we're here to work with you. That's part of our mission. So, um, we look forward to that. We look We're gonna get them to come to the next public meeting. Melissa, great. Well, I think Patrick's probably there.

Patrick is there. But, you know, it would be nice for you guys to go so you can really get we, you know, Melissa told you all of this stuff and you got somewhat of an idea, but to actually get a visual and really get deep down in the roots of interacting with the residents, you know, it's really important. And when we show up, it makes them know that we care about what's going on over there. So, I maybe some of the board members might want to come. I didn't write down the dates, but I know they're early December. And 10th, correct, Melissa? 8th and 10th. We can send an email out to all the members and see if I know folks will want to come. So, um, let's do it. Yeah, that's great. Okay. All right. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. Have a good night. Appreciate you. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye, Melissa. Thank you.

All right. So, we can move on to and be quick. I have a dog that wants attention. Um, so just quick for just to sort of review because we we've been talking about this a little bit about where we came from and where we're going um as a commission. So, we were formed um separate off from the the city's committee, the housing and human welfare committee. And part of our job um in 2023 was to do uh legislation. It was in the consent decree and it was and we had like a 90-day limit. Some of us were on the committee back then. I know Patrick was. Um 90-day limit to create it. And we did we created legislation um 04022. It I'm not even sure it didn't even get a hearing. Um, and the council passed resolution 123 saying they wanted to wait till after the comp plan was to do anything with the zoning ordinance. So, the comp plan has been approved. Um, and we're there and um, we talked informally as a group and you know, our next step is really to meet with the mayor and um, we we're supposed to be getting on in December with a meeting with the mayor to see what his goals are because he actually was on the housing and human welfare committee um, for a time and his housing are his is a priority for him. So work with him to see what his his desires are and how we can help work forward and then work with the with the new housing and human welfare committee to hopefully do some legislation dealing with zoning to allow maybe some small increases in density. That's really the way that we can get more affordable housing, workforce housing. So that's kind of our goals for the year um for the new year. Any anybody want to add? Well, I know speaking of increasing the density, um I know that that was the issue that

Melissa ran into because as you could see so far they're up to 683 units. we with the with the um choice neighborhood initiative, she can go up to uh 7:15, but they wouldn't they uh there was something that happened at a council meeting where they couldn't could only increase the density by 25%. So that's why she's looking for other sites because with the choice neighborhood, you can actually have units throughout the city that's part of the same development. And and so I don't know where that is, but that's one of the things that we should be able to get behind and try to get the the council to at least consider or give them a special exception to increase the number of units on that site.

Yeah, I I think that's all up for conversation. Um, and then as she said, it could be on other sites, too. So, but the zoning I'm really I'm talking about looking across the city and because most of the city's zoned for single family development, no different than any other place in the United States of America, but it it cuts out new housing. I mean, there's no there's no land for new housing. So, the question is how do we do a little bit more with what we have? So, tear down and build Denise that there's a lot of opposition in the city for that. So we we have

well maybe maybe that's not the right term. Maybe uh redevelop existing uh buildings, but sometimes you got to tear them down to build something else. But you know, you got what wherever you find um find uh abandoned or Yeah. You kind of do something with that, you know, underutilized properties, I think, and and old, you know, that's a good term, right? Right. And I think that the mayor is going to be looking at that, too. So, um, but anyway, that's that's I think what our goals are for 2026, you know, to to move some move on some legislation working with the um with the mayor and the committee. Yeah.

Maybe we can have some progress this year. Success. Looking forward to it. We all are. All right. Any other new business? No. Okay. All right. Well, um, everybody, we'll we'll adjourn, but I just want to wish everybody happy holidays. We're not going to be meeting in December. Um, and when we get that meeting with the mayor, um, I'll send the notice out and hopefully we all can attend. I don't know if there's any rules about open laws or, you know, open meetings laws, but we'll find out. So, if we can't all attend, you know, we'll we'll send a we'll send some special representatives. So,

and I I will get the I know Melissa said the 8th and the 10th of December and they're usually in the evenings. So, I will get the exact information and shoot you guys an email or Patrick can help me out over here. Tell us the exact dates and um get that information out to you. But I do want to share with you all. I've worked with a couple of developers under similar programs and one of the biggest projects that they did and Hamill Builders and Harkkins together as we were talking about them earlier redeveloped um at least two projects there in Baltimore City back in the '9s and it was under a similar program to Choice Neighborhood. was under a Hope 6 pro um program which is similar to Choice Neighborhood except they were trying to decrease the density under um Hope Six. And one of the projects that I worked on, they ended up putting like a beautiful rec center and the Boys and Girls Club came in there and there was some place for the children to go play and then they had a daycare center there and they built a health center on the on the out but on the property and it was just amazing. And so I get so excited when I hear Melissa talk about because I've actually seen the transformation

and in Baltimore and then again in Connecticut, I was able to work on a development there. And so while the residents suffer a lot of anxiety when they go when they're transitioning, the smiles at the end, it's it's all worth it.

It's all worth it. And that's just my personal experience. But um I just wanted to share that with you guys um as to what happens, you know, what happens in that transformation. There's a lot that goes into it. They have to sometimes move people off of the development, find them housing somewhere else. But the way it looks like hack is doing theirs is they're going to phase it in. So if they, you know, you can see them like moving tenants into other vacant units, doing the first phase, then permanently moving them back. So, and it's a lot, it's a lot of anxiety on on the residents because they move. So, we just have to keep encouraging them that, you know, think look down at the end of the tunnel cuz I can see this I can see this thing coming to fruition. So, I'm excited for the housing authority and what they're trying to do there. Okay, that's enough about me and my life. No, my but you know my experience in the careers I I know exactly how this this whole thing works and I've seen it with my own eyes.

It's pretty exciting, Denise. It's pretty exciting. Yeah. So, with that, um, and I gotta recognize Adam. Adam's here. I didn't didn't say hi to Adam. Good to see you. Um, all right. Should we move for adjournment? I think you got a second, Karen. My dog agrees. Yay. All right, everybody. All right, we're journ. Have a great Have a great holiday and see