Affordable Housing Commission - Regular Meeting

We'll go ahead and get started since we um have a quorum anyways. And u once again, we'll just uh seat the alternates as they come in um as regular members. And welcome Kent. I'm glad you could join us. Thank you.

Nice to meet you virtually. Um so the agenda is very short and sweet. Um again um because things haven't really kicked off at the uh state level or I mean at the regional council of governments level which is our our cog is Rivercog which is headquartered in Essex and um the meetings are virtually once a month. Um but she does they do have a consultant on staff so they do provide a lot of information about housing and things like that. And uh one of the things that's going to happen this year um pretty quickly, probably before May, um is that the Rivercog will be given an allocation of affordable housing units that they have to build. Um and then Rivercog will a lot make an aotment by town for each of the I believe it's 17 or 19 towns in Rivercog. Um and then that'll be our aotment of of affordable housing that the state has mandated that um the town will have to build. And that's um there's two dates. One is like in the next five-year plan they'll have to show progress towards like how they're going to do that. But in um but I believe that the end timeline is 10 years um for having actually the units constructed. [snorts] Um, so there's more information on that coming out in Rivercog's um, meeting this coming up in January in a couple weeks here. Um, so I went to the one in December. Um, and they put out some good information that I sent via email just a little while ago when I wasn't feeling too good. Um, but one is just a screenshot, basically a snippet of what our river [clears throat] u has accomplished. It was sort of like a the year in reflection kind of thing. So if you get a chance you can look at that. But they do plan in their January

meeting on having um like a survey sent out and um you know things that we should work on. They are trying to look to increase attendance because uh some meetings like the December meeting had about 15 people there but others you know seem to only have like six or seven people there and it's a rather large group. Um, so they're trying to do things to that might encourage uh higher attendance from the towns. Um, now any of us can call in. I'm just right now the one that's designated to call in to be on their actual mailing list and to vote. Um, so we'll need to replace me with somebody else on the commission to attend those meetings which are right now scheduled to be on a Tuesday at 2:00 in the afternoon. And they're trying to limit it to one hour. very rarely have they gone over an hour since I've been attending, but um I guess somebody gave them feedback that they were too long or something like that. So, so they are trying to they always put out the agenda in advance and if there's any reading information material they do she's very very consistently good with uh handling all that type of stuff. Um and so there it's a well-run meeting I think and so it's not like it's a waste of time. oftent times they'll have subjects that really don't apply to us. Um for instance like uh transit um transit housing or um sew sewer and septic you know regulations and things like that or environmental protection things. Um but they're really more information passes. Nothing that we would be voting on anyways. Um so that's a little update about them. If anybody has any questions about uh the the group um oh I just I forgot to say that it's a subcommittee of the regional council of governments uh board. So Martha um as our selectman was sit on that uh uber uh rivercog

meeting. She's a member of that. Uh this is the housing subcommittee of that rivercog. Um so that's like in a nutshell um what we're up to there. Uh, as long as we're on the topic, you you attended this month but won't be attending next month, right? Yeah, that's correct. So, I could, but technically I'm not I won't be on this commission. So, all right. So, does anyone here want to That's Tuesdays at 2 PM you can sign in. Does anyone here? It's only one t It's one Tuesday. It's the third Tuesday at 2 o'clock. Yeah. That's only one Tuesday a month

for an hour. Anyone want to Which Tuesday is it? Third Tuesday. I I believe it's the third Tuesday. I can just double check real quick right here. Um I have I have uh like fourth Wednesday and third Thursdays and [laughter] first Wednesdays. So I get them mixed up sometimes. [snorts] Um, yeah, I think it's the uh looks like on my calendar the third Tuesday. I can go this I can uh sign into it this Tuesday, but I [snorts] cannot sign up to do it every Tuesday or you know every month. I can I can do this one though.

So, okay. Is that something you know we can sort of pass around? Yep. Jim can do it this month in January and then check calendar. I think Fred if we just designate one person but then really we can share the information with and and um Lori um uh the lady that runs at L prey she said that we can have as many people as we want on the email list. So we could put the whole commission on the email list if we want. You can call in if you want. You just can't vote. you have multiple votes for the same town if if in fact we were voting on something. [clears throat] Who who gets to vote?

Uh right now I do. But we do have one person. One of us needs to have voting power. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. And and I think out of the 10 months or so that I've been going, we think we voted on like two things and one was a Christmas party. So, [laughter] so um yeah, so it's not a big governing body. The governing body is the River Cog itself, that board.

So, does anyone here want to be the voting person? So, uh do you want to be the voting person? Sure. But I won't be on it meeting every Tuesday of every every month. Yeah, we I can make an attempt to do that, but I I don't want to commit to that. Yeah. No, I mean, I could, but not I'll certainly be back up. I mean, or maybe check with Sheila as well. I mean, he's available. I'd love to do that. Absolutely.

Um All right. Well, okay. I'll make a note to I'll send it out to everybody and just um solicit opinions and then if Sheila um would like to do it or somebody wants to do it on a more permanent voting basis um we just need to get uh um let let Martha know basically or let the selectman know. Okay. All right.

Okay. Um, and then really they don't uh probably nobody really had a chance to read their little slide that they put out, but it's um if you do have any questions or want to talk further about it, just feel free to call me of course at any time. Um, and then my second thing was just going to be uh just a general update. I think everybody, we talked about this in December, but on um uh HB802, there's more information coming out. Um and like I said, Rivercog will be very active uh the housing commission uh members of Rivercog will be very active in that um all year, I'm sure. But the first part is the allocation and figuring out how to do that and and that kind of thing. [snorts]

All right. and Eric Knap, the town planner, is also trying to Yeah. get someone from Rivercock to speak to us. So Oh, perfect. Yeah. Um, and meanwhile, I think, uh, uh, Representative Carney sent out a little primer on it. Um, and so, uh, I don't know if I've forwarded that to you last week or not, but, uh, if I didn't, I'll I'll forward that to you as well. It's like a one pager, you know, about about it. All right. Okay. And that's all I had on that, Fred.

So, uh, call to order, agenda review. Anyone want to add anything to the agenda right now? Fred, I was just noticing we have a guest on the screen. Oh, is that Jennifer? And is there is someone signed in? Looks like it's Amy. I I' I've signed in. Amy. Amy. Amy. Hi, [clears throat] Amy. Hi, Amy. Hi. Last meeting. All right. Okay. Well, glad to have you. And I don't I don't see you. Anthony is the only one I don't see.

Okay. Any public comment? [snorts] Seeing none. Approval of last uh month's minutes. Yeah, we'll have to do that next time. [laughter] I haven't gotten around to getting that out.

They're not out. Okay. So, well said. All right. Old B business general updates and correspondence. Did you anyone get anything at other than what's been mentioned so far? Uh no project updates. So uh so Makulla has the plan was to submit our sub approval this month like tomorrow. But uh combat calf, our civil engineer who was supposed to fill it out and submit it and he had knee surgery two weeks ago and it's going a lot rougher and we're not going to make it this month. So next month, you know, I'm going to give Tom a little break. I just feel like I'm hassling him every time I contact him. But I'm going to can't be that much left to do. I mean b the basic thing he needs to do that needs to be done is the plan and the plan the basic thing that needs to be on the plan is the driver and you know a turnaround needment for emergency vehicles and he's working with a a surveyor uh and uh so I'm going to you know say is this can we do this not is there someone else and um do I need to go out with a pick the stick and you know pull the chain or whatever they do now. So anyway, so unfortunately that's what that's what's going on with that project. uh the the deadline for that project is late September of this year where the property has to be

transferred to uh habitat for reverse to open space and that's also the deadline for the the our ARPA funds

and uh as far as I understand correct me if I'm wrong anyone that we can turn those funds over once they we convey that to uh habitat to be used for the project. I was under the misunderstanding that we had to, you know, improve the laws, put in the driveway, whatever we could do to lighten the load on Habitat, but apparently we can let Habitat do that. So that that that's a lot quicker process. We don't have to send out RFPs for any work that we would do. So, uh I'm uh apparently there is an ARPA fund committee that I can talk to to see exactly what if anything we need to do.

Yeah. And and Fred, I have I have not updated um uh Sarah at Habitat on that um plan. So, she still thinks it's going to planning this month in Old Lime, but um but I'll give her a call um tomorrow and just let her know if you can if you're not hopefully it'll be better. I'm puking. [laughter]

Don't stress. Okay. Any questions? Right. Uh development opportunities, any new opportunities? So, you know, we still have these two other lots, the near the firehouse near Rogers Lake that we're hoping to put a uh units of affordable housing in. U the plan was to have Tom Metaf and and uh his surveyor, you know, do that for us. They're well the project and they already, you know, sort of walk properties. looks like could build a a two more units on two different lots. Um we have to wait till Mulla sort of gets taken care of. Uh so there was a there was a uh like 100 years ago there was a subdivision that uh all on the south side of Blackwell Pond there were like 100 tiny lots that were like designed for camps and most of the uh lots now have been consolidated. They take five and put it together and there's a bunch of houses up there. It's kind of a crazy area with no dirt roads and it's uh Anyway, that sounds like built a couple units there. Anyway, the the the lots we have are consolidated lots. So, they originally, let's say, five of these tiny lots. Now, there's five. There's a restriction on them that each little lot could only have one residence built on it. Uh, so that I I do have a question of whether we could maybe put, you know, a two family on there, but you know what do you That's a question for the lawyer once we get going. But that that would be nice. But

and why just a question why do we have to wait for Mulla to move on to another project? Well, uh, I said yes. Well, it's not we have to, but if

either Tom Metaf and the server would have, you know, we've asked them to do it, but things have gone much slower than we anticipated. I thought it would be, you know, McCulla, they'd go into the other lots, but for reasons unknown, it's gone really slowly. So if we want to start on those projects now, we would have to locate I I I believe a a new civil engineer and and surveyor. I mean, we we'd have to reinitiate with someone who's unfamiliar with the project and, you know,

and and the town. I mean, the the benefit of using them too is that they have extensive knowledge in the town of Old Lime with with all these things, zoning and planning. We thought it would be slick, but it really slow. Yeah. [laughter] Also, um also just from Habitat's perspective, they would um you know, want to have like make sure they're they're perked and things like that and make sure they're or they're perkable um and stuff like that before we offer to give it to them, transfer [clears throat] it to them.

Yeah. And we were thinking we still may be able to use ARPA funds to, you know, do some of the ground work on those properties. But yeah, things are in flux right now. Yeah. And Kurt, just for your information, this is a a these are vacant lots that the town has owned for some number of years, decades. Oh, okay. Thank you. They have not been consolidated consolidated yet, right? They're all just correct. Yeah, there's some special statute that allows you to that helps you consolidate lots. we need to do.

Did the county have to pay for any of these projects or I mean if you're going through and consolidating lots and getting lawyers and you're doing the perk test and you're getting the surveys, do we pay for that? Yes, we do. Yeah, we we haven't certainly budgeted. It hasn't been that. It's been like 16,000 a year that we pay. We've been paying uh legal and engineering fees. Okay. And uh uh so far enough we haven't gone above that. It's uh but uh the town gives us the money so they're they're paying that. Uh but we have the ARPA funds and we should use them. Yes.

Uh I is anyone I don't think we have any new funding opportunities. No, just Rivercog did say that they're going to apply again for the CTDOH uh grant so that um they will continue to have a a consultant or two available for uh the towns to use. Okay, new business. So, new business. Uh, we're hoping to hoping to have some new members, either alternative or permanent members. And I think you sent in your

and we encourage you to apply. There's you can get a little application either online or I haven't found all and that h those have to be acted on by Martha when uh last last year they did it in March because they did like zoning and um a planning first and they did ours last this month. Oh. So, how does that work if you're coming off as the chair and then they're not why why are they going to act on it in March and not this month? Oh, I don't know when um they are. As soon as we get the applications in, the better, I guess. But um but last year it took them until March to approve.

We were I mean last year we were going we thought it was going to be like in January and then it wasn't. Yeah. I forget why. I think you really just have to request I mean we have one applicant already. You just have to request it to be on the agenda. There should be no reason why. That's like a quick like on the like less than a minute conversation typically. All right. Well, we will I will request that.

Yeah. We kept getting they kept running out of time when they were discussing it last year and so we kept getting like uh conveyed to the next meeting. Okay. The next meeting. But they meet so frequently that it shouldn't be a problem. Jen, we're losing three people, right? Um, yeah. Myself, Amy, and let's see. Anony's re-uping and having to go. Oh, yeah. I mean, it makes it hard to have Corum with Bri kind of coming off and some that need to be reinstated. Yeah. I would stress that. Yes. Yeah. Like, yes. Oh, before the next

Lor's like, yes. [clears throat] So when that's all done, uh, you know, Sean and Sheila have, you know, expressed their interest in being co-chair people. Uh, and I think that would be great. And uh I will what whatever you call it I will un undo my leadership such as it is position and you know you know help where I can you know concentrate on the mulla for now and the other projects and

what whatever is needed. Um so that's sort of general plan of the committee and again if you any of you know anyone who has interest in the affordable housing commission you know in any capacity please uh have come fly or contact us and we'll talk to them. Do you want me to send out the u online application again? Just you that's all still here. the the volunteer um application is on the town of Old Lime website if anybody's interested, but I could send it out again if you need it.

I should I was actually waiting for you to send it, but I never received it um after our last conversation in December. Yeah. So, you're saying it's available through the select select person? Uh it's on the town of Old Lime website. Just go there and there's really short one day I will look at this. Okay, thanks Ken.

Uh, anything else in terms of new business? And so I think we have uh we established the dates for the upcoming meetings. I believe next month's meeting is again the uh first Wednesday of February. That's not one of our exceptions. So that that's when our next meeting will be. Fourth Uh, all right. Anything else? It's going to be a big month for a big year for affordable housing meetings, explanations. Uh I I think the I mean the way I see it there's we're going to apparently get some quota for the region and for the town for affordable units and you're you know someone's going to set forth the benefits and detriments. In other words, there you comply, you make a plan, you participate in a regional plan, there'll be certain incentives, I think loans and grants for things like sewers that the panel will get and uh probably other things directly to affordable housing. uh and if you don't and and I think the as far as I understand the the downside is that if you don't then you don't get any of this. I I haven't heard anything like a punishment like the you lose money for schools or or whatever other you know uh you don't you're not available for open

space grants but I I think it's mostly carrot But, you know, the town has is redoing their zoning now. uh their first cut at the zoning. It really didn't have much to do with housing yet, but I think I know the town is going to want to coordinate with, you know, this new bill to see how many units they're supposed to do and what [clears throat] where they could put build affordable housing. So, I mean, I it's all going to work together. So the the zoning redo, you know, the uh 8 002 and uh and then it's your understanding like Michael Foliano was going to try to was it what kind of additional units that he was trying to get into the zoning to help us with our affordable housing quota?

Well, right now it's 10 10% of new construction um uh needs to be affordable. So if there's 10 units, one of them basically has to be affordable. You're saying right now meaning today to mean right now? Uh [clears throat] to like currently like um um that's the deal that we have with zoning right now, but they're writing it into their regulations. So it could be higher, could be 15 or you know, who knows? Oh, so you're saying so for the future the understanding may be Yes. Yes, I think there would be a 10% requirement. I think I don't think it's been done yet. It's it's aspirational.

Two very [clears throat] different things though. Yeah. Now and maybe the future. Okay. Yeah. Okay. Future hopes and uh I mean he's also doing stuff like trying to, you know, accessory dwelling units make it easier for that. uh uh maybe some changes in the zoning to allow multif family [snorts] other zones, but you know, that's all to be looked at in the old lines rewrite of their zoning. Yeah. And I'm sure the 8002 will have a great impact on that.

So, there's going to be a lot going on. Exciting year to be affordable. All right. Anything else? No, I think we just need to have a motion to um to have Sean and um Sheila be elected as co-chairs. You can't make the motion yet because I'm just an alternate. You can't select men's meeting. Yeah. So, we have to wait till all that's done. You alternate.

I'm an alternate. So that's I'll talk to Martha and we'll hopefully that will happen. All right. Is there anyone want to make a motion [cough and clears throat] to move? Seconded Jimmy. Okay. All in favor? I I post no. All right, ajourned. Thank you.