Affordable Housing Advisory Committee
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Alachua County Growth Management Department
111 S.W. 1st Street, Room 6
Gainesville, FL 32601
Meeting Minutes
Members present: Carl Salafrio; Darlene Pifalo; Don Davis; Joe Hancock; John Brunner; Juanita Biles; Michael Conroy; Patricia Lee; Robert Stroh; Shaun Wasdo; Tim Flanagan.
Others present: Carol Barron, Director of Housing Development for the Neighborhood Housing and Development Corporation; Tom Webster, Housing Programs Manager; Mark Ludlow, services provider to the committee; Kali Blount, a member of the public.
The meeting began at 5:05 P.M.
Old business & Chair’s Comments
The minutes of the Committee’s meeting on August 21, 2008 were approved. Because of the committee’s interest in the development review process, Mark Ludlow updated those present on the results of the Development Review Process Workshop held on Wednesday, August 27, 2008. In particular, Mr. Ludlow pointed out that a pre-application meeting, resembling the City of Gainesville’s “First Steps” permit and development assistance meeting, is being considered as part of changes to the County’s development review process. Mr. Ludlow told members he would send them updates to the development review process as soon as he received relevant information.
The committee welcomed Joe Hancock, alternate committee member, who was appointed on Tuesday, August 26, 2008. Shaun Wasdo (Chair) noted that the committee had work to do in focusing on affordable housing recommendations.
Developing an affordable housing incentives report
Mr. Ludlow pointed out the AHAC issues breakdown and draft incentives recommendations handouts given to members; he remarked that it was not too early for the committee to begin discussing which issues and recommendations would be included in the incentives report to be submitted to the Board of County Commissioners. Several members indicated that it would be a good idea to spend time looking over the recommendations forms so that the committee could provide meaningful suggestions. Additionally, several members voiced concern about simply consenting to staff recommendations for affordable housing incentives. Mr. Ludlow noted that although that staff does have recommendations for the CDBG application, there are no staff recommendations for affordable housing incentives; it is up to the committee to develop recommendations.
After several members remarked that they would like to hear the pros and cons of each issue, a discussion of transfer of development rights (TDR) took place. The basics of a TDR program were illustrated, with members asking questions about how a TDR program works in practice. The discussion ended with a question of whether or not the County can transfer density rights into the City of Gainesville; Mr. Ludlow said he would find out the answer as well as determining why the County does not have traffic concurrency exception areas like the City does.
Energy-efficient affordable housing
Carol Barron spoke about her experiences with building energy-efficient affordable housing, in particular the North Point at Ironwood development. She noted that North Point contains both market rate and affordable housing and is Energy Star and Florida Green Building Coalition certified. Ms. Barron discussed the following points as they relate to energy-efficient affordable housing:
- Lower energy costs, with the possibility of rebates offsetting up-front costs;
- Fast-track permitting for projects that are green building certified;
- Limited permit fees for green building, perhaps similar to the City’s permit fee structure;
- Affordable housing, including individual projects, which are LEED or Florida Green Building Coalition certified.
Ms. Barron remarked that close coordination with Gainesville Regional Utilities ensures that energy rebates are received. In her experience, energy-efficient affordable housing (new-construction) costs approximately 4-5% more to build than affordable housing with a lower energy-efficiency; energy rebates help offset the up-front costs of energy-efficient building. She recommended that the committee might look into the structure of building permits and consider fast-track permitting for energy-efficient affordable housing.
The discussion turned to a consideration of impact fees and the extent to which the County’s impact fee assistance program is utilized. Several members noted a lack of advertisement for the impact fee assistance program and Gainesville Regional Utilities’ rebate programs. Tom Webster responded to members’ general questions on the impact fee assistance program and noted that funding for the assistance program had been cut from an initial level of $100,000 to $25,000.
Alachua County Housing Programs
Because of time constraints, Alachua County Housing Programs and affordable housing incentives in the Local Housing Assistance Plan were not discussed; Mr. Ludlow noted that these agenda items would be rescheduled.
New Business
Although they are not required to attend, Mr. Ludlow brought the second CDBG public hearing on September 9, 2008, to the attention of members. He also noted the time and place of the joint City/County AHAC meeting—to be held at the Gainesville Technology Enterprise Center (GTEC) at 6:00 PM on September 23, 2008.
The meeting ended at 6:40 P.M.