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AHAC Minutes 02/15/2023Febrr-ran' l-5. 2023 MINUTES OF TFIE COLLIER COLINTY AFFORDABLE HOUSING ADVISORY COMMITTEE Naples, Florida, February 15,2023 LET IT BE REMEMBERED, the Collier County Affordable Housing Advisory Committee, in and for the County of Collier, having conducted business herein, met on this date at 8:30 a.m. in REGULAR SESSION at the Collier County Growth Management Department Building, Conference Room #6091610, 2800 Horseshoe Drive North, Naples, Florida, with the following members present: Chairman: Joe Trachtenberg Vice Chairman: Steve Flruby Jessica Brinkert (absent) Arol Buntzmaq Jennifer Faron Gary Hains (absent) Commissioner Chris Hall John Harney (absent) Todd Lyon Paul Shea Mary Waller Countv Staff Members Present: Cormac Giblin,Interim Director, Economic Development & Housing Mike Bosi, Director, Planning & Zoning Jaime Cook, Director, Development Review Jamie French, Deputy Department Head, GMD Derek Perry, County Attorney's Office Kelly Green, Accountant, Economic Development & Housing Fcbruann 1 5. 20li Any persons in need of the verbatim record of the meeting mo! request o copy of the audio recording from the Collier County Growth Management Department. I. CALL TO ORDER & PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE Chairman Trachtenberg called the meeting to order at 8:30 a.m. 2. ROLL CALL OF COMMITTEE MEMBERS AND STAFF A quorum of eight was present. 3. APROVAL OF AGENDA AND MINUTES a. Approval oftoday's agenda Vice Chairman Hruby made a motion to approve the agenda Second by Ms. Waller. The motion passed unanimously, 8-0, b. Approval of January 17,2023,AHAC meeting minutes Ms. lValler made a motion to approve the January 17, 2023, meeting minutes. Second by Commissioner Chris Hall. The motion passed unanimously, B-0. 4. INFORMATIONAL ITEMS AND PRESENTATION a. Presentation by Andrew VanValin - Pulte Family Foundation [Mr. VanValin, Senior Manager of Acquisition and Development, and JeffBookstein, VP of Development, detailed a PowerPoint presentation via Zoom about Nuestra Sefiora de la Vivienda Community Foundation in Immokalee, q proposed 2)7-home affordable housing community.J The following points were made: o Pulte Family Foundation, a charitable foundation for the Pulte family, is under contract to purchase an Immokalee site for affordable housing rental community that will sit on 50 acres at the corner of Westclox Street and Carson Road. The site is owned by the Collier family. o Current zoning is agricultural with a mobile-home overlay. Current land use is high residential, eight units per acre.. Proposed zoning will be a Mixed-Use Planned Unit Development that will allow for 250 homes, but they will build 200 and set aside three acres for an early education center for up to 250 students. They're speaking with Pathways Early Education Center of Immokalee to facilitate that. Pulte will fund, but it will be built by a third party.. Pulte set up the Nuestra Senora de la Vivienda Community Foundation to self-manage the property and leaming center. Any extra money would go to scholarships, community events, programming and staffing. o Social workers and staff who know the community's needs and resources will be hired.. It will follow a traditional model with streets and will be built in five phases.r There will be 159 detached single-family homes, 40 townhouses across 10 buildings and 434 parking spaces, not including the school parking; 12.5 acres will be preserved, with a 5.5-acre retention lake. There will be a community center and playground. . They'll meet with county staff on Friday. . They hope to get rezoning approval by year's end, followed by closing. Construction is set for early 2025. Residents will be able to move into Phase I in early 2026. . They plan 60%o AMI or less for 170 units in the PUD, but plans are to have a higher mix restricted to 30%o AMI, with some at 50o/o and 600/o. 2 b。 Februarv | 5. 2023 o The transitional format ensures residents won't be "restricted" out/priced out.o They're not seeking density bonuses or other programs. o A three-bedroom house would serve a family of four and rent for just under 5800 up to $1,100 monthly. o Homes will have a covered front porch, a patio, three bedrooms and two bathrooms. A discussion with AIIAC members and staff ensued and the following points were made:. They have the ability to request 400 units by right, but decided on 200.r The mission is to house Immokalee's lowest low-income families.. They plan to keep rents low. About 50-60% would be at the 30% AMI level.. They hope to move up the timeline.It's a l5-day zoningreview. Staff is supportive of the project because the developer is only asking for half the density, with 60% of income levels in most need. o The timeline could be shortened with timely submissions and staff working aggressively. The county has no control over state and South Florida Water Management District permitting. Staff could get this to the Planning Commission and Board of County Commissioners on a reduced timeline from that November timeline.. Predevelopment costs are being paid for by the Pulte Family Foundation. The intent is to pay for vertical construction by raising philanthropic funds.o They're in conversations about alternative funding, such as low-income tax credits and government monies. They want to avoid debt service.. They're looking at a $40- to $45-million project cost, with $7- to $8 million paid for by the Pulte Family Foundation through the land predevelopment and development costs.. They want to keep rents significantly below market because they know residents are living in trailers with limited space. . The goal is to keep AMI and rentals low. The document specifies 30 years, but they don't plan to sunset those terms and they can change that to "in perpetuity.,, . They understand that private equity funds can destroy affordable-housing communities and want to avoid that. . They don't know if it's possible to allow AMI to be escalated in the future and know that 80% of AMI is a struggle for many. That's why they won't build 250 units.. They received county comments on February 22. Most involved access points, sitescape and inverted-crown roadway; staff will share that letter with AHAC members. Chairman Trachtenberg told them to thank the Pulte Family Foundation for this responsible, necessary addition to the community. Presentation by CIG Communities - Jenna Buzzaco-Foerster [Ms. Buzzaco-Foerster detailed a PowerPoint presentation about Ascend Naples.] Ms. Buuaco-Foerster told the AHAC: . CIG Communities is a Cincinnati-based company with ties in southwest Florida. . Ascend Naples is a proposed multi-family rental community on 17.5 acres along Vanderbilt Beach Road, a half-mile east of Logan Boulevard. o This will be CIG Communities' second project in Collier County. The first was unanimously approved by the BCC in 2027,Blue Coral, which has a similar percentage, 30% affordable units. o Ascend Naples is projected to have 208 rental units, 30o% of which will be affordable; 15% will be set aside for families making less than 100% AMI and l5oh will be set aside for families making less than 80% AML . The increased density, 208, is due to providing affordable housing units. Februarr, l-5. 2023 They're focusing on essential workers, such as teachers, first responders, healthcare workers and others so they can live in the community they serve. The property is currently zoned for Estates and we're asking for a Growth Management Plan amendment to create a land use to allow this housing. The housing won't exceed the county's two-story building height restriction. The big-home residential structure is consistent with the Golden Gate Area Master Plan and is compatible with the surrounding neighborhood, with preserves throughout that will create a wildlife habitat. community access will be limited to vanderbilt Beach Road, with no access to Cherrywood Drive. All residents will have access to amenities, such as a pool and a club room. There also will be some private parking garages and storage. There will be one-, two- and three-bedroom units. Rents will range from $1,362 to $3,600. This project is important because there aren't many housing or rental communities east of collier Boulevard. As the need for housing grows, it's incumbent that housing is distributed throughout the county. Ascend Naples will serve a growing population in eastem Collier County, where there are more work sites, and people will have a shorter drive to work and traffic will be reduced. CIG has had two Neighborhood Information Meetings, one virtual and one in person. Both were well attended and provided good feedback. It went through two rounds of staff review/comments. They're awaiting more comments. once that's complete, we'11 go to the Planning commission and Board of county Commissioners. We're seeking AHAC's support for the project and location. During questioning by AHAC members, the following points were made by CIG and staff:o The NIM feedback showed concerns over traffic and Cherrywood Drive, which isn't an access point. There also were concems about wildlife and preserves so more buffers, a minimum of 75 feet, will be added in the backend to the south.o CIG isn't seeking an affordable-housing density bonus. It's seeking a GMP amendment and proposing to do 30% affordable housing.o There are two routes to increase density - through the Affordable-Housing Density Program in2.06 of the LDC or a GMP amendment. CIG chose the GMP amendment. When a developer wants to increase density above what they would be eligible for, the county seeks 22.6 units, or 22.6% of the units.o CIG is putting the focus on Vanderbilt Beach Road, a major collector road. There's a strong push from that neighborhood, which is contending it's changing the character of the Estate Zoning District. Staff believes the character of the Estate Zoning District already has been altered by the cemetery.o CIG is segmenting itself off from that existing neighborhood. There are no access points to the existing residential community.o Staff expects a strong push by residents at the Planning Commission and BCC meetings.o The rendering blends more into the Urban Estates dynamic and surrounding area and is across the street from Island Walk. Current density is one unit per 2.5 acres; this would be 20-22 units per acre. o CIG is waiting for staff comments and is about to break ground on another project. PUBLIC COMMENT Michael Puchalla, executive director of the Collier Community Land Trust and HELP, provided a report on pending legislation, Senate Bill 102:o This will impact affordable housing and was initially put forth by Sen. Passidomo. 4 5。 ['cbruarv I5. 2023 o It's labeled the Live-Local Act and is moving quickly after being introduced on January 26. It passed the Community Affairs Committee on Febiuary 8 and moves to the Appropriations Committee on February 22,the full Senate in March and, if passed,it will become effective July 1.o This would produce many positive changes, including additional funding to theFlorida Housing Finance corp., the state housing finance agency, so thaimeans additional sale and SHIP money and creative finincing thaicouid be tapped into.o What's important locally is LDC changes. We're ahead of the curve because there,s some language that says local governments might be pre-empted at the state level if they're not doing things like we,re talking about.o He provided summary information for future AHAC discussion and offered to lookinto local impacts.o It propos es an ad valorem property tax exemption for affordabilify levels. That's a tool the county could utilize for projects such as CIG, as Iong as 70 units are affordable.o It doesn't have to be the deep 60-g0% AMI. you can go up to l2oyoand get a tax exemption through this model. There are some intriguirg it ingr that are being proposed. ' They're putting $71I million into this to produce more affordable apartments and home ownership units. Chairman Trachtenberg totd the AHAC:o He discussed this with Sen. Passidomo five weeks ago, before she proposed her plan, and reviewed AHAC,s priorities with her. ' They discussed Collier County and she agrees many of the constraints we have are not state issues, but county issues that other counties are handling effectively.. She is encouraging collier to follow Tampa, Saint petersburg, orange county, Leecounty, city of Fort Myers, etc., and to promote affordable housing more.o What's unclear is what will be compelled versus voluntary. The message from theBCC is that the primary voices they hear don't support more affordablJhousing. It,s our job to make them aware of the growing importance.. He would like to hear a follow-up report. ' The idea that there-may be some property-tax offsets for affordable housing isexciting, whether the state mandates it or whether it's up to the BCC. ' The idea that more counties are using ad valorem fundsand that Sarasota County hasnow changed its impact fee rules and is actually charging impact fees based upon theAMI percentage. Those are exciting things that help us solvepart of our affordablehousing crisis.o The Land Trust is part of the solution here. Mr' Puchalla said the level of interest from the countlz's development community has grown.He's had conversations with at least five high-level, high-capacity developers uni 11ur] aoboth, mixed-income market rate that providis a level oiaffordability, and also low-income housing tax credits. If we can get some certainty in the process, they,d be excited to comehere. If the policies are set right, the private sector will produce the units that you need. Chairman Trachtenberg said we need height, density and better zoning. He gets dailyemails from the YIMBY (Yes, In My BackYard) website that detail unazingprojectsinFlorida, including 80 units, 100 and 200 units. They're built higher and with-greater densitythan Collier County allows. He believes we will n."d thor" cha-'nges and neeJto be willing tohave the same look as projects being built elsewhere.5 6. Februarv I 5. 2023 DISCUSSION ITEMS a. Subcommittee Recaps [Mr. Giblin passed out an outline of the discussions at both subcommittee meetings.J 1. AHAC Bylaws (Strategy) Subcommittee Meeting Mr. Giblin reported that the Bylaws Subcommittee agreed that: ' Bylaws are focused more on the legality of how a committee is set up, its operating rules of engagement, and not so much on what they tackle. The subcommittee decided to change its name to work plan or strategy subcommittee. ' The AHAC is more interested in a work plan to vet ideas that could go to the communify as a sounding board.o It should deve_lop_permanent, recognized linkages to county boards and processes, such as the DSAC, Planning Commission and BBC. It's wtrking on formalizing linkages' One involves having an AHAC member attend those meetings as a sitiing member. Both the BCC and Planning Commission are represented on the AHAC. ' The AHAC could advise the BCC on affordable-housing developments and proposed code changes that promote housing affordability, including making presentaiions as developments work their way through the entitlement process. If a development asks for something the community feels is out of character, AHAC's support ai public hearings would go a long way. when code changes are proposed to ercourage o. make housing affordability more accessible, or if a proposed code change w"ould have a negative impact on housing affordabilify, AHAC could weigh in.o The public is looking at the AHAC to be a public source of advocacy and community education. We've done some of that with www.colliercountyhousing.com, and more public-facing engagements through a third-party pR company.o The AHAC should be a public sounding board for the community so it can bring issues to the attention ofelected officials.o There are various ways to formalize those three points. One is through the annual incentive report AHAC is statutorily required to present to the BCC]lt can provide a workplan for the year or if the AHAC wants to work on height, densify o. oih". issues, the incentive report can address those. ' The AHAC could offer workshops to establish a mission statement and come up with a one-year plan, athree- or five-year plan on what it wants to establish. A discussion ensued and the foltowing points were made: The subcommittee wants a broader incentive report than what the statute requires. It wants to expand the AHAC's mission, especially with advocacy and outreach. we need to be proactive and have connectivity early on to track code changes andLDC changes before it's too late in the process. The AHAC members need to attend meetings to inform the public that affordable housing is not social welfare. It's an important economic-development issue. we need to make the communify aware of what's going on. Residents care about affordable housing. BCC members want us to be a team member with county staff. The more the BCC looks to the AHAC a-s part of the solution, they'll be moie likely to follow its lead. Catching code changes earlier will be easier now under the new county structure, with economic development and the housing division in the GMD building. All code changes come through Mr. Giblin for a comment. The subcommittee wants another meeting to finalize its ideas. Februarv I 5. 202i Chairman Trachtenberg asked Mr. French to explain the DSAC's function. Mr. French reported that: o The Development Services Advisory Committee was created more than 30 years ago after the BCC recognized the development community's impact and that our markets are oversaturated with that workforce because the demand is consistently there.. DSAC is a collaboration of various elements of construction and development, from environmental, engineering, architecture and landscape architects, and general contractor and residential contractors. It's a representation ofall construction fields.. It's become one of the most functional advisory committees to the BCC because it recognizes the community demand and sentiment and provides good feedback.o Staff s goal is to work with the DSAC to recognize their challenges and avoid being part of the challenge. The DSAC values that. Prior administrations had a closed-door policy. We now share information and there's open communication.. DSAC bridges the gap between the development community and affordable housing can't exist without that. A discussion ensued and the following points were made:. An AHAC member would be welcome at a DSAC meeting.o Ms. Faron agreed to attend the DSAC meetings and to provide a report to the AHAC; she will be introduced to DSAC members.o Staff will ask the County Attorney if the code can be amended to allow an AHAC member to sit on the DSAC. . The AHAC also would be happy to have a non-voting seat at the DSAC.. Mr. French agreed to finalize the details and provide them to the AHAC. 2. AHAC Surtax Subcommittee Meeting Mr. Giblin provided a summary of the subcommittee meeting:o There was a strong desire to ensure that projects coming out of surtax funding be 100% affordable, although the statute allows a minimum of 30%o. The subcommittee wants to maximize the impact of the funding. o Lands should be targeted for those in greatest need, which may fluctuate as economic conditions change within the county. o The focus now is rental housing at the lower-income levels.o The cost ofa property can't exceed the appraised land value.. The subcommittee reviewed a scoring matrix that would give positive and negative points, as well as preference for properties not in a Disaster-Evacuation Zone.. The preference would be for properties served by utilities or that can be easily hooked up to utilities. o The preference would be a property with fewer wetlands.. A preference would be proximity to transportation centers, arterial roads, collector roads and bus stops. . If a property is shovel-ready, it would get preference points. . Is it in the AH Zone or wtX Zone, or do we want to exclude properties that are in velocity zones? It may not make sense to put affordable housing in extremely dangerous areas. . The subcommittee's mission was to develop parameters for the land.o Discussions focused on how many affordable units, percentages of AMI, what developers and what densities are needed. o Who finds the land, a developer or the county? The subcommittee wanted to leave that February I 5. 202i open for the couner's Real Property Division to do its job but be open if a developer provided a property and plan. That may open a property up for additional grants from HUD or the state. An affordable housing developer may have more insight on what makes a good or bad property. when you marry those two ideas with preferences on wetlands, velocity zones and flood areas, we would have a vetting process through the county's RFP on marrying the land and the deal. A discussion with AHAC members and staffensuetl and thefollowing points were made:o The subcommittee felt strongly that the deal and the land had to go together at some point and they should allow both processes to play out without favoring one to vet the deal. They'll leverage the money as highly as possible to get the greatest density.. The subcommittee favored the RFP process rather than the county identifying land, acquiring it and then initiating an invitation to do something with it, as opposed to a developer coming in with an idea about what they want to accomplish. The latter seems like a quicker process. ' The intent is to create a scoring mechanism to maximize the density and ensure the location. They will eliminate the VE Zones, where there would be three feet of storm surge, in addition to wave height. Staff recommends not considering those areas. Federal and state guidelines advise against it.. We can consider areas with surge, but not wave motion.. The cost is too high to build in a VE Zone.o Staff will come back with the scoring matrix and proposed RI'P and the subcommittee will meet again to discuss those ideas. b. Request for AHAC Representation on Review/Ranking committeeo Grant applications provided for review on February 27o In-Person presentations March l5 and l6 at GMCDD Chairman Trachtenberg said Ms. Waller agreed to represent the AHAC as part of the review and ranking committee, a two-day, in-person representation. 7. STAFF AND COMMITTEE GENERAL COMMUNICATIONS Mr. Giblin provided a report about the February 14 BCC meeting: ' A request from the developer of the apartment building on the Golden Gate Golf Course to have impact fees paid by the county General Fund or an alternate funding source was continued to another meeting after a discussion and a need for research.o The developer is experiencing escalating construction costs and is looking for other ways to make the deal work. It will be heard at the next BCC meeting. A discussion ensued and thefollowing points were made:o The county agreed to speak with developer Steve Kirk about alternative ideas.o The County Manager now realizes its impact-fee deferral program is not working, so they're working on it to develop recommendations.o When Urban Neighborhoods developer Steve Kirk requested impact-fee relief, he made it clear it doesn't work if you're financing for 30 years and must pay it off in 10.. More communities are using general funds to pay impact fees for affordable housing. Collier County should consider that. \ February 15,2023 Mr. Giblin provided o history of the county's impact-free program:. Originally, impact fees were deferred for six years for rental units. It was structured so a developer would purchase a T-bond, a T-strip that would mature to the full value of the impact fees in six years. The developer's incentive was the interest on the impact fees over six years. If impact fees when you built were $ I million, you could buy a T-bill for $600,000 that would mature to $1 million in six years. It was cashed in to pay the impact fees. The incentive was intended to be that time value of money, the cost savings. The intent wasn't a balloon payment in l0 years. It later moved to six years and nine months to coincide with coupon trading and how long that took to cash. It was then extended to l0 years to be better for interest. It's different now. The county can restructure it and do a full 10-year deferral or five- year deferral. The County Attomey said when you get more than 10 years, it's no longer a deferral in legal terms. It's more of a grant, and when you start doing that, you have problems with fair-treatment clauses in the impact-fee structure. Staff is looking into that. Chairman Trachtenberg noted that for the last two years, the AHAC has been more focused on the deferral period and the period ofaffordability being in sync, but that acknowledges a different level of responsibility as to who's paying the impact fees and that the county has a greater role in supporting affordable or workforce-housing projects. We are clearly moving in a different direction than the original deferral program. Mn Giblin continued his discussion aboat the BCC meeting, reporting that:. Commissioner Saunders requested that the county take on the expense of the soil testing and any soil remediation for the entire golf course properfy, which includes the housing section and what will remain the golf course, the Big Shots entertainment complex and the veterans nursing home. e After much discussion, the county agreed to take on testing costs for the entire project and make a commitment to take on remediation costs for the nursing home and golf course sections. The county will get an estimate on the remediation costs for the housing section and the Big Shots entertainment section. Based on the estimates, the county may agree to pay for remediation or see if the developers can work out how to include it in their costs. A discussion ensued and the following points were made: o County Clerk Crystal Kinzel said she wanted to look at the contract to determine what responsibilities were assumed under the contract terms.. The county will now mandate that environmental testing be conducted on all properties it purchases. o The impact fee is a big deal for Steve Kirk, but Big Shots can remove that soil and build a driveway on top. The threshold for occupancy of residential is much lower than commercial as it pertains to toxins. o The AHAC is troubled that Moorings Park Foundation, the Schultz Family Foundation and Collier Foundation, which have collectively invested more than $10 million in this property, probably won't invest more in affordable housing. o Commissioner Chris Hall told them not to give up. o The right people weren't involved at the time and the investor didn't understand the environmental laws. The county is culpable. o The county legal department will probably have to take a position on whether the contract is in default or is resolvable. 8。 9. Febrr"ran' 15. 2023 o Developer Steve Kirk is working hard to fulfill his obligations. The past few years have been extremely challenging in terms of interest rates and construction costs.o The general fund is taxpayer money so we may be able to defer impact fees to allow him to get financing. We need to look at creative solutions first.. The Schultz Family Foundation said we can apply for a grant for appliances, but not construction. Two other foundations said what's holding them up is what occurred at the golfcourse. . We need to use this as a lesson to move forward and get the right team together.. Commissioner McDaniel asked the BCC yesterday to allow guest house rentals in properties in the Urbax Estates west of County Road 95 1 . There was a discussion about limiting adjacent dwelling units to rental affordable housing units. The BCC asked Commissioner Hall to bring it to the AHAC and not limit it to Urban Estates.o The Florida Housing Coalition has done a lot of research on that and other communities statewide have done it. It's a recommendation in the affordable housing state statutes. But there is an issue that a property owner could lose the homestead exemption by renting a guest house. NEW BUSINESS None ADJOURN Ms. lYuller made a motion to adjourn. Second by Commissioner Chris Hall. The motion passed unanimously, 8-0. NEXT MEETING DATE 8:30 a.m. March 21,2023 Conference Room 6091610 Growth Management Community Development Depa rtment There being no further business for the good of the County, the meeting was adjourned by the order of the chairman at 10:41 a.m. RY COⅣIPIITTEE い Aω 10。 10