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HomeMy WebLinkAboutcc min 1997/11/13MINUTES OF SPECIAL MEETING/WORKSESSION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF CHULA VISTA Thursday, November 13, 1997 5:40 p.m. 1. ROLL CALL: PRESENT: ABSENT: ALSO PRESENT: CALL TO ORDER Council Conference Room Administration Building Councilmembers: Moot, Padilia, Salas. Councilmembers: Rindone and Mayor Horton City Manager, John D. Goss; City Attorney, John M. Kaheny; and City Clerk, Beverly A. Authelet BUSINESS 2. RESOLUTION 18810 APPROVING A CONTRACTUAL AGREEMENT WITH DAVID M. GRIFFITH AND ASSOCIATES, LTD. FOR CONSULTANT SERVICES FOR THE REVISION OF THE LIBRARY FACILITIES MASTER PLAN - In 1987, Council accepted the Chula Vista Public Library/Master Plan. This plan, which guided Library planning for the last decade, must now be updated. A request for proposal was issued and a selection process administered per the purchasing ordinance. The consultant firm of David M. Griffith and Associates, Inc., was selected and a contract negotiated. Resolution was approve& (Library Director) RESOLUTION 18810 OFFERED BY COUNCILMEMBER PADILLA, heading read, text ~vaived, passed and approved 3-0-2 (Rindone and Horton absent). 3. RESOLUTION 18789 AMENDING THE FISCAL YEAR 1997/98 BUDGET TO APPROPRIATE $17,492 FOR THE MIDDLE SCHOOL PROGRAM FROI~I THE GENERAL FUND RESERVE; AND ADDING A 0.75 FULL TIME EQUIVALENT (FTE) PART-TIME HOURLY YOUTH COORDINATOR (UNCLASSIFIED) TO SUPERVISE THE PROGRAM; AND ADDING 0.12 FTE PART-TIME HOURLY RECREATION SPECIALIST; AND ADDING 0.48 FTE PART-TIME HOURLY RECREATION LEADER TO STAFF THE PROGRAM; AND TO APPROPRIATE $24,492 TO 100-1562 FROM UNANTICIPATED REVENUE OF $24,492 FROM SWEETWATER HIGH SCHOOL DISTRICT FOR THE MIDDLE SCHOOL PROGRAM - At the budget workshop on 6/2/97, Council heard the proposal tilt a Middle School Program from the Principal of the Chula Vista Junior High School. A proposal has been prepared for the City to fund the program, in conjunction with funds already approved by the Sweetwater Union High School District, to implement an after-school program at each of the lbur middle schools. Staff recmmnends approval of the resolution. (Director of Parks, Recreation and Open Space) 4/Sth's vote required. Continued from the meeting of 10/7/97. ACTION: Item was continued to the meeting of November 18, 1997. 4. RESOLUTION 18811 ACCEPTING A CRITICAL HOURS GRANT FROM THE SOUTH BAY YMCA AND THE COUNTY OF SAN DIEGO, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH SERVICES, FOR FISCAL YEAR 1997/98 FOR DROP-IN RECREATIONAL ACTIVITIES AT FOUR SWEETWATER UNION HIGH SCHOOL DISTRICT MIDDLE SCHOOL SITES; APPROPRIATING $13,000 TO THE GRANT FUND (290- 2904) FROM UNANTICIPATED GRANT REVENUE FOR THE EXPENDITURE AND REIMBURSEMENT OF SAID CITY FUNDING FOR IMPLEMENTATION OF THE CHULA VISTA CRITICAL HOURS PROGRAM; AND APPROV1NG THE ADDITION OF 0.54 FTE RECREATION LEADER HOURLY POSITIONS TO SUPPORT THE PROGRAM - On 3/31/97, the County of San Diego released a Request for Grant Application to participate in the Critical House Program. The Program would allow fbr the establishment Minutes November 13, 1997 Page 2 of after school programs at all fi~ur of the Sweetwater Unified High School District middle schools. On 5/1/97, in collaboration with the YMCA Youth and Family Services, South Bay YMCA, South Bay Community Services, and the Chula Vista Boys & Girls Club, staff submitted the proposal to the County. On 6/10/97, staff was informed that the Program had been approved. Staff recommends approval of the resolutfun. (Director of Parks, Recreation and Open Space) 4/Sth's w~te required. ACTION: Item was continued to the meeting of November 18, 1997. 5. REPORT AFFORDABLE HOUSING WORKSHOP - The pnrpose of this report is to update Council on the current status of affordable housing in Chula Vista, to indicate the progress that has been made, and evaluate the current ef'fbrts, resources and strategies that are available to address continuing needs. Staff recommends that Council review the infi~rmation and provide directfun to staff. (Director of Cnmmunity Development) Staff report was presented by Housing Coordinator, Juan Arroyo. He stated that Chula Vista's affordable housing effort had seven ohiectives: Objective I - Balanced Communities: Achievement of a balanced residential community through integration of low and moderate income housing throughout the City and the adequate dispersal of such housing to preclude establishment of specific low-income enclaves. The current program consists of inclusionary housing which is a mandatory requirement imposed to reserve a specific percentage of housing units fi~r low-income households in new residential developments. The Affordable Housing Policy (AHP) requires a minimum of 10% of each housing development of 50 or more units to be affi~rdable to low and moderate income households with at least one-half (5 % of total project units) being designated tBr low-income households. The responsibility tk, r unit production is placed on the developer. The City, on a case-by-case basis, may consider utilizing redevelopment housing funds to assist in the production of units as necessary. City consideration of alternative funding methods may be considered only if on-site development is not fi~asible as filllows: (a) land set asides, donation of a building site within the project or elsewhere in the City: (b) ot'f:-site projects, consider affi~rdable housing project off-site; and (c) in-lieu contribution, developer contribution of funds fi~r assistance with other affordable housing effnrts in the City. Objective 2 - Rental Housing Opportunities: The systematic renewal. rehabilitation, conservation, and improvement of the residential neighborhoods. Cnrrent programs include rental housing construction. shared housing, and Section 8 rental assistance. Objective 3 - Home Ownership Opportunities: The broadening of available housing types and the increase of home ownership opportunities tbr low and moderate income households. Current programs include mortgage credit certificate and loan counseling and home ownership education. Objective 4 - Mobilehome Park Opportunities: Preservation of mobilehome park living as a source of afti>rdable housing. Current programs include mobilehome rehabilitation grants, mobilehome rent arbitration ordinance, and mobilehome/trailer park conversion ordinance. Objective 5 - Renewal, Rehabilitatiom and Conservation: The systematic renewal, rehabilitation, conservation, and improvement of the residential neighborhoods. Current programs include community housing improvement program (CHIP), Neighborhood Revitalization Program (NRP), and Caring Neighbors. Objective 6 - Housing Assistance for Homeless: To provide housing assistance to individtmls and families who are homeless and enable them to move back into permanent housing. Current programs include 31 Fourth Avenue housing for homeless families, 17 Fourth Avenue flar transitional housing, and support of social services for homeless. Objective 7 - Fair Housing and Lending: The elimination of racial, age, religious, sexual, and economic bias and discrimination in housing provision, and the assurance of thir lending practices. Current programs consist of Minutes November 13, 1997 Page 3 educational programs and San Diego Fair Housing Council for fair housing services. Addressing the Council were: · William Tuchscher, representing the Economic Development Commission, stated it would seem that by having an inclusionary housing policy it produces a system whereby we can't deliver enough product, fast enough, or be efficient with our dollars. It would seem appropriate to modify the inclusionary housing element to allow some flexibility whereby developers can work together and pool their requirements on larger sites. It would seem appropriate to look at new development on the west side that would have some spin off value that will create some urban renewal and spark some additional redevelopment. Rehab was interesting because we have a lot of housing in the City that could use some rehab. He wanted to be sure that the Council understood that it is a lot of time, energy, and work for new development to deliver very little product in the eastern master planned locations. When you talk about $130,000 per unit when in the same master plan, you are seeing a fl~r sale product at profit going for $125,000 per unit, we are doing something wrong! If the goal is affordable housing and you can develop affbrdable housing less expensively by going to areas where there is infrastructure, where there is land available, or sites to redevelop, this should be looked at. He urged Council to consider some flexibility relative to inclusionary housing and look at it on a case-by-case basis, becanse he felt the entrepreneurs will be creative and bring fbrward some things that will be really exciting. · Vicki Madrid, Chair of the Chula Vista Housing Advisory Commission, stated that the original housing projects in cities like New York, Boston, and Chicago consisted of huge high rise apartment buildings owned and operated by the local housing authorities. Building the city's housing projects in high concentration created major social problems in these communities. HUD has now adopted a scattered site concept. Most of their funding is being geared to the east coast where they are demolishing the old high-rise buildings and developing affordable, scattered site housing. Budget cuts have put housing authorities in a challenging position of trying to meet their goals of providing affordable housing with less money. Chula Vista is leading the industry using a myriad of creative financing packages to develop scattered site, affordable housing opportunities. The Commission is currently working on a first-time home buyer program and are coordinating an outreach to the mobilehome parks related to the Section 8 rental assistant program. She emphasized how progressive Chula Vista's Housing Authority is. They are on the cutting edge of providing the most innovative affordable housing opportunities fi3r people making less than the median income in Chula Vista. She also commented that the inclusionary housing was one of the most innovative aspects that Chula Vista is working on. One of the things they want to do is to avoid major, huge developments. The counter balance to that is if you build a huge number of apartment buildings, it makes it much more affordable. Then you start to create social problems. The way the City has been doing these developments is to leverage the prqjects, which she t~lt was a more cost effective way to do it and provide housing without also developing the social problems that come with that. It is not necessarily popular for the developers, but our particular program is extremely innovative. · John Seymour, Division Director of the San Diego Office of the Southern California Housing Development Cooperation, a regional non-profit housing provider. They are known primarily fbr their acquisition and rehabilitation of existing apartment stock in older areas of communities. They also will partner with for-profit developers in creative ways to either build new low-income housing either on-site or off-site that makes cost effective sense. He commented on two recent projects: the Trolley project at $144,000 per unit and the Cordova project at $135,000 per unit. The pr~jects utilized probably $1 million of public subsidy from the City. He f~lt you could take the same amount of dnllars and go to an older, deteriorating part of the city and look for B or C grade apartment buildings at a far less cost per unit. This not only goes after the social ills, but also cleans up the areas that directly impact the general fund such as code enforcement, police calls, fire, etc. He offered to take the Council on tours of their acquisition and rehabilitation projects. · Craig Fukuyama, 2727 Hoover Avenue, National City, representing McMillin Companies, stated that in Rancho del Rey they donated the site to the Cordova project. It was a very heavily subsidized prctject; they gave the land to the pr{~ject and also about $10,000 per unit in subsidies and cash contributions. However, it is providing family housing with large four-bedroom units, so it is hard to compare one with the other in terms of a rehab because those types of units don't exist. Initially the motivation to establish the inclusionary housing started with Minutes November 13, 1997 Page 4 the Housing Element and the law which mandated that each City must meet its fair share obligations. Inclusionary housing, because it had to be new housing to meet certain obligations and at the low subsidy levels to meet those obligations to keep the City tYom getting punished and penalized, is what drove that issue. Having alternative ways to solve the affordable housing problem is important. Inclusionary housing is one method, but requires deep subsidies as developers in the eastern territories are looking at trying to satisfy, the inclusionary housing program, we are tefling our guest builders that if you buy land from us, it is your obligation to assist in that burden. That translates into some impact to the purchased price of property. Having a program which allows two developers to combine resources to acquire a site off-site and do some off-site acquisition and rehab or partnering with Southern California housing group to acquire and participate in a program, you can get far more "bang tbr the buck." It may not be as socially desirable but the bottom line is how many units can you physically provide that is safe, decent, and sanitary for your citizens to live in. He stated that an area which hasn't been touched upon was the development impact fee program. In the Cordova project, there were no reduction in fees. That project paid all the school, park, and building permit fees. There really wasn't any financial assistance other than some of the subsidies in terms of the mandatory subsidies such as the set-asides. He Mt that in terms of their inclusionary efforts if there was a way in which the City could lower or waive some of its fees, that would be a direct assistance in trying to accommodate the aftbrdability of homes. · Kathy Lembo. South Bay Community Services, 314 Fourth Avenue. Chula Vista, stated that they got involved in aftbrdable housing seven years ago because they were seeing that this was an issue which thmilies were encountering and one of the issues that was leading to a lot of social ills. They have taken a comprehensive approach to affordable housing. They run the local homeless shelter. do transitional housing tbr domestic violence victims. They have a rental assistance program and have an affordable apartment database. They are doing new construction, the Cordova and Trolley Town homes -- one on the west side and one the east side of the City. They are doing this because they believe you need balance in the community. That doesn't just happen; you have to create one community. We have to make sure that the low income families in this community can live on the east or west side. She did not believe that yon can have 400 units and have a safe community. She had worked in New York City in some of the high rise apartment buildings. From the outside, some of them were very good looking. but from the inside, she dealt with many problems. A 400 unit apartment on the west side is not something we want to provide /i>r our children, youth, and families. · Ken Sauder, Community Development Director li>r South Bay Community Services, 314 Fourth Avenue, Chula Vista, stated that the Cordova prc~ject in terms of other similar tax credit projects that are done throughout San Diego County in the last five years, their costs were lower than what the average was. The Cordova project bronght in $1.1 million in tax credits and $2.1 million in tax exempt bond financing into the City. He encouraged the Council to continue with a balanced policy. He also encouraged Council to not only look at per unit cost, but also per bedroom costs. They are building a lot of three and four bedroom units which are more expensive than one or two bedroom units. When doing acquisition rehab, generally the apartments that are available in Chula Vista are one and two bedroom apartments. Councilmember Moot stated that we will want to come back with this when we have a full Council. We have identified within some of the seven major goals of the City to concentrate in some areas on Third Avenue and Broadway that we wm~t to keep from going into blighted conditions. We could use our affordable housing program in conjunction with this goal if we find an area on Third Avenue or Broadway that we libel is appropriate and we want to keep it, maintain it, and to prevent it from slipping into a blighted area. He felt we should consider using some of the aftbrdable housing funds available to us and some of these rehab and revitalization programs that we have heard about in conjunction with another goal of the City to do that. He felt there was room for accomplishing two goals at the same time. There is no question that at times rehabilitation is cheaper than building a new product. He also limit there is some sense in allowing developers to work together as a team approach on affordable housing. On a case-by-case basis, we should consider and encourage doing this. Councilmember Padilia expressed that we may want to have a legal and a policy analysis regarding this type of flexibility and have it brought back. ORAL COMMUNICATIONS There were none. Minutes November 13, 1997 Page 5 OTHER BUSINESS 6. CITY MANAGER'S REPORT(S) Scheduling of meetings. Me. Goss stated that after talking with each Councilmember, it appears that we are focusing on December 6 for the City Manager's Assessment Center. He needed to talk with the Council on other issues on this subject in Closed Session. 7. MAYOR'S REPORT{S) - none. 8. COUNCIL COMMENTS - none ADJOURNMENT The meeting adjourned at 7:00 p.m. to a Closed Session. Respectfully submitted, · ,. Beverly A. Authelet. CMC/AAE City Clerk