COMMITTEE ON HOUSING, PLANNING & GOVERNMENT OPERATIONS
MEETING MINUTES: JUNE 20, 2007
IN ATTENDANCE:
Committee Members: Leg. Kenneth Jenkins (acting chair), Leg. Bernice Spreckman, Leg.Vito Pinto, Leg. William Burton; Dennis McDermott.
Committee Coordinator: Barbara Dodds
Others: William Hanauer, Mayor of the Village of Ossining; John Saraceno; Planning: Norma Drummond, Deputy Comm., Deborah DeLong, Dir. Of Housing, Susanne Marino, Project Manager, Phil Finiello, intern; CEO: William Randolph.
ITEM FOR DISCUSSION:
• 46. 135-139 Main Street, Ossining Affordable Housing Development: a. Negative Declaration, b. Purchase & Conveyance of Property, c. Bond Act for land acquisition, d. IMA with Village of Ossining, e. Bond Act for infrastructure funding.
With a quorum present, Leg. Jenkins, acting as Chair for Leg. Bronz, called to order the meeting of the Housing, Planning and Government Operations Committee to discuss the 135-139 Main Street, Ossining affordable housing development.
Deputy Commissioner Norma Drummond introduced the subject stating the project is an old abandoned building at an important intersection in the middle of the village of Ossining.
Deb DeLong, Dir. Of Housing: The project is twelve condominium units on the second and third floor. The first floor has been reserved for use as a restaurant. All the approvals are in place and once we are able to get through the financing and the board of legislator process and purchase the building we should be able to close and go into construction relatively soon. The developer, John Saraceno, is here and our project manager, Susanne Marino. The property is appraised at $2 million and the total development cost is $4.6 million. New Homes Land Acquisition Funds are requested to total $722,000, more than a typical raw land deal, because the property has an existing structure with some improvements. Some CDBG Funds are being added towards the acquisition and can be used to hold the property. Because it is homeownership, we also need to subsidize down to an affordable sales price so we are putting federal Home funds in totaling $470,000. The sales prices are 1 bedroom at $168,000, 2 bedrooms at $206,000. Housing Infrastructure Funds are requested for construction of a garage the village anticipates. The total county contribution will be over $1M and $93,167 per unit. These units are affordable at 70% of median income. The higher the affordability level the more subsidy dollars and this is a subsidy rich project which can help bring down the prices.
Because this is a condo project, even if the Land Trust were in place it could not be by state law. Once Mr. Saraceno gets under construction he is going to be filing his offering plan which has to state exactly what the entities are, the legislation to actually allow condos to have ground lease is not going to be in place so there is no possibility of this going in later.
Leg. Pinto asked why the term of affordability is 40 and not 50 years. Ms. Drummond responded that the County becomes obligated a you are obligating the County as to what these units are going to look like 40 and 50 years down the road. Even though we would not be the owner of the property any longer, we would be adding tens of thousands of dollars in costs to the County for on-going monitoring for an additional 10 years so again it is also a high cost to monitor the development if you add that is consideration that we look at. The state requires projects with tax credits to be for 50 years. In this homeownership project there are no tax credits.
Leg. Jenkins asked, “Where are the CDBG Funds coming from in your grant funding?” Answer: $240,000 is coming from the $600,000 in the 2007 CDBG allocation. Ms. Drummond emphasized that this project is a Land Mark building and it’s very important to the village that something be done with it because this building is the first thing you see when you are coming up Main Street.
Leg. Jenkins thanked the Mayor of the Village of Ossining for coming and invited him to speak.
Mayor Hanauer said he is determined to restore the village as a “pedestrian friendly destination” and to prove their commitment to maintain, expand, and nurture the housing available to the diverse population. The Village Board passed a resolution that requires all new development and adopted reuse of historic or previously commercial buildings of 6 units or more to include a minimum of 10% of affordable units. All developers who have approached the village recognize the need to abide by these regulations. The bank, which was housed in this building on the ground floor from 1925 to 1966 was an anchor to all other businesses in historic Main Street. The apartments above it have been empty since the early 1970s. The Village, Planning, and Zoning Boards have issued numerous permits and approvals for redevelopment projects. The adopted reuse of this building is crucial to the continued success of the economic redevelopment of the Village. Several other buildings in the immediate area are undergoing renovations. Mr. Saraceno proposes to construct a building solely of units of affordable housing, in which volunteer first responders, starting police officers, teachers, nurses and other village employees would be proud to live. The village board, the residents, and the merchants of Ossining wholeheartedly support his efforts and strongly urge the county legislature to approve this project.
Leg. Burton added that as the legislator representing this district, he is fully in support of the project.
Mr. Saraceno said he looks forward to starting construction sometime in September being able to complete it within a year’s time to have it ready for occupancy by sometime in late next year.
Leg. Pinto said he was pleased to hear the Mayor say this housing was for workforce families. He was particularly interested that young veterans have good opportunities for this kind of housing. Ms. DeLong: All the homebuyers will be counseled by a not-for-profit agency that will be involved in the selection process.
ACTION
Leg. Burton – put forward a motion to sign out this project for all purposes. Leg Pinto seconded the motion. All voted in favor.
*Informal discussion ensued re keeping legislators informed on county funded housing projects in their districts. The planning staff presented a spreadsheet indicating the status of various projects in the pipeline. *The legislators suggested a simple summary notifying the Committee of projects by legislative district and the committee staff would then alert the individual legislator—through the committee to the legislator. *They also encouraged periodic updates to the Committee from the Planning Housing Division staff. *Leg. Jenkins said the spreadsheet of projects should be updated on a quarterly basis and presented to this Committee (in color). When projects move from underwriting to Planning Board there should be a red flag to present more documentation.
*Leg. Pinto suggested that the Leg. Jenkins discuss with the Chair of the Board what progress was being made by the administration on the formation of the new land trust.
With business concluded, Leg. Jenkins made a motion to adjourn, moved by Leg. Burton and seconded by Leg. Spreckman.
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