Good evening, everyone.

Welcome to the October eighth meeting of the Chapel Hill Town Council.

Um, as a note to the clerk, uh, member uh Searing and Member Sharp are unable to join us, so we will have six this evening.

Um we have two discussion items on our agenda.

The first is to consider a conditional zoning application for 701 Martin Luther King Jr.

Boulevard.

The second is our fiscal year twenty twenty five Affordable Housing Report.

Um to get things started, we have three proclamations to announce.

Um the first is Extra Mile Day.

Uh tonight we recognize Extra Mile Day as a time to honor the individuals, organizations, and businesses in our community who go above and beyond to help others and make Chapel Hill a better place.

Before I begin, I'd like to invite our honorees to join me up at the front, right up here.

A day to celebrate those who go the extra mile.

And for those unable to join us, we see you and we thank you.

American Red Cross.

Catholic charities.

Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina.

Food Lion, Habitat for Humanity, The Hannah Ruth Foundation, Hillside Food Pantry, IFC, Med Delhi, Lutheran Services of the Carolinas, Now Church, Orange County, Porch, The Public School Foundation, Rena, Residents Fairfield Inn, Salvation Army, St.

Thomas War, Transplanting Traditions, Triangle Mutual Aid, Walmart, Wegmans, and last but certainly not least, Town of Chapel Hill Management and staff from across our organization.

Council members, would you please join us for a group photo?

I'm obnoxiously called this before.

Should I move the mic?

One, two, three, geez.

Thank you.

Before I let you all go.

With help from KLG Candies, we have Chapel Hill Toffee as a sweet token of our appreciation.

So please see Shay and Jeannie across the hall in room one oh two for those.

And finally, council and audience, please join me in celebrating our extra milers for their efforts one more time.

Thank you.

I know.

We have uh thinned out a little bit, but we still have a wonderful audience left with us.

Um for in for our second proclamation.

We invite members of Chapel Hill's Employee Forum and the Employee Appreciation Committee to join Mayor Pro Tem Ryan up front to receive this year's Employee Appreciation Month Proclamation.

Come on, everybody.

Thank you for coming.

Each October, we take time to recognize the incredible dedication and service of our more than eight hundred and ten employees.

Their work reflects our core values, responsibility, equity, safety, professionalism, ethics, communication, and teamwork, and helps Chapel Hill thrive as a safe, inclusive, and vibrant community.

This proclamation formally designates October 2025 as employee appreciation month, and we invite everyone to join us in celebrating the people who make our mission possible.

Thank you.

One, two, three.

Got it, thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you to our employees for all your hard work.

And thank you to the employee forum for the vital role you play in fostering a positive and inclusive workplace for everyone.

Our third proclamation is for fire prevention week.

I believe we have members of the Chapel Hill Fire Department here tonight.

Would you all please join Council Member Nollert up front?

Chief, I'm gonna go ahead and have you hold on to that one.

All right.

So contrary to what your eyes are telling you, this is not the handsome award proclamation.

This is a different one.

This is the fire prevention week announcement.

This week, October 5th to 11th, 2025, we recognize Fire Prevention Week in Chapel Hill, highlighting the importance of fire safety in our homes and neighborhoods.

This year's theme, Charge into Fire Safety, lithium ion batteries in your home, reminds us of the growing risks associated with everyday devices powered by lithium-ion batteries.

Chapel Hill Fire Rescue continues to lead in prevention and education efforts, helping residents understand how to use charge and dispose of these batteries safely.

We thank our fire professionals for their dedication to protecting our community and promoting a culture of safety.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Chief Mebin and members of the fire department, uh, thank you for keeping our community safe during fire prevention week and every week.

We appreciate your hard work, courage, and commitment to our community.

Thank you.

That brings us to announcements.

Um, I have three quick things to share.

First, uh, fall is here, and the town has a number of great fall events and programs coming up, including Festival, Arts Markets, and Haunted Hill.

Details are available in our weekly R Town e-news and social media.

So please mark your calendars and join us for some fun.

Second is a reminder that early voting begins next Thursday, October 16th, and election day is just around the corner on November 4th.

So now is a good time to learn about the issues, check your voter registration, and request an absentee ballot if you will need one.

Local government matters, so please come out to make your voice heard and bring a photo ID.

They are required this year.

Uh, third, next week's council work session has been canceled.

We'll meet again on Wednesday, October 26th at 6 p.m.

in town hall.

Same time, same place.

Council members, does anyone else have something to share?

Okay.

Next up, we invite members of the public to comment on items not on the printed agenda.

Uh, for members of the public in attendance and wishing to speak, please sign up with the town clerk at the table on the left side of the chamber toward the front of the room.

If you're here to speak on a specific item, there will be a presentation on the item followed by council clarifying questions and then public comment.

To help things keep running smoothly, Mayor Pro Tem Ryan will call two names at a time.

I don't know.

Oh, do we have a couple names?

Okay, we do.

Then I'll keep going.

I don't like to give the instructions if there's no names.

Um, the first person should come to the podium.

Um, the second person should come on down and be on deck, ready to take their turn.

Uh, finally, public comment is important to us, and I want to remind our audience that we want everyone to be heard and feel comfortable when they're at the podium, so please refrain from commenting or clapping.

Ready?

Okay, I've got two names.

First, Craig Nishimoto, followed by Clarence Andrews.

Yep.

Welcome.

Thank you.

How's that?

Great.

I did not intend to become a familiar face here.

Um, but next week will mark the sixth month anniversary of when I first brought town staff their attention to the ordinance violations associated with the Hillmont development affecting the residents and property owners along Little John Road.

I've learned some things in that last six months.

The first thing I've learned is that when the town planners approve a faulty ordinance violating development plan, it gives cover to the developer when they then violate those ordinances.

When the victims of those ordinance violations, and there are victims, go to the developers to complain.

The developer simply responds, get lost.

The town planners approve of what we're doing.

When the victims then go to the town planners to complain, the town planners have no incentive to call strikes on themselves.

The town planners have governmental immunity.

For example, you just can't take the town to small claims court.

And to go to higher courts is extremely expensive and unpromising.

Not something these residents can afford.

Those in authority to hold the town planners accountable end up simply deferring to the town planners themselves to interpret their own ordinances.

Instead of challenging the town planners, it is easier just to say if the town planners say there are no ordinances violated, then who are we to question them?

This deference to the planners runs all the way to the top to town man to the town manager.

We received a letter on Monday saying repeating the same thing that we've heard since the beginning.

Our planning staff informed me that there are no violations.

Tellingly, there was no response to the facts on the ground that we are able to show the documentation, the photos, the measurements, and no response to our chapter and verse citations of what the ordinances that were violated.

Now, review.

Just the basic and minimum.

You can go beyond, you can do more, but these are the basic standards.

It states that the development shall be all development shall be, or rather, it states that no development shall be done except in compliance with its general performance standards and the specific standards contained in the required design manual.

That design manual, the LUMO itself requires the town manager to maintain the design manual, which this is a quote, which shall contain specific design and construction standards.

Thank you, Mr.

Guidelines.

Those are ordinances.

Thank you.

We have Clarence Andrews, and then I do not have anybody else signed up.

Good evening.

Welcome.

Thank you.

So I am in favor of affordable housing.

Uh, but the pursuit of affordable housing has resulted in weakened stormwater regulations.

And so we have a poor cost to benefit ratio currently with the situation.

Uh, because we have lots of stormwater damage.

Perhaps you can find a way to accomplish both.

So I have um started a petition as you know, and the petition signers uh were very eager to thank me for it for taking the initiative there.

Uh I went by Camelot and um found nobody at home because everybody was living somewhere else.

The first floor was totally unlimited.

Um the place where I live, Hamlin Park, our HOA supports this this petition, and I will be sending their support along in the next day or two.

Um I also have an online petition, which will be pursued independently in the future.

So I asked the town to return to the stormwater regulations in use 10 years ago that had not been sort of ignored in the past 10 years.

And so I asked the town council to consider my petition entitled Reduce Flooding in Chapel Hill.

And I asked that the petition be referred to the town staff.

Thank you.

Did I do that correctly?

We actually um have a little bit of a different process, but um you have done it perfectly, and we will make sure that your interest is passed on to staff.

Um thank you to everyone who um who came forward with your thoughtful request this evening.

Um while we are no longer uh while we no longer have a formal petition process, uh sharing your concerns and ideas with your local government is a valued First Amendment right and something we continue to welcome and support.

Council does not take immediate action on these requests, but they are carefully reviewed by the town manager and staff.

We'll receive a response back from them, and that information will be shared with council and with you.

So thank you for coming.

Uh council, that brings us to our consent agenda.

Um, council members, before I call for a motion, um, item number six, which relates to funding for our public housing program has been removed for now due to the fact that the plan relates to a federal government process and the federal government is not open.

So uh I will ask for a motion to approve the consent agenda as amended with item six removed.

Second, meaning so moved.

Moved by council member Miller Fushi, seconded by council member Barry.

All those in favor, please say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed, please say nay.

Uh motion is unanimous, 620.

Uh item number nine is a conditional zoning application for 701 Martin Luther King Junior Boulevard.

And Catherine Shore, our senior planner, is here to walk us through.

Good evening.

I will um my name is Catherine Shore.

I'm here to uh represent the planning department, and I will bring up the applicant's presentation.

They will present their information and I will come back for my presentation and staff's recommendation.

Hey everyone, Brian Boyles with Landmark Properties.

Uh just wanted to follow up on a few items of note from our previous meeting a few weeks ago.

Uh, first on our affordable housing proposal.

Our previous proposal included 10% on-site affordable units, five percent at 60% AMI, and five percent at 80% AMI, and we have updated our proposals so that all 10% are now at 60% AMI.

Uh regarding our parking ratio, uh, we looked at the uh multifamily comps in the market, and we are as low or lower than our multifamily comps in this market.

So we feel like we have the ideal uh parking ratio right now to ultimately stake.

Oh, I'm sorry.

Um I didn't find the actual parking ratio in the package.

So if you're sorry, it's it's up there right now.

Uh our parking ratio is at 1.2 right now.

So we are in line with our comps.

This is page two, yeah.

Sorry if that didn't make its way to the yeah, so just one point two.

Yes.

Okay.

So we feel like we are ideally parked to be able to uh ultimately compete with our uh multifamily comps in this market.

Uh and then lastly, regarding unit mix, I know that there's uh a question about you know what is enforceable.

Um our intention is to provide the majority of our units within studios, one bedrooms, and two bedroom units.

Uh, further, we intend to cap our four-bedroom, four-bathroom units at 30 percent, and with the remainder of the units being spread out between uh three bedroom, two bathrooms, three bedroom, three bathrooms, and four bedroom, two bathroom units.

Um we would like to do more projects in Chapel Hill, so you know, we need to do what we tell you we're gonna do to be able to come back and uh do more business.

And we we do multiple projects and markets, you know, across the country.

Uh and you know, as we've said before, we're long-term holders of this project, and so you know, we need to maintain a great relationship with the town.

So um, you know, any questions.

Thank you.

Hello again.

Uh I am here to present the staff recommendation for 701 MLK Junior Boulevard conditional zoning.

Our recommendation uh we are command this project because we believe it is in alignment with your complete community goals and the comprehensive plan.

We believe that the requested modification to regulations do serve the public purpose, and we recommend that the council approve the project subject to the conditions of ordinance A.

Or a reminder of the project uh particulars, this applicant's requesting to rezone to the mixed-use village district for a multi-family residential building with a small ground floor retail component.

They are requesting to build up to 200 units and a nine-story structure, and 10% of those units would be proposed as affordable housing.

The developers also committed to constructing an outdoor plaza and a multi-use path to complement the planned NSBRT station on Martin Luther King Jr.

Boulevard at the September 10th meeting.

A majority of council members expressed an interest in the applicant revisiting their affordable housing commitment.

And the previous offer, like the applicant stated, was 10% of units, half of which would be for households earning up to 80% of the area and median median income, and the other half for households earning 65% or 60 of 80 area median income.

The applicant worked with our affordable housing staff to revise that proposal to uh provide 10% of the units for households earning 60% of the area median income.

They also um are uh committing to accept housing choice voucher vouchers.

So to dig in more into the complete community connection, we believe it aligns with those goals because they are proposing a transit-oriented mixed-use development in an info location, which could reduce overall vehicle trips and support multimodal travel options.

They also commit to the reduced parking space that would align with this type of development and that this zoning district allows.

Um the proposed retail space and plaza area could serve surrounding residents and transit riders.

And the applicant is committing to facade transparencies, which can create a more inviting uh environment for pedestrians.

We reviewed this project with the natural features viewer and found that it has a low score based on our model, and in addition to the stream determination that was completed recently, it classified the stream on site as ephemeral, which would reduce the score in the model further.

So our recommended procedures for you all this evening is to close the hearing, consider the resolution of reasonableness and consistency R5, and to consider the ordinance approving the application uh six.

And I'm available, and the applicant will be available to answer questions.

Thank you.

Council questions, council member Ryan.

Um sorry.

So um there's a the resolution specifies a 10-foot wide multi-use path.

Is that our standard for along um major corridors?

So our design manual guidance is uh 14 feet multi-use path.

Um our staff worked with the applicant to accept a 10-foot multi-use path given the constraints of the property and the planned improvements on the other side of Martin Luther King Jr.

Boulevard.

Okay, thank you.

Um I looked in the resolution and it doesn't say anywhere.

Is the amenity plaza required to be public space?

I'm sorry.

So the um in the resolution in the section on the amenity plaza, that nowhere is does that I could find does it say that it's gonna be public space?

Is that something that needs to be specified?

Are we assuming that it would be the town's not requiring that to be public space?

Okay, so that could be that could be gated off and be private if they want it to be.

As I understand it, the applicant is committed to it being um used as public space, but it's not a requirement of the application.

Is there a reason we didn't put that in the resolution?

The notion that it would be public space there was there was an offer made for it to be um accepted under public control, but um it's ill-devised.

Yeah, I don't I'm not asking about public control, but just about public access.

Well, I would defer to the attorney if you have any comments about um how we should manage that.

Um, part of an access agreement, right?

Do we offer access easement?

I I think we should check.

I because I think there was a public access easement that we agreed to you know work out.

So council member Ryan, uh, with regard to that, the conditional zoning says prior to the zoning inspection for the outdoor amenity plaza, the developer shall submit for review and approval an easement plat.

That easement could be accepted by the town, although that would create requirements with regard to the town as maintenance that are not advised and not preferable.

With that said, it is still a condition of the draft ordinance that the developer shall construct and maintain the outdoor amenity plaza.

Um in the future, could that happen?

Um it could change, but at the same time, um we we've heard from them here today, and that's as good an answer as we have with regard to it.

Okay, I guess I so I I think we went through this many years ago with Blue Hill, that there was there was space that would be say adjacent to a sidewalk, but it wasn't public space, right?

It was it was open space, it was it qualified as their amenity space, but it wasn't contributing to the public realm of that development, which was desirable for us.

I understand why we don't want an easement and we don't want liability for the space.

But um, was it at Carolina?

I can't remember.

I think the question was just about leaving it open to the public but not being an easement.

Yes.

And if that's possible so that it is usable as public space without the town having to have it without the town having to own it or keep it up.

I think it I think that the issue with that is putting constraints on private property when we're not actually granted the easement.

Okay.

So it's not enforceable, but what we've heard from the applicant is that they're willing to allow the public to utilize the space which is owned and operated by the applicant.

Okay.

Yeah, I I mean we have a strong interest in having that be public space.

It seems to me at Carolina Square that we negotiated for that to be not town controlled space, but that there would be public access in there.

So anyway, just as we go along further, I think it's really important that space that is kind of meant to be part of the public realm.

Actually, we do are we are letting the public be entitled to be there.

Um the last question, the resolution specifies a minimum of a thousand square feet for office and commercial.

I know that the applicant has talked about that being retail, and I hope that that is is could they put leasing office there instead?

Because it doesn't specify retail.

A leasing office wouldn't qualify under like the the mixed use zoning districts definition of um non-residential.

Okay, thank you.

Also our multi-use path is 12 feet wide.

Ah, thank you.

Okay.

Was 10 in the packet.

Do we have 12 feet in the in the final resolution?

Is it just something in the packet or is it in the resolution?

The resolution has a multi-use path with a minimum 10 foot wide path and then an additional two feet for planting, and so it is 12 feet wide as at a minimum.

Oh so you're counting the paved strip plus the grass strip as 12 feet.

That's right.

Okay.

Would you come to the microphone?

That's that's correct.

Thank you.

Okay.

Councilmember Barry.

Thank you.

I know I brought this up, and so this the last meeting we had.

This is really for the staff, I would think.

Um I asked if we could move to break or pave pavers as opposed to that grass strip past the lots of grass strip on the way up here.

Um where does the town stand with that?

I'm looking at the director, but I should have been looking at you, Miss Shore.

Um, that would be a like a design choice uh at the time of final plans permitting.

Um, and something that uh would be reflected in our town's design manual if that were a sort of treatment that would need to be implemented um for a certain type of street classification.

And what I mean by that is there are some types of streets that may benefit from that sort of planting, there's some that might not.

Um the type of sort of brick paving that you're describing is is kind of reminds me of downtown.

Um there's few places that I can think of around town that have that similar sort of street treatment.

Um so right now I don't believe based on my familiarity with the design manual that we have other sorts of streetscape treatments that mimic that of downtown.

So in the a broad answer to summarize, um that could be something the developer might consider, but we wouldn't require it for that streetscape.

I'm not looking to require it, but I would like for it to be an option for the developer to employ is that an option for them right now in the in the plan that you all would be adopting is written as a planting strip, so um there are reasons why from like an NC DOT safety perspective and utilities that there might need to be plantings there instead of paving.

I knew that there might need to be, and I was expecting that if I had hoped that there would be follow-up to that question from the last meeting.

So I'm assuming that there hasn't been to determine if it needed to be.

No, okay.

All right, thank you.

Are there members of the public wishing to speak?

Uh I just had Mr.

Boyle and um Mr.

Lee signed up, but did you you don't have public comment, right?

You just here's okay.

So I didn't have anybody signed up other than that.

Council, back to you.

Move to close.

Second.

Move by council member Nollert, seconded by council member Miller Fushi.

All those in favor, please say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed?

Motion is unanimous.

Move to consider resolution of resumeness.

I can't get the word out, and consistency with the comprehensive plan.

Second.

Can those be taken together?

Right, it's worth there.

Oh, sorry.

Uh move by council member Barry, seconded by council member Miller Fushi.

All those in favor, please say aye.

Aye.

Aye.

Any opposed, please say nay.

Motion is unanimous.

Are we doing any comments or is that we're moving ahead?

Um if you there's a motion to close.

Okay.

I don't know if you're going to be able to do it if we've closed.

I don't know that you can.

Okay, I'll I'll make comment.

I'll jump in next time.

Okay.

Move 06.

Move by council member Nollert, seconded by council member Miller Fushi.

All those in favor, please say aye.

Aye.

Aye.

Any opposed, please say nay?

Nay.

Motion passes five to one.

Thank you.

Okay.

Next item 10 is our fiscal year 2025 affordable housing report.

And we have Sarah Vinius along with Emily Holt, who is our affordable housing manager.

Good evening, Mayor and Council.

Again, I'm Sarah Venus, Director of Affordable Housing and Community Connections.

Tonight we're giving you our annual affordable housing report.

We'll give you a brief look at the current state of the market, cover key highlights of our work over the last year, and give a glimpse into what's ahead for this current year.

I want to recognize a members of our affordable housing team that are responsible for accomplishing the great work that we're going to talk about tonight.

That team is led by Emily Holt, our affordable housing manager, who's our presenter this evening.

And then we have three other team members, Melissa Peters, Titan Barksdale, and Maggie Simon.

Before we dive in, I want to remind you that the affordable housing plan that council unanimously adopted in September of 2023 provides our roadmap for our affordable housing work over the next five years.

Our plan centers on the four main goals which are listed here.

Over the past year of our affordable affordable housing plan, we've made a lot of progress in implementing our plan.

With 11 out of our plans, 14 recommendations either completed or underway.

There are more details about this in your packet in terms of the specific progress on our recommendations.

With that, I will turn it over to Emily to provide you with our update.

Thank you.

Thank you, Sarah.

Good evening, Mayor and Council.

So I'm going to start with some context on the housing market and the housing inventory.

So first, housing costs are starting to stabilize.

As you know, from 2020 to 2022, we saw dramatic increases in housing costs.

The last two years, housing costs have started to level out.

So home sale prices are still increasing, but at a slower rate, and average rents have plateaued.

While income is increasing, high housing cost burden remains.

About 40% of all households are still housing cost burdened.

That means they're paying more than 30% of their income on housing.

When you look at very low income households, that number rises to 90%.

We do still have a large gap in the number of housing units for low and very low income households, and home ownership still remains mostly out of reach for low and moderate income households.

So these charts illustrate what I just mentioned.

On the left, while average home sale prices increased 64% since 2020, they've increased just 8% in the last two years.

And on the right, average rent increase 26% since 2020, and they've leveled with only a 2% increase in the last two years.

Also, the local housing inventory is increasing.

We're building our local inventory of affordable affordable housing and also housing in general.

The latest data, which is a few years delayed, we use American Community Survey data from 2023, shows small upticks in the housing inventory.

So the difference between 22 and 23 was actually the largest, and it was only three and a half percent that we've seen in a decade.

So we'll follow that as new years of data come out.

Council has approved an average of 1,200 units a year over the past five years, and 16% of those have been affordable.

As a comparison, in the previous six-year time period, between 2013 and 2019, council approved 3,600 units, so that's about half.

As you know, it's a long timeline from project approval to seeing the units on the ground.

But of the units that were approved since 2020, about half are under construction.

And about 1,100, 1135 have been completed since 2020 of the ones that were approved in that time period.

That included 62 affordable units.

So over the last year, we saw larger projects start to open after years of planning.

So lately, in years previous, we've seen pretty low numbers of units developed while a lot of behind the scenes work was happening.

This year we saw an uptick.

So we completed 62, the development of 62 affordable units, including 25 at 900 Willow, which is in the top left corner of the slide.

So we saw about a quarter of that project completed by the end of the year.

And we should continue to see substantial increases in our development numbers as larger projects like more of Weaver's Grove, Trinity Court, which is pictured in the bottom left there, and Aura Booth Park start to come online over the next year and beyond.

Last year we preserved affordability for low-income households.

Through our preservation, though our preservation efforts are typically less overtly visible to the community, much of our affordable housing work focuses on supporting low-income households to stay in their homes and have their homes stay affordable.

This work often carries success stories that aren't always visible in a pretty picture of a new building.

So I want to share a couple of anecdotes from the year.

Also, the town, as many as you know, operates an employee housing assistance program.

Um, and part of that is that we offer relocation or rental assistance for people who are moving within five miles of the town.

We staff have seen an increased interest in that benefit, especially among households who are facing housing instability.

So one of the four households who received that this year agreed to share his story with us, and I'm sharing it tonight.

So when he began working with the town, he was homeless, and he had left his family for this job.

And when he found out about the program and applied for it and received assistance, he was able to move into a unit he had found within walking distance of town hall and move his family of eight into that unit.

So we also continue to create a pipeline of projects.

We expect as many as 1200 affordable units to be completed over the next five years, including many that you've been hearing about for a long time.

That number would essentially double the number of subsidized affordable units we have in our inventory right now.

As a comparison, in the past five years, we completed about 120 units in that time.

This does not include large projects with affordable housing contributions like you just approved that are being approved this fall.

In let's see, last year, council also approved almost 300 affordable units for the second year in a row.

That includes mostly 100% affordable projects, so Hillside Trace, which is pictured in the top left, and Madury Meadows, but it also includes affordable units in market rate projects.

So last year, 11% of the units approved in market rate projects were affordable, and that includes the bottom left picture, which is Old Chapel Hill Road Apartments.

We made additional resources and funding tools available.

So we secured additional bond funding.

We launched the Affordable Housing Loan Fund.

We supported our partners with almost $3 million funding plan that council approved for fiscal year 2025 and released another $4 million in local funding.

And we supported DHIC to secure another 9% low-income housing tax credit award.

That is the fourth year in a row that the town has received not necessarily our projects, but a tax credit award, and together those four projects bring more than 40 million dollars in tax credit equity to the town, and together they'll create 200 affordable apartments.

Can you repeat that number again?

Yep.

So each tax credit award brings about 10 million dollars in tax credit equity.

Um that and so for four of those, it's it's more than 40 million dollars.

And we also onboarded three staff, which brings us to a fully staffed team.

Before closing, we want to give you a snapshot of what we'll be working on in the year ahead.

We will allocate resources to partners and boost our staffing capacity.

You all a few weeks ago approved a 4.185 million dollar funding plan.

Um we have heard from self-help that they are in conversations about lending to some of our partners from the loan fund that we uh anticipate should close by the end of the year.

Um we're also excited to host our first Karen Stegman Affordable Housing Fellowship from the UNC Planning School.

Um this graphic shows our progress securing resources to meet the $50 million goal to implement our affordable housing plan.

Um in the past year, these uh additions in with dotted lines have been identified.

So pending the federal budget approval, we'll find out whether we got a community project funding grant for the federal government for the Legion Road project, and then council approved a South Elliott project last spring, which had a one and a half million dollar affordable housing contribution.

And should that project move forward that would come to us.

Um that puts us at about 60% of our goal, and that's about 23 million dollars more than we would have we had before the affordable housing plan was approved.

Um next year we will continue building our affordable housing inventory.

And we're gonna keep making headway on the plan to develop 150 units at the town's Legion Road property.

We also expect council to consider approval of projects that could include as many as 250 affordable units this year.

We will also continue to preserve affordability of existing units.

So this includes uh programs that support low-income homeowners like down payment assistance and rehab funding for owner occupied homes.

Um we will also continue working with the county and towns to identify creative solutions to households facing housing crises and instability.

Um we will complete a repositioning plan for our public housing inventory and identify tangible next steps for the implementation of our manufactured homes action plan.

Finally, we will continue to expand our education and outreach efforts.

And tonight I'm gonna do a quick demo of our affordable housing funding tracker tool for those who may not have had a chance to take a look.

No, I've already been in it.

So I'm gonna attempt to move the screen.

Here we go.

That's not there.

Okay, so um this tracker dives into all of our funding work since uh 2020, and that's when the first bond funding um was released.

And um, you can look at the projects that have been funded.

Um, it gives you a little snapshot of of information on each one and a pretty visual, and you can navigate through the map as well.

Um, and then you can also dive into the data dashboard here, which is an interactive tool that we worked closely with our fabulous uh GIS team to create.

So this is unfiltered, 17 projects have been funded, which have supported 662 units that includes the um projects that were approved a few weeks ago.

Um, and then you can choose to toggle through some of the filters.

You can choose, you know, I just want to look at the preservation projects, and that shows you more specifically what has been funded on that side.

You could also choose to look it up by a certain partner.

So you could say Habitat for Humanity, what has the town, how have we supported their projects since FY 2020?

And then you could also choose to um filter on the actual charts.

So here you could say, well, I want to know which projects have been completed.

So you can see there's been five projects with full completion, and similarly, you could do that with like which homeownership projects have we funded.

Um, some of them are mixed, so that's any project with homeownership in it.

Um that's a quick demo for you.

It also includes AMI level and um, you know, the whole list of projects as well.

And so that concludes our presentation this evening.

Thank you.

Uh council questions, council member Miller Fushi.

Yes, thank you for this presentation.

Um, this is really exciting.

Thank you all for all of your hard work.

Um, I have three questions, and I'll just give you all three, and then I'll sit back.

Maybe four.

Um, I know that previous council um asked for staff to take a look at town owned land and opportunities for affordable housing to go on that land.

Um I would like to revisit that.

And I know that Bennett Road was a parcel of town-owned land that um came out of that report, and I'm wondering if you all could provide me with information regarding that land, um, if it's an option for us to um consider um in the future.

So that's the first question.

Um, the second is if you could just remind us where we are in terms of our rehab of our town-owned public housing and how all of that um fits into our attempts for like no displacement, but you know, dignity for um our residents there.

Thirdly, um what efforts do we have to continue to build?

Um, our revolving loan fund.

I know initial um interests were to go out and seek other partners to you know keep that loan fund um growing.

And so I'm interested in seeing what efforts are being put in there.

And I'm not sure if like the Legion Road property is a part of the project list.

Do we have like a name for it that I'm not yet?

Yeah, we're still calling it Legion Road property.

Yeah.

Okay, so will that be added to the dashboard?

And those are my questions.

Thank you.

Sure.

I can start and okay.

So Bennett Road, it was one of the three sites in 2018 that council prioritized for affordable housing.

Staff kind of clumped some early studies of those three sites together.

So we had an engineer doing a test fit analysis.

We have an idea of what could fit there.

It's a really challenging terrain.

And it's not currently competitive for tax credit.

So that eliminates kind of the biggest pot of funding that would make that easy to nothing's easy, but easier to fund development.

And so without that, it's a much bigger investment.

And we don't currently have a funding source identified that would push that along, whereas there's other ones that do.

But if our one of our affordable housing partners stepped in, that would be a possibility, potentially, maybe.

Yes, I mean it's on our pipeline, it's just it's later on our pipeline because there's not currently under money for it.

Thank you.

And then the others, I guess.

So the next question was public housing maintenance and status of that repairs.

Is that right?

Not necessarily the repairs, but um, like a real like rehab to our town owned public, like this would be like a huge undertaking with lots of funding in the current climate.

I know like it's probably outside of the purview of what we would be able to do immediately, but I do have interest in understanding how we're planning for that because a lot of it is aging.

Um, there's a lot of opportunity to potentially even double our town owned um public housing.

So yeah, just interested in what we're thinking.

Yeah, so um there's a couple of pieces to that.

One is a major focus for our team has been on addressing maintenance and repairs within our units.

So last year we completed 14 major repair projects, and as a result of that, we've gotten a lot of positive feedback from residents.

We still have a long way to go.

Um, and we've seen that work orders are down, um, which is great news, um, especially for emergency work orders.

So that's I think a positive indicator.

Um, but Emily mentioned our repositioning plan.

So that is our that is our plan for the sustainability, the future of our public housing portfolio.

So, what we will be doing in the coming months is partnering with outside experts that will come in and do an evaluation of the conditions of all of our neighborhoods, look at the properties and help us think creatively about how to best utilize each of those neighborhoods.

So it could be um renovating, doing major renovation and modernization projects.

It could be um redevelopment through RAD or other tools, um, or it could be deciding to build more dense public housing in certain sites that are more centrally located on transit, close to downtown, near employment centers to move residents out of more vulnerable flood-prone areas or other areas that uh may not be um ideal for housing at this day and age.

So that is a top priority for our team.

We anticipate completing that over the next six to nine months, um, and that will chart our path forward for our public housing.

So um, but in the meantime, we're continuing to work on addressing um critical maintenance needs, and um we have capital funding available to us that we are using um for that purpose.

Um, so we're using kind of a two-pronged approach of addressing the immediate needs now and then also planning for the future.

Then my other two questions my other two questions were around the revolving loan fund efforts to um continue to build that up, and the last one was um update of Legion Road because I'm getting lots of questions about that and would love for to like go to our dashboard.

So, yeah.

Yeah, so on the the loan fund, um we have several prospects right now.

Um we actually had our check-in call with self-help today.

Um, so we expect the first loans to close in the coming um months by the end of the fiscal year for that.

Um, when we launched the loan fund, self-help advised that 20 million was the right size for a community of our size.

Um, some of those funds will revolve back into the fund on a shorter time period, and then some will be a longer term loan, but they will eventually revolve back in.

Um, but for now, what we've been advised is 20 million is the right size for just given the size of our community.

If that changes, um I think there's certainly opportunity for us to work with self-help and secure additional commitments from other financial institutions to grow the fund.

Great, thank you.

And then Legion Road, do you want to speak to that one?

Um we've been working closely with um public works, and they they have a contractor consultant engineering consultant that's handling the um pond and dam, and and um that has to get to a certain stage before the affordable housing can really apply for um low-income housing tax credits.

So we are aiming for a 2026 application, which means that would go through a rezoning process, and um we would talk about funding and it might make it up on the tracking tool.

Um, but if that doesn't line up the way it, you know, if it's not ready by January, then um we would shift and find another pathway, either whether that it's waiting till the next year or there might be other ways that we could mid-year try to get that going.

So this is just a follow-up based upon what you just stated.

There's certain criteria that you all um have in place before you will put it up on our dashboard.

Am I understanding that?

It would have to this is for anything that's received town funding.

So tech that technically had that step of allocating it to that project hasn't happened, but when it does, it would go up.

Thank you.

And we do there is a project page generally for the project overall, so that might be a good resource to refer community members to if they have questions.

It has a lot of background and information, including the affordable housing component.

Great, thank you all so much.

Appreciate it.

Councilmember McCullough, followed by Councilmember Barry.

So I'm not sure whether you actually can answer these or not because they're not necessarily in your purview, but they're in your bailiwick.

Um so we give a certain amount of tax assistance to help with the low-income people in Northside and Pine Knowles and those kind of places to help them to survive the tax increases.

Uh, do we have any sense of how that's worked in terms of preserving affordable house affordability of those houses?

Um so we've um supported our partners who um administer those programs for two years, um, and there's a third coming up.

Um, and we've been able that funding has reached about 130 households both years.

Um there are some numbers on what it's allowed those organizations to do.

Um I don't have those in my head.

I think we have a little one-pager on it, but it talks about kind of how much further their money was able to go with the additional funding.

Do we have a sense of what percentage that 130 households covers?

It's hard to get it back.

Um, because they when we've asked that of our partners, they don't necessarily have a sense of I think more outreach can always be done.

So they don't have like a list of all the households who are eligible.

They're always trying to bring more people in to apply.

Um, but it's a question we're trying to dig into a little bit.

Wonderful.

Yeah, I'm glad to hear that.

Thank you.

And my second question was um, I was overjoyed to see the fact that house prices and rental uh costs are stabilizing, and I'm wondering if there's been any um evaluation or there can be any evaluation of cost effect as to the relationship with that and the the way that we've increased housing supply.

That sounds like a great project.

Um I think right now the lag complicates it a little bit, right?

So we're dealing with old data, so we don't really know what today looks like.

I suspect it's more than three and a half percent growth.

Um, and that data will come out for 2024 in a couple months.

Um, and then uh most as you saw on that slide, I think it was like I don't know, 15-20% of the units approved are completed because it just takes so long.

So I think we could get at that better in the coming years, but I'm sure there's a way to now too.

Councilmember Barry.

Thank you.

This is great presentation.

Really appreciate it.

There was one section I didn't understand, but I didn't want to interrupt your flow.

Um you were sharing with us that um empowerment has had funds to um support home buying, I believe, but there was can you sure explain that section?

So um the down I'll I'll broaden it a little bit.

The down payment assistance programs that different or other municipalities are implementing right now are getting really hefty um per household limits.

Like I think Durham has one that is up maybe up to 80,000 or something, and this one is pretty small.

It started at a uh 4,000, I think amount per household.

So that just wasn't getting any traction because for somebody who's um below 80% AMI, or I think it was targeting lower than that, that's not gonna get them a home in Shuffle Hill at the prices we see, even if it's a community home trust home.

Um, and so it took some conversations about what could we get that to?

And we increased it, I think up to eight or ten thousand dollars.

So it still was fairly low.

Um, and and that's why it was a habitat home that they were able to purchase.

But does that help with that does yeah?

It's just such a big gap.

And and just to clarify that that partner for that program was community empowerment fund, not empowered.

Thank you.

Because I did write down empowerment, and then later I heard CEO.

So I missed that.

Thank you for clarifying.

And that was C D B D money.

Okay.

That was thank you for that.

And then the funding with regards to the question that um council member asked the the funds that we allocate each year for the tax assistance relief, is it exhausted?

I heard that um they are our partners looking to recruit more people who could take advantage of it, but with the numbers that we have, do we exhaust all of that?

Uh they in the past two years they've used it all, yes.

Okay.

And everyone that applied for funding received funding through the county.

All right, yeah.

Through the county, but that was also money that this council set aside, correct?

Correct.

Okay.

Um have we come up with any ways to support renters?

Like with broader rental assistance.

That's um one of the strategies right now that is not yet implemented.

We don't have um resources identified.

Okay, okay.

Thank you.

And um, as you all know, previously we had invested significant resources in emergency housing assistance, um, and which was administered by Orange County.

Um, and we dedicated local resources towards that and a lot of COVID resources through the pandemic.

Um that are as Emily said, that is a recommendation in our plan that's yet to be resourced.

So that's one of the things that we'll be looking at is how to resource that work going forward.

Okay.

Because we know that that's continues to be a critical need in the community.

Right, great.

Um it's a comment, so that's it for questions.

Thank you.

That's a good question.

Um thank you for this.

Um, you all always do such exemplary work, and we ask for dashboards and you give us dashboards, and we ask you to make tons and tons of affordable housing and you make it happen.

So um thank you for always going beyond uh what we hope and wish for.

Um I did have a couple, I I it sounds like the answer is that it's in the plan, but maybe it's just not fully funded.

But I wanted to ask about um master leasing.

Would that be the way that we would get at renter assistance, or are there other kind of best practices or ways to accomplish that goal?

The um recommendation in the plan actually calls out master leasing and rental assistance, so we kind of lump those together when we've talked about it.

Um, I think um master leasing as a strategy.

There's there's also other approaches like short-term rental assistance to stabilize people that are in housing crisis, um short-term rental assistance.

So I think we certainly anticipate investing in master leasing going forward because that's in our plan.

It is a good short-term solution.

It is very expensive.

So we see it as one of many levers that we need to pull to try to address this big challenge that we're trying to address together with our partners.

So yes to that.

And we did fund a small scale program with community home trust for many years at Glen Lennox.

So we're always looking for opportunities to do more master leasing.

So that was my question.

Do we have partners identified that we can master lease from?

We're looking at one prospect now, actually, as that has come out of the work of the Orange County Low Berry Housing Working Group.

So we have one potential right now that we're looking at, which we're very excited about.

The challenge for us is finding units.

And so what is the gap between the market rate and what we're trying to subsidize down to?

It depends.

If you can apply vouchers, then that makes it much easier.

And so that's always a question in our conversations of you know, is this something that we could get vouchers and attach it to?

And then it's it's really a lot more feasible.

And so I'm guessing the answer is no, but I'm gonna ask it anyway.

Um, and maybe this is a question for our attorney.

Um are there things that we could do in the approval process, or you know, are there ways that we could ask um applicants to I know we do ask about vouchers, but I'm wondering um, are there things we could do to be negotiating up front in terms of master leasing or other things that we're hoping to do in market rate projects?

Um and if the answer is I don't know, but I'll tell you later, that's fine.

That that's a question we can maybe talk about offline.

Okay, thanks.

Um my last question um is about do you see a value or are there models that folks are doing um that are that seem to be really having impact in terms of helping homeowners to um to rent out extra accessory dwelling units or basement apartments or things like that where they get some assistance and they keep the rent below a certain amount?

Um back when the housing choices conversation was happening.

Our team did do some research on what people are doing, and um I know now when that passed, I I think I've heard planning talk about how not as many I think builds are permitted.

Zero, but either way, like so that's not I mean, people can already may already have them and want to do the same thing.

Um it's not something we've recently looked into, um, although I saw something recently about I want to say it was somewhere in North Carolina.

Charlotte anyway, it's we have looked at it, it's not been on our top of the list lately.

Yeah, Charlotte was doing a deal where they will help you.

Yeah, they'll they'll give you an $80,000 loan and forgive it over increments if you rent out if you build the ADU and you rent it out at an affordable level.

But $80,000 is a lot of money, but a lot of other our other stuff is a heavy heavy subsidy as well.

So I don't know.

I'm just curious, but I know y'all are on top of it and giving us amazing plans.

So are there members of the public wishing to speak?

There are three.

Okay.

Uh council comments.

Thank you.

Amazing work.

My hand is right here.

Yes.

Councilmember Barry, would you like to speak?

I would.

I would like to say thank you very much.

Um council member uh Miller for she has said often, and I want to join her in thanking you all for being so innovative for being so creative.

Um I feel like you're light years ahead of some folks.

We we're small, but we're very mighty, and it's because you all are very determined.

And it's because you all are very determined.

And thank you for asking answering our questions that we have, because we're we also are trying to be as um innovative as you, trying to trying to add to that thought process.

Um I just want to say that the renters, one of whom is me, is always appreciative of what you can do for those of us who who choose or can only opt in for rental.

Um but I'm really grateful for your work.

Thank you.

Thank you again.

We're always very proud to show off of all the work that you do, and you make us look good.

So thank you.

And um, we're excited to see all the great things you do moving forward.

All right.

Um that is our agenda.

Um, just a reminder that we have canceled our work session for next week, so our next meeting is October 22nd in council chambers.

Um thanks everybody and have a great night.

Meeting adjourned.