Pre-Council Meeting Summary – March 3, 2026
Pre-Council Meeting Summary – March 3, 2026
The City of Columbia Pre-Council met on March 3, 2026, to discuss affordable housing initiatives and a risk management report. The meeting included a detailed presentation on housing statistics, a review of zoning changes, and an actuarial analysis of the city’s self-insurance fund. No public comments or testimony were heard, and no formal votes were taken.
Discussion Items
- Affordable Housing Overview: Staff presented $14.3 million in city support for affordable housing since the 2024 housing study, including 440 total units (194 new construction, 264 preserved). New construction units included 19 for-sale units (for households at ≤80% area median income) and 165 rental units (mostly affordable). Funding sources include ARPA (federal), CDBG, and HOME program funds.
- Small Lot Project: Planning staff updated that minimum lot size is proposed to decrease from 7,000 sq ft to 3,000 sq ft, with a minimum lot width of 30 ft. The goal is to reduce costs by eliminating a Board of Adjustment step. A draft is expected to go to Planning and Zoning Commission in June 2026.
- Definition of Family: A proposal to expand the definition from “parent(s) and their children” to include relatives by blood, marriage, adoption, or custodial relationship, and to increase the unrelated occupant limit from three to four in R1 districts. Council member Valerie raised concerns about the definition relying on biology and marriage, potentially excluding unmarried partners and foster families. Staff noted the definition also includes “custodial relationship,” but whether it covers unmarried romantic partners was not definitively answered.
- Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs): Planning staff reported that a draft would remove the requirement for a conditional use permit in R1 zoning and reduce corner-lot setbacks from 25 ft to 12.5 ft. A public hearing is scheduled in March 2026.
- Housing Trust Fund: A community summit on March 14, 2026 will seek public input on funding and sustainability. Council member Nick asked that feedback also include how the fund might be used.
- Pro-Housing Grant: The city plans to apply for a HUD Pro-Housing Grant (reduced by 50% from last year). The grant can fund zoning studies and even new housing construction.
- Housing Preservation Inventory: A survey of nearly 1,800 properties (mostly central city) in 2024 found 90% in good to excellent condition. Staff will expand the survey to other parts of the city, with an update expected at the September 2026 joint meeting with the county.
- Home Rehab and Energy Efficiency Program: Currently funded by ARPA (must be spent by end of 2026), the city will apply for a Federal Home Loan Bank grant (due May 1, 2026) to continue the program. A decision on the grant is expected in December 2026.
- Housing Production Targets: Staff showed that single-family permit data (260–270 units/year) lags behind the housing study’s target of 527 dwelling units/year. Multifamily permits spiked to 585 units in FY2025, but staff cautioned this is cyclical.
- Risk Management Report: Chris Ubeck presented an overview of risk management responsibilities, including claims adjudication, insurance policy management, and safety training. Key points: the city is self-insured with high deductibles; self-insured retentions were recently increased to manage premium costs; workers’ compensation costs rose significantly in FY2025 due to a few severe claims, not an increase in claim count.
- Actuarial Analysis: Huggins Actuarial Services (via Carolyn Dentino) presented estimated net liabilities for unpaid claims as of Sept. 30, 2025: $8,353,000 undiscounted. For FY2026, estimated retained losses at the expected (≈50% confidence) level are $3,974,000 undiscounted; at the 90% confidence level, $5,479,000. The FY2026 budget for the self-insurance reserve fund was $9 million, with a fund balance of $14.8 million.
Key Outcomes
- No votes were taken. The meeting was informational.
- Next Steps:
- Housing staff will present a similar update at the joint city-county meeting in mid-March 2026.
- A community summit on the Housing Trust Fund will be held March 14, 2026.
- The small lot ordinance draft is expected to go to Planning and Zoning Commission in June 2026.
- Staff will follow up on the definition of family to clarify whether unmarried romantic partners are included.
- The Federal Home Loan Bank grant application is due May 1, 2026.
- An updated housing preservation inventory will be presented at the September 2026 joint meeting.
Meeting Transcript
All right, I'm gonna go ahead and call our um March 2nd, 2026 City of Columbia Pre Council to order. Uh we have a couple of things on our agenda today. Up first is our housing affordable housing discussion, which I think is gonna lead up to next week's joint meeting with the counties we'll overview that. And then we have our risk management report and then a closed session. So I'm gonna go ahead and click this over to Bill and Clint because you are sitting there. Take it away. Hi, thank you, Mayor. Um everybody. Okay, so just uh start off. Um we're gonna give some statistics, um, some illustrations, and we're gonna provide some crosswalk updates, which y'all are aware of that Boom County kind of prepared the crosswalk to kind of keep us on track with you know, tracking our progress towards the various recommendations that were in the housing study. Okay, so first of all, we thought it would be important to show that the city has provided significant support for affordable housing. And uh I went back and started with 2024 because that was the year when the uh housing study was done. So just to kind of show what the city has done and what the city has funded uh for these various projects. So you can see there uh there's a total of 14.3 million. Um that includes new construction projects, uh preservation of existing housing, and direct assistance to home buyers and renters. Okay, and as far as the funding, um we have two primary sources uh mainly federal, uh, but the from the American Rescue Plan Act to ARPA funds came from the US Department of Treasury, and uh HUD, the Department of Housing Urban Development uh provides community development block band funds and home investment partnership uh program funds, also known as home. So since uh the study was done, um we've been involved with 440 units total. Um now, not all these are complete. Uh some of them are underway, some of them haven't started yet. Um, but we just wanted to give the totality of the uh support the city is providing uh for all these projects. So you can see there um there's about a hundred, there's 194 new construction units, about 12.2 million was invested in those, and 264 units that are already in existence, and about 2.1 million was invested in those. All right, so as far as the new construction, um 19 of those were four sale units, um, and those were made available to households that are what HUD calls uh low moderate income, uh, meaning that they meet 80% of the area mediate income guidelines as defined by HUD. And then there were 165 rental units. Um the vast majority of those are also affordable. Um there are smattering of some market rate units in there with some of the um housing authority projects, and then uh 10 transitional housing units uh that were are being done by local Columbia. Okay, so this kind of breaks down the new construction units. Um you can see the housing authorities responsible for the lion share of those. Uh that includes Kinney Point, Park Avenue, Providence Walkway, Blind Boone, and then uh we have uh CMCA or Central Missouri Community Action. They have 16 units, um, Providence Landing and uh Hickman Homes. And then the Land Trust uh has two units, uh Colemore Cottages over on North East Street, and then Job Point has one over at 903 North Garden. All right, and then uh besides the new construction, uh we provide support and funding for uh already existing units. Um so our housing and neighborhood services department has provided funding for 174 of those units, uh primarily through our energy efficiency and home rehab program uh funded uh through ARPA, um although there's some CBG there. Um, and then service for independent living uh provided funding for 20 units and Woodhaven also provided funding for another 20 units. Um things uh I will want I want to point out to um because the question uh they received um was about other uh types of programs. So um one thing that we are going to be seeking is a grant from HUD to provide funding for lead remediation. Um we will need to wait until their uh NOFA comes out, the knows of funding availability, those typically come out in June. Um applications will be due probably in August or September. Um but if we get that that would allow us to not only assist uh owner occupied units but also rental as well. And then we'll be able to replace windows, doors, other things like that to have lead paint hazards in those. Um and then uh you know we're looking at some other. I'm sorry, yeah. Sorry, I'm gonna grab my microphone now. Thanks. All right, I wanted to ask if any of our existing energy efficiency um programs for home rehabilitation. Um are any rentals allowable for those participation in those programs? They're not currently. Um, but that is something we're exploring uh potentially with the use of the trust fund to have a rental um rehabilitation program uh to maybe bring units that are offline online or to um you know do those repairs and in exchange we want increased affordability so they would have to maintain those units to be affordable for our setup period of time. I think one clarification, I'm pretty sure in Heron, I'm sorry you just took a bite, but I think that our um energy efficiency programs through water and light rentals are eligible. The property owner obviously needs to be on it, but it's um so those for those programs like the HVAC insulation, all of those uh rental units are eligible. Yes, interesting.
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