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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2012-06-14; Housing Commission; MinutesMinutes of: HOUSING COMMISSION Time of Meeting: 6:00 P.M. Date of Meeting: JUNE 14, 2012 Place of Meeting: CITY COUNCIL CHAMBERS CALL TO ORDER Chairperson Smith called the Meeting to order at 6:06 p.m. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE Commissioner Igoe led with the Pledge of Allegiance. ROLL CALL Present: Commissioners: Brian Andrews Susan Igoe Bobbie Smith y^ljsent: Emelda Bradwell Craig Kirk Staff Present: Housing & Neighborhood Services Director: Debbie Fountain Senior Planner: Scott Donnell Associate Planner: Pam Drew APPROVAL OF MINUTES Minutes of February 9, 2012, meeting were approved as written. VOTE: 3-0 AYES: Andrews, Igoe, and Smith NOES: None ABSTAIN: None ABSENT: Bradwell and Kirk ITEM NOT ON AGENDA There were no items not on the agenda. NEW BUSINESS ^ ^ *u Debbie Fountain, Director of Housing & Neighborhood Services, said the item on the agenda is the Housing Element'Program Implementation to be presented by Scott Donnell and Pam Drew. Scott Donnell Senior Planner, and Pam Drew, Associate Planner gave their presentations on a request to recommend approval of amendments to the Zoning Ordinance. Village Master Plan and Design Manual and Local Coastal Program to implement various programs of the 2005-2010 Housing Element. Implementation would add land use and development standards for farmworker housing, emergency shelters, transitional and supportive housing, and managed living units and would make relevant changes to the definition and standards for residential care facilities. Commissioner Andrews asked them to show on the zoning map the location of the Zone M proposed for the large farmworker housing. Ms. Drew showed the dark blue area on the map. which is near the airport and near where La Posada is right now. She also pointed out the Quarry Creek area. Commissioner Andrews said he was trying to align where the agriculture farming is taking place to where the large farming housing would be. It doesn't seem like transportation would be challenging- in that. I HOUSING COMMISSION MINUTES JUNE 14, 2012 PAGE 2 of 4 didn't know if they were going to be in close proximity to where the farming is taking place or if they would be more centralized. Ms. Drew said this would be like La Posada is. It is large farmworker housing with over 30 beds for people. Commissioner Igoe asked if they had heard feedback from people who own the farms. Mr Donnell said they have not heard back. They have notified landowners in the past when the housing element itself was updated and we did not receive feedback from them at that time as well. Commissioner Igoe commented then they do not need to be notified. Mr Donnell said no they don't. In fact, the presentation before the Planning Commission and City Council are public hearings. Those will be noticed meetings so anybody at that time can attend and speak. Ms Drew said she would like to add that a representative from SDG&E did come to the counter one day to look at the draft ordinance for farmworker housing. Currently with the open space zoning, it allows farmworker housing on a temporary basis. Now 1 will remove that with this ordinance and allow it on a oermanent basis They were representatives for SDG&E in the strawberry fields' area. When they were going through the open space to get that zone changed, they did have people there that were trying to force them to build some type of farmworker housing. They did not want to be forced to do that She came in to make sure this wasn't going to force them to do anything. It would just be an allowed use If a developer or a property owner wants to do that, it is the option. This does not have any kind of structures with it. It is only to allow them to be in these zones. Chairperson Smith added Ms. Drew and Mr. Donnell did a good job with the presentation. Commissioner Andrews asked about the emergency shelter area, you said the village is not part of that, right? You might think that would also be for an urban setting and that would be a good place for an emergency shelter, but maybe there are parking issues. Mr Donnell said to give a little bit of history: A reason why emergency shelters are proposed in the city's industrial zones goes back to 2005. At that time the City Council gave us direction to propose in those two zones for locations for emergency shelters. It largely stems from that, the reason why. Those also turn out to be good zones for primarily nighttime uses that don't impact adjacent uses since typically our industrial zones empty by 6 p.m. That is also the location presently at La Posada de Guadalupe. Mr Donnell added that Commissioner Andrews is correct in that the village as well is a location with services as well. That is not a particular area of the city considered for emergency shelters. That was largely because of the types of uses or the atmosphere that is trying to be created there. Also because of the City Council direction from 2005. Chairperson Smith asked how people would find out about the programs available to them; the farmworker housing, the emergency shelter, the transitional and managed living units. Mr Donnell said that is a great question. I did attend a housing workshop on Monday. There were a number of city representatives as well as providers or advocates of affordable housing. A woman I spoke with who is the executive director of Community Housing Works already seemed to be in the know abou farmworker housing in particular in Carlsbad. I can't tell you exactly why, but it seems that word gets out about programs that the city has or the ordinance structure that we have to allow such uses^ The Housing Elements I think undergo a pretty rigorous review, not only by the state, but also affordable housinq advocates who are aWare of the different standards; sometimes they weigh in on what the standards are that we propose. It seems people are aware of what Carlsbad, Encinitas and San Diego HOUSING COMMISSION MINUTES JUNE 14, 2012 PAGE 3 of 4 have. The state does pay attention to housing elements and other groups as well, such as SANDAG or private organizations. Debbie Fountain, Housing & Neighborhood Services Director, said there are a number of advocacy groups Those groups network really well. There is an organization known as the San Diego Housing Federation in the county of San Diego. They work to make sure people are aware of the different policies mtS^g^Sted in thedLrent dties. They advocate for certain policies, and then we have a ot of legal advocates that represent certain populations. It is a network that is setup and referrals to hese ypes of housing are done through case management programs. There is also a county-wide 211 prrgraSat you can call and tell them what you are looking for such as a shelter due to homelessness and they will give information for you. When we worked on farmworker housing before we did find tha somSes there is a duplication of effort. That coordination needs to continue to be better. Over time i dXtend to get better, and there is a lot of word of mouth. Community Housing Works is fairly well known in San Diego County. They have worked with different cities to relocate farmworkers out of the fidds and get them into permanent housing. They did a big effort in the city of San Diego. We had put together a fairly large advisory group when we were trying to site farmworker housing several years ago. and Commune Housing Works was one of the lead helping us to understand the needs of the 'armworkeVs because they were helping with the census when they went out to count homeless and the farmworkers There are a lot of different groups doing different things, bu they try to network to get the nfo^malion out in a coordinated fashion into the communities and the public. That does not mean there isn't more work that probably needed to be done on that to let people know wha^s available. Commissioner Andrews asked if there are any really hot or contentious components to this that you think would come out that the public would want to know about or ask about that you anticipate? Ms Drew said primarily from farmworker housing. That is the one that people will focus on just because of the stigma that is put on farmworkers. I do expect that will be something may pay attention to out of fear of allowing farmworker housing into their neighborhoods or into the area. I have Qotte^^^^ few phone calls in that direction. We are not actually building anything. We are complying with state aw. All we are doingis allowing WadevelopeTcd^ work withlhe developer on that. Commissioner Andrews commented the other types of housing that are six or less that there are no resections on, I wonder if that will be an issue as well. If it is six or less, then people don t need to get a conditional approval, right? Ms Drew said it could be an issue, but with six or less people by state law, it is defined as a single-family home You cannot regulate whether they are married or related. They could be six roommates they can be six farmworkers, as long as they are living in a residential, conventional home, there is nothing they can do about that. They may not like who is living in there, but it would be complying with city s codes. Commissioner Andrews asked if the owner or manager has to get some kind of approval to run that unit, to derive the subsidies towards it or is that done more on an individual basis. Mr Donnell said he does not believe there is a state requirement or any city regulations for transitional housing that might be helping homeless individuals as long there are no more than six People^ It is a farnily use like you or I living in a house. We do not need to get any permits from anyone to do that. The s^Mnts to make sure Lt cities make it very clear that such uses are permitted, even though our codes today don't say anything about transitional housing. If someone wanted to do that today they could because state law trumps city regulations and because state law says transitional housing with no more than six people is considered a family. Chairperson Smith said she thinks it is a great idea. People always have a fear of something they don't know anythi^ about. Once the farmers or the homeless people move into the community, it will work out. ^ _ - - . . HOUSING COMMISSION MINUTES JUNE 14, 2012 PAGE 4 of 4 Mr Donnell said along those lines, the reviews of the La Posada de Guadalupe have always been received positively. Initially when that was first being proposed, there was concern about the residents of that emergency shelter, farmworker housing in our industrial area, but they have tumed out to be a very good neighbor. Commissioner Igoe made a recommendation that the Housing Commission adopt Housing Commission Rp«;olutions 2012-002 2012-003. 2012-004. and 2012-005 recommending approval to the City Council of Zode Code Amendments ZCA 09-04, ZCA 09-05. ZCA 11-07 and LCPA 95-10(B) based on the findings contained therein. Commissioner Andrews seconded the motion. VOTE: 3-0 AYES: Andrew. Igoe. and Smith NOES: None ABSTAIN: None ABSENT: Bradwell and Kirk M^ R)untain fakTe^^^^ we spoke of La Posada, there will be a ground breaking for La Posada, the construction of their new facility on June 29. 2012, at 10 a.m. If any Commissioners would like to go, Diease let her know. It will be at the La Posada site at Orion, and 1 can get the information if you are interested The city has put quite a bit of money toward it through the agricultural mitigation fund and CDBG funds We are in over two million dollars so there is a large investment from the city. They have also been able to raise private funds. They have actually been able to raise money to operate it. which is usually the money hardest to come by. Catholic Charities was very smart about the project in that they were not going to move forward to build it until they knew they had the money to operate it. I had mentioned at the last meeting that we did have a proposal for an apartment complex proposal in Bressi Ranch I have not heard any more about whether or not they want to move forward with that. The information was provided at our last meeting in case you are contacted because there was a large continqent of residents that were opposed to that. Even though 1 have not heard any more, that does not mean the project has gone away. The city is starting to move forward by going to the P anning Commission on its Envision Carlsbad process. This is to update our General Plan. The Planning Deoartment is going to be very busy over the next few years bringing ordinances forward like now. There will be other ordinances and policies that will be part of the General Plan that will have to be revised. They will be updating the zoning code to address any of the new visioning process. Mr. Donnell said the Envision Carlsbad has been to Planning Commission twice already and it goes next week on Wednesday. June 20, 2012. Ms. Fountain said those are televised meetings as well with the Planning Commission. ADJOURNMENT ^ . . ^ By proper motion, the meeting of June 14, 2012, was adjourned at 7:05 p.m. )ectfully submitted. Deborah Fountain Housing & Neighborhood Services Director PATRICIA CRESCENTI MINUTES ARE ALSO TAPED AND KEPT ON FILE UNTIL THE WRITTEN MINUTES ARE APPROVED.