· IOLu\f\ Clex-~ Kc.J 1 \) 1 Approved May 6, 2020 SJlo Izozo 2 I).' LI J'.W1 3 s 4 ~ ~ 5 THE SOUTHBOROUGH HOUSING OPPORTUNITY PARTNERSHIP COMMITTEE 6 (SHOPC) 7 MEETING MINUTES 8 Wednesday, April 29, 2020 8:30 AM 9 VIRTUAL MEETING/REMO E PARTICIPATION 10 11 Members present: Doriann Jasinski, Lisa Braccio, John Wood, Alex Frisch, Tom Bhisitkul, Tom Marcoulier 12 and Jesse Stein. Also present: Karina Quinn, Town Planner, Sarah Hoecker, Business Administrator I and 13 Kathleen Battles, Recording Secretary. Sarah Hoecker managed virtual connection through ZOOM 14 application. 15 16 CALL TO ORDER: The meeting was called to order at 8:44 AM. 17 18 Ms. Jasinski read the following statement: 19 Pursuant to Governor Baker's March 12, 2020 Order Suspending Certain Provisions of the Open Meeting 20 Law, G.L. c. 30A, &18, and the Governor's March 15, 2020 Order imposing strict limitations on the 21 number of people that may gather in one place, this meeting of the Southborough Housing Opportunity 22 Partnership Committee (SHOPC) is being conducted via remote participation to the greatest extent 23 possible. Specific information and the general guidelines for the remote participation by members of 24 the public and/ or parties with a right and/or requirement to attend this meeting can be found on the 25 Town of Southborough's website, at https://www.southboroughtown.com/. 26 For this meeting, members of the pubic who wish to listen to the meeting or participate in the public 27 hearing may do so in the following manner: 28 https://www.southboroughtown.com/remotemeetings 29 30 No in-person attendance of members of the public will be permitted, but every effort will be made to 31 ensure that the public can adequately access the proceedings in real time, via technological means. In 32 the event that we are unable to do so, despite best efforts, we will post on Southborough's website an 33 audio or video recording, transcript, or other comprehensive record of proceedings as soon as possible 34 after the meeting. 35 36 Discussion: Master Plan Update: 37 Ms. Hoecker summarized that the Master Plan Committee (MPC) provided Metropolitan Area Planning 38 Council (MAPC) with edits to the Visioning Survey which was then finalized and distributed online. The 39 next meeting of the Master Plan Committee (MPC) is scheduled for May 6, 2020 at 7:30 PM. 40 41 Discussion: Housing Production Plan - Final Draft Review Comments: 42 Ms. Hoecker explained that she had received review comments on the Draft Housing Production Plan 43 (HPP) dated 04.02.20; the various feedback was merged into a document (SHOPC Feedback on HPP 44 Draft- 04.02.20} for response back to the HPP consultant, Community Opportunities Group (COG). 45 Review comments included were from Town Planner Karina Quinn and 46 Thomas Bhisitkul. 1 SHOPC Meeting Minutes from April 29, 2020 47 {Mr. Marcoulier joined the virtual meeting at 9:07 AM.) 48 49 Additional comments were provided during discussion and included the following: 50 Per John Wood - 51 Page 2: Section 3 52 • Bullet 2 - We already have adaptive re-use 53 • Bullet 3 - Should it be revise "zoning" not just " Downtown for mixed use? 54 Page 51 55 • Advance local historic section 56 • Last line of the paragraph. Should that read "can no longer be built per 57 regulation "? 58 Appendix 1-6: Section 10 59 • Bullet 4 typo "must" needs to be changed to "most" 60 Appendix 2 61 • Sect 2 bullet 3 Change highlighted SHOP to SHOPC 62 63 Per Doriann Jasinski 64 Concerned with the legibility of the font 65 • 4 different fonts identified - Corbel, Ebrima, Candara, Century Gothic 66 • Unified font is preferred 67 • Suggest an industry recognized "easy to read" font like Verdana or Georgia 68 69 Per Sarah Hoecker 70 Margins are unevenly set on several pages. 71 72 Discussion ensued regarding proposed edits to be made to the Draft Housing Production Plan (HPP) 73 which has been created by Community Opportunities Group, Inc. (COG.) 74 75 Mr. Bhisitkul referred to page 1 "Southborough Housing Goals" in the Executive Summary. He proposed 76 goal #4 "to maintain character and design and complimentary architecture" fell under the purview of 77 the Planning Board. He also proposed that "Priority Housing," in addition to including lower income 78 households earning less than $SOK per year, should have an additional bullet to include workers in the 79 "moderate" income range of $SOK. Ms. Jasinski proposed combining the two bulleted points. Ms. 80 Quinn directed members to DHCD guidelines with a definition of affordability that "household income 81 must not exceed 80% of AMI." Mr. Bhisitkul explained that in addition to DHCD affordable housing, 82 SHOPC is also trying to create affordability outside of DHCH guidelines to create more options within the 83 town. Mr. Bhisitkul noted that the $SOK benchmark will fall under the DHCH guidelines and a separate 84 bullet including the "moderate" income bracket will separate the two issues. Mr. Frisch asked if there 85 are legal ramifications to providing priority to Southborough residents such as the elderly who want to 86 downsize but remain in town. Mr. Bhisitkul opined that it should not be a concern in this situation. Mr. 87 Bhisitkul recommended an update to Zoning to remove barriers for seniors as well as for multifamily 88 housing. Ms. Hoecker recommended making a change to the Adaptive Reuse Bylaw to allow for the 89 conversion of Historical Properties into several units. 90 91 Mr. Wood noted that since the Adaptive Reuse of Historic Structures is already a Bylaw, he asked 92 whether it needed to be included in the HPP. Ms. Quinn stated the goal would be to expand the use of 93 the Bylaw for residential purposes. 94 2 SHOPC Meeting Minutes from April 29, 2020 95 Mr. Frisch asked if "public sewerage" could be added as a goal in the HPP. Other members noted it is 96 included in the infrastructure section. Ms. Hoecker suggested it be added to the "Strategies" Overview 97 at the beginning of the document. 98 99 Mr. Stein expressed concern regarding the phrase on page 51 of the Draft HPP stating "affordable units 100 may be provided off site or by payment in lieu." Mr. Stein expressed concern that "payment in lieu" 101 does not line up with Town Code. Mr. Stein offered to work with Ms. Quinn and COG to clarify the 102 wording in order to ensure that builders do not make assumptions based on the phrase "payment in 103 lieu." Mr. Stein also noted his preference to keep the "design and aesthetic aspect" bullet in the Draft 104 HPP (page 1 Goal #4) that Mr. Bhisitkul identified. Mr. Bhisitkul clarified that he only suggested its 105 removal because he felt it was under the purview of the Planning Board. Mr. Stein proposed it was an 106 effective way to ensure developers understand that affordable housing unit should have "like design" to 107 other housing they build. Ms. Quinn referring to Zoning section 174-13.2.E.5 which states the 108 alternative methods of affordability including certain exceptions which are considered an alternative 109 method of compliance. Ms. Quinn suggested the section in the HPP be reworded to emphasize the 110 preference for developers to build onsite units. Mr. Stein did not agree with the interpretation but 111 rather read the Code as saying, "in certain exceptional circumstances." Ms. Hoecker suggested the 112 removal of two sentences in the HPP and read a proposed edit to the members. Mr. Stein approved of 113 Ms. Hoecker's edits. Mr. Stein further explained his preference to keeping the "design and aesthetic" 114 section in the HPP and noted that it gives the Planning Board both additional guidance as well as 115 credibility to rule on projects and make recommendations to proponents. Ms. Braccio noted that the 116 HPP ties in with the Master Plan which ties into the Zoning so she also supported keeping the section in 117 the HPP. 118 119 Mr. Wood identified an error on page 51 in the "advanced local historic section" stating it should read 120 "no longer'' versus "longer." 121 122 Mr. Marcou lier explained he read the document at a "macro" level in order to provide the Town with 123 guidance. He will read it in further detail to provide additional comments. 124 125 Ms. Braccia noted she did not have additional comments but would like to review it one more time 126 before the next meeting. 127 128 Ms. Jasinski explained that Town Counsel opined that SHOPC obtain homeowners permission to use 129 photos of their homes in the HPP. Ms. Jasinski explained that Ms. Hoecker put together a photo release 130 form to be sent to the homeowners. Mr. Stein referred to HPP page 32 regarding "accessory 131 apartments" and expressed concern that it makes the Town look like they are more flexible than the 132 reality. Mr. Bhisitkul opined that Zoning might need to be revised regarding accessory apartments as 133 the Town Bylaw has a 5% cap which is contrary to SHOPC's goals. Ms. Quinn stated that COG did not 134 identify that information and asked if the Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) or the Assessor can provide 135 them with the information. Mr. Bhisitkul referred to HPP page 14 and noted that the Housing Inventory 136 estimates there are 196 vacant units and only 1 is advertised for rent. He suggested these properties be 137 identified and noted they could be "untapped potential." Mr.