Affordable Housing

Extra Territorial Boundary Update

by

There has been some recent debate about Building Permit Fees in Culver.  Two things have prompted this:  The first being the new County Online Building Permit system and the second being the low reimbursement fee Culver pays the County Building Inspector.

Culver has a Building Commissioner to review zoning requirements and issue building permits.  Our Building Commissioner does not have the proper certifications to do building inspections so we have relied on the County Building Inspector to do building inspections.  Several years ago a fee to the County of $50 per permit was set for projects that required building inspections.  Building inspections are required on any construction involving new or changes to structural, mechanical or electrical systems.  Since that time, some of the larger home projects and commercial projects at Culver Academies have resulted in multiple trips (sometimes dozens) by the County Inspector.  Obviously the $50 fee did not cover the costs.  The County came to Culver asking for several revisions to the way Culver issues permits so as to bring the fees in line with the County fees and to make it more standardized so that the building permit process could be automated across the entire county.

For various reasons, Culver has chosen to not just raise the fees to cover the additional expenses, but to jump the fees well above those in the County and surrounding area.  Where the County has a flat fee for a commercial building, Culver has a fee based on square footage and value which could easily double or quadruple the fee the same building would cost in the county.  The same applies to residential projects.  This is hard to justify within the Town limits, but almost impossible to justify in the Extra Territorial Boundary where there are no municipal utilities, roads or other services.

As discussed here before, I thought it was in Culver’s best interest to expand their Extra Territorial Boundary to the maximum allowed by law.  I fought it when the Town gave up areas due to the new County Online Permitting.  I gave up the fight when Culver didn’t follow the County’s Wind Turbine Ordinance for the Extra Territorial Boundary. (Too Tired to Fight About it Further…)  Now this latest overreach could jeopardize the Extra Territorial Boundary we currently have.  If the County feels the Town is taking advantage of landowners in the Extra Territorial Boundary, they could rescind Culver’s control over this area.  Instead of providing a service this could be considered a case of taxation without representation.

This issue will be before the Town Council tomorrow night.  It has already been before the Plan Commission where it was passed.  I will probably not speak tomorrow night since I already did at the Plan Commission.  My points there were the following:

  1. The fees aren’t justified.  While Culver should be able to recoup costs involved with having a Building Commissioner and the costs to reimburse the County for the time spent by the Building Commissioner, Building Permit fees should not be a money making venture.  The arguments I’ve heard that the Contractors will just pass on these costs to the owners and in the case of large commercial customers and Lake homeowners that “They can afford it.” don’t justify it.  Building Permit fees are supposed to be a fee for services, not an admittance fee.
  2. It seems ironic that Culver has formed an Entry Level Housing Task Force charged with trying to bring some affordable housing to Culver while they contemplate raising fees on building construction.  Granted, the building permit fee is a small percentage of the cost of a new home, but so is the water tap fee and the sewer tap fee and the stormwater control requirements and the green space requirements, etc., etc., etc.  All of those small percentages that the Town increases are on top of all the new Building Code requirements and other impact fees that affect the cost of a home.  I’m not saying that any of these aren’t necessary or don’t make the home better, but they all contribute to pushing the cost of a home out of reach of the average young family in Culver.

It will be an interesting meeting tomorrow night.  I understand the troops have been rallied against this.  I think what started as a reasonable response to outside costs have taken an unfortunate turn.  We’ll see how it shakes out.

Picture Source:  colliergov.net

Comic Source:  studious-catz.com

 

BZA Sand Hill Farm Special Use Meeting

by

As my loyal lurkers know, I got run around by the Town trying to set up a special BZA meeting to hear a Special Use request on my property.  I really appreciate Dan Adams and the other BZA members making the effort to be there for me!  (Jerry Chavez with MCEDC had also called some favors for a abatement hearing at the County Council as well.  That got cancelled.)  But…  That was before the Town Council chose to pull the plug on the project for 2015.

Jonathan Leist, Town Manager, was kind enough to suggest that all I needed to do was submit a letter withdrawing the application and he would appear at the meeting for me.  I didn’t think that was appropriate since I had made the request.  I attended the regularly scheduled BZA meeting on the 15th to thank the BZA members for the indulgence, apologize for the withdrawal and ask whether they wanted to have the special meeting on the 22nd.  After some discussion it was agreed that the meeting should proceed since it had been advertised.  I agreed to attend and formally withdraw my request and answer any questions posed by the public.

There were 8 people there in the audience on the 22nd which made me nervous going in.  It’s unusual for people to come out in support, so I pretty much assumed they were best case coming to hear about it  or not the best, coming to protest it.  Based on the comments, it was a little of both.  The meeting opened and I withdrew the request, but said I was there to answer any questions.  This is paraphrasing at best, but here’s what was asked and answered:

Example of apartments buildings put up by Equal Development, the developer considering working with Culver on Entry Level Housing

Will there be apartments?  Yes, that is why I made the request to the BZA.  Current zoning, S-1, allows single family housing, but apartments are only allowed with a Special Use variance.

Who would manage the apartments and who would make sure they didn’t deteriorate?  Under the scenario currently being pursued, the apartments would be subsidized through a government program and the developer would be responsible for the apartment management.  There would be State inspections to make sure they would be maintained.  (I’ve included a picture of a previous complex completed by the developer to the right and there are more pictures in a previous post here.)

Would you pursue annexation?  I would not pursue annexation, but I would require municipal water and sewer for the apartment project and I would assume the Town would want to annex the property at some time in return for this service.  Jonathan Leist also responded:  The Town would want to annex the property since it is to be served by Town utilities.

How many apartment units are planned?  Initially the discussions are for 24-48 units, but there could be more depending on demand.  There will also be single family homes in the development as well.

There was quite a bit of further “comment” that the apartments would deteriorate over time.

There were “comments” from one adjacent business that they would fight any annexation as it would end them.  It was unclear if the annexation they would fight would be annexation of their property, my property or both…  Meanwhile another business looked at it as an opportunity.  (Currently my property is contiguous to Town, so if I request annexation it’s unlikely that any protests would matter.)

Eventually Dan ended the meetings as the concerns became repetitive and the points were somewhat moot considering that the BZA will probably not be involved with any of the decisions.  Since plans are back up for reconsideration between now and next November, any specifics are subject to change anyway.

It was good to have the discussion and hear what some of the concerns are.  Better to be prepared so we can try and address them positively before we go before the various boards and commissions again.  I still think the project is positive for the Town and I don’t feel there is a downside for the neighborhood.  I think after hearing some of the discussion, some of those that came for information probably agree.  Others may not be so easily swayed.  (Any new lurkers that are interested in reading what I’ve said on these subjects in the past can click the Sand Hill Farm tag (top of post) to see thoughts about the property or the Affordable housing tag to see discussions on affordable housing.  For those of you on Twitter, if you follow @eccculver I tweet out a notice of new blog posts.

 

 

IU Housing Report says Sales Up

by

I ran across this on twitter posted from the IBJ (Indianapolis Business Journal):  IU researchers say 2015 is banner year for housing sales  “Home sales across the state increased more than 6 percent in the one-year stretch ending June 2015 compared with the previous 12 months.  In fact, buyer demand proved so strong this summer that Hoosiers bought 9,080 existing homes in June alone—the state’s second-largest one-month sales tally in the past 12 years, according to the study.”  Unfortunately, as one of the commenters states, it the data looks like it was a banner year for real estate agents, not necessarily home builders…

Granted, it is mainly talking about Indy, but some of the information is salient to the housing conversation in Culver as well.

I need to write a follow up on the BZA meeting last Thursday, but there hasn’t been enough time for me to get my thoughts in order.  Suffice to say for now that it was interesting.

Image Source:  Clipart Panda

Entry Level Housing Update

by

Jeff Kenney’s Culver Citizen article on the Entry Level Housing decision by the Town Council popped up on The Pilot News website over the weekend.  (You can find The Pilot News version here or the Culver Citizen version in a previous post here.)  Unfortunately in the interim, the Council rescinded the decision to move forward this year and instead chose to delay our application until next year.  Thus like the wispy home I’ve shown multiple times in the past (see left), affordable housing in Culver has slipped from our grasp until at least 2017.  (Wow, that was one of the sappiest sentences I’ve written in a long time!)

I can’t help but be frustrated by this.  First because we had been working towards the grant deadline of November 2nd for the last 9 months.  Second, after the decision on September 22nd (the meeting in the Citizen article) I was asked to rush around to get the necessary items lined up which included a special Culver BZA Hearing and a tax abatement hearing with the County Council.  Both of which had been arranged prior to finding out that the plug had been pulled.  (The final piece was completed at 4:55 against a 5:00 deadline.  No stress there!)

The abatement hearing has been cancelled.  The developer has been told to cool his heels.  No follow-up meeting for the Entry Level Housing Task Force has been scheduled.  The only thing that is continuing forward is the BZA Hearing.  If the BZA is still willing, I plan to go ahead with that hearing.  I am thinking that it can’t hurt to vet the location ahead of time.  All the neighboring property owners have been alerted.

I hope our development partner hangs with us.  I hope we don’t lose opportunities with our target audiences.  I hope the grant availability is there next year.  I hope the County Council is still supportive next year.  I hope any changes in the Council following the election doesn’t realign the will of our leadership.  I hope the subsequent changes in the appointed boards and commissions doesn’t change their will to move forward.  That’s six “hopes” we now have in trade for the momentum we previously had.  Let me throw in one more for lucky seven and say I hope all this works out.

Image Source:  www.homeloanstoday.com

Image Source:  Unknown (found on Pinterest)

Entry Level Housing Update

by

Culver Citizen - Culver Chooses Site for Entry Level Housing DeJeff Kenny did a nice job on the coverage of the Entry Level Housing discussion at the Town Council.  I’ve included the scans of the article here if you want to read it.  (I only included the portion discussing Entry Level Housing.)  I think you can blow up the scans on the right so they are legible.

I’m pleased that things are moving forward, but frustrated that they have moved as slowly as they have up to this point.  All of the sudden we’re in a crunch to get things done since the grant deadline is November 2nd.  Because the decision finally came down to putting the development on my property, I’ve been thrust into the position of getting the variances, abatements, etc. in my name.  Most of this is going to require special meetings due to the timing.  Not a big deal, but it’s all about time…

Culver Citizen - Culver Chooses Site for Entry Level Housing 2Jeff also did a side bar article on the property and my history with it.  It was cut up a bit as it appeared in the paper, so I’ve included the text here instead of doing scans. That also let me put links into some of the things he mentions in case you want to follow up.  The side bar article follows:

Read more