April 29, 2004

Commission wades into affordable housing

By Steve Zimmerman
Ashland Daily Tidings

The Ashland City Housing Commission came to a consensus Wednesday that a housing-needs analysis study was needed and a map of where the single-family lots and multifamily lots and units are located in the city.

City Councilor Kate Jackson asked the question that spurred the move toward the analysis and mapping during the meeting.

"Where is the multifamily zoning and where is multifamily housing in Ashland?" she asked. "I feel we have a need to know because it is getting so out of balance with what we need."

That question and comment turned the discussion about affordable housing to a new direction, one that will likely help the city to better define its affordable housing plan.

Since HUD has changed its parameters on what constitutes a rural city - and since Ashland, with its population of just over 20,000, falls into that rural category - a grant to conduct just such an analysis is available to the city.

Kim Miller, a commission member and a member of Options, a nonprofit agency in the Rogue Valley, said he could help in this matter.

"A Rural Housing Economic Development Grant is available through HUD," Miller told Ashland Housing Specialist Brandon Goldman. "But there does need to be a nonprofit sponsor, like Options, for the grant."

Miller said the deadline for application for the grant is May 23 and the funding, if approved, will be available in September.

That timing would be perfect, as the commission suggested that college students from SOU be used to help conduct the survey.

Another point brought up in the discussion was that there have been very few multifamily units built in Ashland in the past five years.

"Only 15 multifamily units have been built since 1998," Commissioner Don Mackin noted. "I can't believe that, including duplexes, that can be accurate."

But Goldman said it is probably quite accurate, as only four multifamily apartments were approved in the city last year.

Strawberry Lane

Commissioners also heard an update on the Strawberry Lane partition plan.

Goldman told commissioners that the city council at its last meeting agreed with residents of the neighborhood that the parcel in question be split only three ways at this time. City staff had recommended a four-way split. The largest lot could be split in two under the present plan, but not until at least one year has passed since the first three-way split.

The partition and sale of the lots would bring the city close to $1 million in revenue.

Of that money, $217,000 will go to The Grove to buy out its Community Development Block Grant, Goldman said. That grant was closed because the project did not meet federal regulations. The money goes back into the CDBG fund to be used again.

Parking lot

Hargadine site developer Alan Sandler has stated he has no objection to leasing the site of his proposed Hargadine Project which would build housing over the present Hargadine Parking lot.

One of the provisions in any sale or lease of that site would be a city buyback provision. The length of that provision was debated by the commission and they agreed that the buyback provision should be no less than 40 years. The consensus among the commission was also that there be no outright sale of the property and that the housing built be rental only.

The commission suggested that people making between 40 percent and 80 percent of the median income in Ashland be eligible for the housing. That would include a single adult making $28,000 per year or a family household making $40,000.