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HomeMy WebLinkAbout01.19.2022 Minutes__________________________________ Redevelopment Authority Minutes 1 January 19, 2022 REDEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY MEETING MINUTES January 19, 2022 PRESENT: Lori Palmeri, Susan Panek, Jack Bermingham, Jason Lasky, Thomas Belter EXCUSED: Archie Stam, Steve Hintz STAFF: Kelly Nieforth, Executive Director/Community Development Director; Sean Fitzgerald; Economic Development Specialist, Jason Pausma; Economic Development Services Manager, Anna Maier; Administrative Assistant Chairperson Palmeri called the meeting to order at 4:00pm. Roll call was taken and a quorum declared present. The minutes and closed session minutes of November 17, 2021 were approved with a revision. (Lasky, Bermingham) Land Acquisition for Day by Day Update Nieforth stated that since the last meeting, staff reviewed the comments they received from RDA. After discussions with staff and a review of CDBG guidelines, staff decided that it would make more sense to follow the city’s typical acquisition process of going to Plan Commission and Council for approval. Those meetings took place in January and Council approved moving forward with the acquisition. The city will not acquire the properties until Day by Day has their funding in place. Some members of the community and other organizations expressed concern with the location and had volunteered to help Day by Day look for other locations in the Central City area. They are working on that currently and city staff are helping to support the new site selection as much as they can. Draft Housing Study Update Nieforth shared an overview of the draft housing study. They are currently working on collecting comments from the public and feedback from boards and commissions. They had public participation session on Monday. The consultant met with different stakeholders and community groups when putting it together. There is a lack of inventory and a rental gap between less expensive units and the newer ones on the market. Material costs are increasing. There is a need for mid-range single family homes. More families are living together in multigenerational households. There are older folks who want to stay in their house and there needs to be a way for them to do that safely. People want to see different types of housing like condos and they’re going to encourage that. There is also a need for executive housing. Palmeri asked how many people showed up for the public participation session on Monday. __________________________________ Redevelopment Authority Minutes 2 January 19, 2022 Nieforth replied that they had just under 20. They are going to try a virtual session and market that as much as possible. They’ve also received comments on the website. Palmeri asked if there was any mention of accessory dwelling units in the study. Nieforth replied affirmatively. Palmeri stated that she has long thought they could use a Community Development Corporation. She asked what staff thoughts are on that. Nieforth replied that it was one of the recommendations. They did identify some partners that might be interested in helping to facilitate private development projects and it is something to consider as they move forward with implementation. Panek asked if there was anything in the report that surprised her or if there was anything that wasn’t included that she would have liked to have seen. Nieforth replied that she continues to be surprised by the huge gap in housing and the number of units they will need moving forward. She was also surprised that population growth is much lower than other communities. Population change from 2010 to 2020 was 1% in Oshkosh, 3% in Neenah, 7% in Appleton, 3% in Green Bay, and 3% in La Crosse. Even with the low population growth, they are still going to need about 170 units each year to account for that. They may need to begin conversations with larger employers regarding workforce housing. Lasky asked if the report addresses geographic density and how that may serve as a benefit or detriment to certain areas. Nieforth replied that there are some heat maps that look at all of the different census tracks and value to income ratio by census group. The median income is lower in the central city area, but there are also new multi-family developments coming in which may be impactful in the next ten years. Lasky asked about the distribution between the different sides of town. Nieforth replied that in some situations it’s equally distributed. The census tracks grow much larger towards with south and west sides of town. You can see the difference for median income in certain areas as well. Palmeri stated that she was looking for density mapping as well and couldn’t find anything. Nieforth replied that she would look through and see if there is anything, but it is a good point and it should be included. __________________________________ Redevelopment Authority Minutes 3 January 19, 2022 Panek stated that you can search by zip code on 211counts.org. She used the site when speaking with university groups to show where the highest rates of poverty are in Oshkosh. She asked where the study will go from here. Nieforth replied that they would be reaching out to boards and commissions for more feedback. She anticipates workshops and more discussions before the plan is formally adopted and implementation begins. They’ll reach out to different community organizations and civic groups to make sure that they’re promoting it throughout the community. It’s a long term plan and a living document, but this is a great place to start. RDA Properties Overview Ms. Nieforth presented an overview of the properties currently owned by the RDA as well as the cluster areas where the RDA is trying to promote redevelopment. Palmeri asked if 1125 North Main Street should be listed as South Shore Redevelopment. Nieforth replied that it’s a typo and staff will update the spreadsheet. Palmeri asked what no sale means in the status. Fitzgerald replied that it’s for properties they’re attempting to land bank or saving for redevelopment. They’re not actively selling them. Nieforth replied that it’s actually an old railroad right-of-way. It’s an open space right now, but it’s a busy intersection that they could use for a gateway sign. They would consider an offer if someone were interested in the property. They have some areas for future right-of-way, so that’s the potential reuse. Palmeri asked if that would happen to be one of the lots set aside for community garden space. Ms. Nieforth replied that it might be. Palmeri asked if no sale means they’re not marketing it actively because there are potential plans for the site. Nieforth replied affirmatively. Panek stated that the RDA has a lot of property between 8th and 9th Avenues between Nebraska and Oregon. She asked if they’re planning something there. Nieforth replied that they started acquiring multiple properties in that area coincidentally and they thought it would be a good redevelopment area. All but one of the parcels is vacant. One of the parcels is leased out to ADVOCAP for transitional housing. Now that they have the housing study, they could continue to acquire homes in the area or they could try to redevelop it now and move __________________________________ Redevelopment Authority Minutes 4 January 19, 2022 on to a different area. Another area where that’s happened is between Main and Jefferson and Irving and Parkway. They continue to market these areas and look for opportunities for acquisition. Palmeri stated that they have been vacant since before 2008. There was an option that was taken out that impacted the community garden that there previously. There have been inquiries but no action taken. Panek asked if this was the section of property that they wanted to see if they could acquire more because they needed to have dual access to the property. Nieforth replied that they have access off of 668 North Main Street and Jefferson Street. The owner of the other properties is aware of the project and has been engaged with them. The RDA started acquiring them from 2006 to 2013 to build a development site that would be large enough for something like the town homes to the west on Division. Palmeri stated that this is one of the densest areas of the city, so she thinks it’s important to have those discussions and provide some guidance on what they’d like to see. The previous neighborhood plan related to this is extremely outdated. Her hope is that they could give some input as to what they’d like to see. It’s kind of hard when they’re looking at a section this small and not taking the greater context into consideration. Lasky stated that they had great intent in the past by using the clusters to create a greater impact for development. Their ability to create larger impacts is a great benefit for those areas. Redevelopment takes time. The Nebraska development is going to create economic value there when the developer decides to develop that side of the river. He thinks there’s nothing wrong with them waiting for good things to happen because they will happen. The potential impact of these areas is pretty substantial. Bermingham stated that on the same topic as the Jefferson piece, he would love to see the day where they stopped talking about it as there Jefferson project. If they have enough of those parcels on the Main Street side, then it’s almost rebranded to a certain degree with that full street access. If they can get to that point it’s a bit more attractive than just the Jefferson side of the street. Palmeri asked if the City Manager talked with anyone in Community Development about the lack of green space and park space downtown in relation to population density. Nieforth replied that they work with the Parks Department as they move forward with different development projects. There are requirements in terms of the amount of green space needed for residents. It’s not usually a full blown park for multi-family developments, but it is something they are looking at with their subdivision code to make sure that they keep up with where the population is growing and offer those amenities equally throughout the community. __________________________________ Redevelopment Authority Minutes 5 January 19, 2022 Lasky replied that he was aware of an idea to add more green space next to the convention center. He thinks the long term vision of that entertainment district was to potentially add more of a park atmosphere in the area. He would hope to see some of that conversation potentially. Palmeri replied that she has heard that referenced many times. She asked Lasky to help her understand the genesis of that because she wasn’t sure where it comes from. Lasky replied that he thinks it was originally when the city was talking about how to engage the Foundation in supporting the area. He thinks the city’s involvement in making it happen was the genesis of that conversation. The intent was to have the Leach Amphitheatre as an anchor and be able to fill in as properties became available over time. That’s a conversation needed with the city to determine if that’s a need or desire. Panek replied that when they sold the Hooper building, there was never any discussion about it becoming an entertainment district at that time. She was a bit surprised to hear that this was the entertainment district and asked if they had multiple entertainment districts. Nieforth replied that she thinks Lasky is referencing a downtown study from around 2000. They had a lot of great things come out of that study like the Leach Amphitheatre, the Opera House Square Park, and the Convention Center. Lasky replied that community livability was the whole premise. Nieforth replied that it was a very successful plan because over 90% was implemented. There were different ideas for Riverside Park. There was also the Imagine Oshkosh plan from three or four years ago. They didn’t go into too much detail in terms of redevelopment, but you could look at the plans and see that the area south of Ceape was intended as an entertainment area or walkable area for visitors and residents. Lasky replied that one of the benefits was to help enhance the adjacent neighborhoods that were in kind of a terrible situation. Nieforth replied that those are some of the considerations as they move forward. They get calls from folks asking if the city would like to buy their property. They get a list of foreclosures from the county every month. They have different opportunities to purchase properties, but they want to make sure they are using their time wisely and pursuing opportunities where the RDA would like to see redevelopment in the community. Panek asked who owns the piece of property across the street from 36 Broad Street that is currently a corporate community center. It’s right on the river by the bridge. It would be some cool property to develop. Nieforth replied that it’s the R Store. It’s an opportunity site that is currently owned by a private company. She heard there is probably contamination on the site. She is not aware of the city __________________________________ Redevelopment Authority Minutes 6 January 19, 2022 pursuing that, but if the RDA is interested, she will start trying to track down people. There would be a lot of research that would go into that. Palmeri stated that she hopes staff can share the green space future land acquisition needs from the core plan. She’s not saying that redevelopment makes that decision, but it’s definitely something to have in consideration because there are about 20,000 people living in that circle north of the river. One third of the population is being served by less than two acres of park space in that central area. There are 20,000 people living more than a ten minute walk from a city park because Menominee Park is considered a community park. It may be helpful for folks to know that in the context. Everything north and west is like a green space desert that goes all the way up to Nicolet. Nieforth replied that neighborhood associations have been really engaged in those kind of community parks. They offer programs through Community Development to develop public spaces in the different neighborhood associations. That could be a priority that they could work on with the Parks Department. They can bring that green space information to the next meeting and talk about the core plan to see if there are any connections or involvement there. Palmeri replied that the LDR and Imagine Oshkosh plan reference enhancing the quality of life for shoulder neighborhoods off of Main Street and into what is now Midtown. One of the newest distressed census tracks is either 11 or 14 with a high rate of poverty which they have not seen before. This is a newly identified area. Nieforth replied that they have some formula or rhyme or reason for how they come up with those designations. Palmeri replied that they would put it back on the agenda for the next meeting for further discussion. She asked if the intent is to start some planning action for the scattered sites that aren’t already identified in the redevelopment plan. Nieforth replied that those parcels are the ones that they’re not land banking. They’re trying to be somewhat aggressive with that and the housing study identified some programming to hopefully promote that infill development even more. Staff would like to know what areas they’d like to focus on or if they are any areas they’d like to move focus away from. RDA Financials Nieforth presented the 2022 budget allocation for the RDA. The Grove Street funding has already been allocated toward site costs for the Habitat for Humanity project so there’s just under 1.5 million that’s not exclusive to the RDA, but could be used for redevelopment moving forward. Palmeri asked if the RDA should have a conversation about the housing study recommendation of a community Development Corporation. She read an article where some RDAs have combined with housing authorities for a hybrid model. __________________________________ Redevelopment Authority Minutes 7 January 19, 2022 Nieforth replied that every municipality is different. The RDA is setup as a separate entity, but they obviously depend on the city for everything. There would have to be some changes if they partnered with another organization. That’s something they could discuss at the next meeting if they’d like to explore it further. Lasky stated one of the purposes of the RDA is to assist with the redevelopment of housing, but it’s not limited to that. A risk of combining with a dedicated housing organization is they might not be a good fit long term for an industrial property or something like that. There might be reasons to keep independent, but he definitely thinks they should look at how they could work with an organization like that. Nieforth replied that she anticipates many conversations with different organizations and even talking with other municipalities to see how their setup works. They’re going to be doing a lot of research to see how it could be setup here. Executive Director’s Report Ms. Nieforth provided updates to the RDA. Adjournment There was no further discussion. The meeting adjourned at approximately 5:28pm. (Panek, Belter) Respectfully Submitted, Kelly Nieforth Executive Director