On Thursday, May 29th I attended the first meeting of the Multi-Family Task force. One of the task force goals is to look at our codes and ordinances and bring them up to date by reviewing similar ordinances in neighboring cities. One important point brought out in the presentations is that multi-family and rental properties are not equal when discussing this topic. According to our citizen’s survey, 72% of our residents are concerned about the growth of multi-family rental housing in our city. In my discussions with residents over the last year I have also found a concern from our citizens about rental housing in general.
Officer Janet Jarvis made an excellent presentation regarding the police department’s crime-free multi-housing program. According to the information on our city web site, “the program helps tenants, owners and managers of rental property keep drugs and other illegal activity off their property. It is an honest, direct, solution-oriented way to help reduce incidents of crime in rental property.”
David Brouse, Director of Elementary Education, made an informative presentation regarding growth in the district’s free and reduced lunch program. He also presented information showing how many students (0.5) per rental unit the school district estimates come from rental units renting for $750 or less.
It is my hope that the task force will look deeper into statistics regarding the mobility of students in and out of the school district and the types of housing where those students live. I believe this information is vital in determining what policies the task force should be looking at in regards to the recommendations they make to the council in August.
When talking after the meeting with Councilman Solon, Chairman of the task force, I was informed that they would be doing no further research on this topic, as they had limited time to gather information and would now focus on forming their recommendations to the council.
According to Councilman Solon, the urgency created by imposing a 90 day moratorium on multi-family housing projects has created a situation where a detailed analysis of the situation cannot be done. The task force plans to move ahead, and will make recommendations based on minimal information.
As a comparison, the property maintenance ordinance still under consideration has been over two years in the making with considerable study on that issue before making any recommendations to the council.
I am looking forward to hearing the recommendations that the task force will bring forward to the council and for the public to have input on this important issue. I would encourage the task force to continue their work beyond the deadline to make sure that a thorough analysis is completed before final decisions are made.