Beacon, New York Planning Board Training Sessions 2023, 11 Apr 2023

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From YouTube: Beacon Planning Training 4-11-23

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Beacon Planning Board Training Session "affordable housing discussion" on April 11, 2023

A

So yeah: well, uh it's seven o'clock now we're gonna start the training session of our meeting and then.

B

A

At 7, 30 we'll start our regular agenda. So Clark has some information he wants to share with us around the city's thinking on affordable housing.

C

Yes, the council had me over last Monday or I guess a week from Monday and um I wanted to want to have a workshop on affordable housing. That seems to be a high priority on their list right now, and so they asked me to come in and make some recommendations about how we could deal with zoning to provide some incentives or jump start some affordable housing options in the city, additional ones.

C

So the part of the memo that I put together for the council um I thought it'd be good to get some feedback from the planning board, the first on the back burner burnout. But it seems something to do. The city has a senior affordable housing overlay District that nobody pays much attention to, because it was put in place in 2012 to allow the hospital to be converted the affordable housing. So they customized the zoning Provisions in that section for that particular building.

C

So it essentially doesn't apply anywhere else in the in the city or it would be really odd if it did because they had things in there like it has to be an Adaptive reuse of a building over 50 years old how's that for an incentive.

C

So my first suggestion was to revise the senior affordable housing option to make it available all over the city for new construction and for smaller Lots, because not only they require 50 year old existing building, but they also gave the allowable units per acre at only four per acre, which is like Suburban zoning. It doesn't apply for multi-family zoning unless you have a very big parcel which the hospital had a very big parcel.

C

So the second suggestion was to substantially increase the allowable units to something more like, what's equivalent in the GP District or the LI District, or maybe the the transitional District.

C

um They also have a minimum 20 dwelling units, there's no reason to have 20 dwelling units. It could be five or ten or something that was the accommodated or a small lot.

C

This is really strange. They they put the parking standards at 1.2 spaces per unit for.

B

Senior housing.

C

Anywhere else in this in the city other than the senior housing overload Zone um you can. You can provide senior, affordable housing or senior housing at all at .66 per unit, so they doubled the requirement for this overlay District of what.

A

C

That's my suggestion: it's 1.2 spaces per units now and that's because the hospital had a big parking lot, so they can afford it. They already had the parking all set up so I also just suggested you can take it from 62 year old, minimum to 55 or 60 something more flexible, I'm.

A

Particularly offended by that one.

C

A

D

C

Are called active, adult section in the trade um they have the percentage requirement of of the area, meaning income at 100 percent of median income, which seems high the affordable, Workforce housing is 80. You could even go lower to 70 or 60 so that you targeted more low-income housing and then they also not only require you to go through his resulting process to get into the senior housing overlay Zone.

C

But then you have to do a special permit on top of that from the city council before you go to the planning board for site plan. So it's like a three-step process which makes no sense if you're trying to incentivize affordable housing. So all these things seem to ring a bell with the council. I'm, not sure they didn't give me any directive active.

B

C

To go after this and Mark it up and make the Zone more flexible, but it seems like a logical thing to do.

A

Just a refresher on what the overlay district is currently. Is it just that particular lot? You mentioned yep, it's.

C

The only one I've identified in the city is currently zoned.

B

Zone filming to me or.

C

Am I? Well, that's why it was framed as an overlay District, because theoretically, it could apply anywhere in the city any place with a 50 year old building. That is.

A

C

And that had a big parking lot already and you know it just it makes no sense because in essence it's been around since for over 10 years now and in one parcel has been zoned that way.

E

What is the incentive to develop? You know senior, affordable housing. If you are a developer, how do you attract that kind of project rather than a you know, a high-end condo development.

C

So there's certain developers, organizations that that want to provide senior housing and low-income housing and they can get State money to do it, but they have to have a site with the right zoning. So if we opened up the city to more sites, so what I did next was I well. First of all, I want to show you these are the R1 districts in the city under existing zoning. So you can see something like 85. 90 of the city is zoned for R1 single family.

C

Only the only other option is a accessory apartment, so 80, 90 percent of the city, is off limits to multi-family housing, which is the way you provide most senior or affordable housing.

C

So allowing this overlay District to be used anywhere in those R1 districts would be a great opportunity if you had the right site. So I looked around the city to see. Well, maybe there's no sites available and everybody says beacons built out. They were sort of at the limit. Well, there's sites available, you know and I haven't talked to any of the owners of these sites. I just pulled them off the parcel access but, for instance, the Elks parcel everybody knows the Elks parcel at the corner of the aronda and Walcott.

C

That's a big parcel, four acres, almost four acres and about half of it is used. You can see the buildings in the back. The big parking lots in the back so.

D

In theory, they.

C

Could put two acres on the market or cooperate with the developer, who wants to do senior, affordable housing and if it was properly zoned under the current zoning, you could only put 16 units on that property if you had half the lot, but it was zoned at the same development potential as a transitional District, it would be 33 units or if you went to the same development potential that you have in the GB or the LI District.

C

uh You could get 56 units on that property in vary. Now. We don't know how it would look or but in theory, there's a there's, a good site within walking distance of Main Street, where you could put affordable housing.

A

Yeah I was going to ask if there's any specific criteria that makes sense for placement of affordable senior housing relative to public transportation.

E

It's walkable to you, know your grocery store and stuff. It's better yeah.

A

Well, who, at that age, wants to walk anywhere I.

E

Know people who are in their early 70s and are living in apartments on Main Street, who walked to the grocery store.

C

Affordable house, if the senior housing is large enough, has enough units, they usually have a kitchen and they.

A

C

Meals and that sort of thing there's an option, so you can be self-independent. I mean the people at Highland. Meadows in Meadow. Ridge are um pretty isolated, but they seem to be pretty successful because they.

B

C

To seniors who you know in theory, if you have enough units, you can have a shuttle bus on site or.

A

So is the underlying purpose to increase the availability of a fort senior, affordable housing I'm assuming that's what the goal is Right. Ultimately, that's.

C

What it says, the.

A

City's goal is to to do just that: increase availability of senior, affordable.

F

Right housing, what what I was I was reading through the actual requirements in the senior Al housing overlay District. What would the actual revisions look like? I mean a change in the age and then eliminating the requirement that they're being reuse of a building- that's at least 50 years old right. Would it.

F

Would there be any requirement for reuse of a building at all, or would it basically.

C

No I would make it as flexible as possible so to attract the most potential interest from private landowners or developers who want to focus on senior housing and, for instance, you know. This last example is down here: are fairly small Lots, so the old club building I, don't remember what was in there it's vacant. Now, it's up behind the um um across the senior housing across the street, so our Zone to R5 now um right north of 152, which is on an agenda tonight. Just so that's a one point.

E

It was the Masonic temple yeah, it's next to the club, building next to the temple next to the Hebrew Temple yeah.

C

Yeah, it's a masonic.

E

It's a masonic lodge.

C

So it's vacant now yeah and uh it has a nice prominence, a lot. It's close to Main.

A

C

um It's across from senior housing already, so it wouldn't be out of the neighborhood. You know um so you could put either 20 or 34 units up there in theory. If, if you had um the ability to do so under the zoning law,.

D

I'm I'm a little confused about what what this whole procedure is. I mean. um Are we talking sros going back to doing that? No okay, so these units are then for seniors that can get around and do things so.

C

But that could be either for active seniors. People want to downsize and and live in an independent living apartment. They can be for assisted living. They could be for senior housing like um where there's.

B

D

C

And and nurse available on site and those sorts of things, the way I think Highland Meadows is probably.

D

Like the Highland middle that that they know what they're doing right, this kind of sounds to me like we don't know what we're doing that. You know we're just proposing to build these things just because we can propose to build them. um I'm, I'm, thinking like if we want to do affordable housing, maybe it should be mixed.

D

C

D

Have some of it senior citizens and some of it for families, but this whole thing where you don't really need parking.

D

um These smaller units I'm not saying that they can't live in something small like that or you know, want to live in something small like that. But I, don't I, don't really understand the purpose. Well,.

C

The purpose is to provide senior, affordable housing and if you can change the law by a few tweaks, it's easy to pass. um The city is completely control of the zoning laws, so they can change the zoning such that instead of one side being available for this use. You know a dozen or more sites around the city, it could be available for this use and they could Court it.

C

You know they could advertise amongst developers who have that sort of interest that they will cooperate in terms of you know, State housing grants or whatever else, to try to provide provide this sort of housing which is needed out there. There's.

D

A lot of people who have love to downsize. We need affordable housing.

C

D

In vegan I mean you know every time you turn around, there's something luxury whatever going on. There are people that work actually work for a living, not everybody's on a trust fund or you know, has unlimited income, um but I I still think that maybe we should be looking to something where um you have the seniors on the ground level and families above you know, so that it's mixed right.

C

You could break that into the law. It doesn't have to be all.

D

Senior housing, it's yeah, that's the way it's set up for now. Well, I. Think that way, you'd also be able to get more developers interested in.

C

Something why this isn't the only idea I have. If you stick around, um you know we can move on the first. One was about senior housing, because it's already set up in the zoning law and all we have to do is tweak the the law so that it's available for more options.

A

Are they on any kind of timeline for modifying these laws? Any stated time.

C

No, they said it was their highest priority, um but.

B

I know there the state is, is sending.

C

The state is sending that's the other reason. It should be a high priority is because their state and probably Federal money going to be available for this sort of thing.

B

Yeah and also men, it sounds like it's going to be mandated, affordable, housing well,.

C

That's a touch and go thing with the budget: I don't know if it's going to be mandated, but if it isn't mandated then there's going to be a lot more money for incentives. So either way, there's going to be money for incentives and some action by the state I think.

B

C

Encourage the construction of housing of all sorts to up the housing.

B

Supply, generally so does I I agree. I feel like the integration of like makes more sense and the little that I've been reading about affordable and senior housing. That it seems to be that that seems to be a movement within senior housing is to have intergenerational.

A

B

Options, um so could we just instead of isolating senior housing overlay? Could it just be affordable, housing, overlay.

C

Could be the council asked me that question and I said yes, there's.

B

C

Reason it's just set up that way. We could do a separate overlay for affordable or you could do just open it up for anything. Let's.

A

Let's hear what else you have and but again the reason I asked about the timeline is because there are often times when this the council asks us for feedback on laws affecting zoning, and you know they're gonna. They want to vote on it like immediately.

A

In a half hour, Workshop I.

D

Feel a little pressured.

A

That the planning board- because you know, there's a group of smart people here- who have input- that we want to be able to help guide in a meaningful way. Yeah so um well,.

C

This was supposed to be a preview yeah.

A

So you did get stuck in.

C

That situation.

A

C

Any direction at the end of the county go.

A

C

On this, have it for us in two weeks we're ready to roll if.

E

You could you put this overlay into R1 if you were to put it into all the R1. What kind of you know Building height, you know how many stories, what would be the the maximum? You know if you're saying, okay, let's, let's um allow more than four units per acre. Let's allow this overlay to be put anywhere in the R1. What would be the limitation.

C

Current zoning law- you, the overlay and the bulk Rags- are the same, except for the development potential per acre are the same, so you'd have the same setbacks required under that District. The same height standard, so it'd be 35 feet two and a half stories. uh Now you could change that for the affordable housing. You could go to three full stories.

F

Or yeah everything really just depends on the density limit, because the density eliminate is not particularly High. Basically just opened up multi-family development, all over the R1 districts, which somehow I feel that wouldn't be very popular yeah.

E

Well, that's the reason: it's really.

F

Going against, like the the comprehensive.

E

C

Don't think so the reason the Zone already exists. Yes, it's not exists, you know it's and the council still before they could implement this. They could change the law, make it more attractive and then anybody who came in they would have to make the case and the neighbors would have the right to come to the public here.

E

We don't want it next door or whatever you want to make the things yeah. One of the reasons why the.

C

Senior housing is more attractive because seniors are looked at as being less impactful on the neighborhood.

A

E

Multi-Family, it requires a little bit of thought only because and I'm asking a question based on a bunch of stuff I've read about attempts to get multi-family housing built in California in places where there's a massive demand for housing and the neighbors flip out and lose their minds over anything that looks like multi-family, housing and so I.

E

I guess I'm concerned that if, if it's, if the restrictions are too relaxed- and someone comes in and says oh I'd love to do this- and you know how many units can I put in how many stories can I go full three stories that you'll then you'll get projects killed by the neighbors who are like no way. This is like completely.

C

Out of character in the neighborhood examples, I showed are in a neighbor where they would blend in they wouldn't.

E

C

Out of character, they're, not in the middle of a you, know a street with all single-family houses on them, they're on Main, Corners, they're, on surrounded by Rd districts, um they're already having assisted housing facility on the property, and they could just expand those sorts.

A

Of places just to be clear, it wouldn't necessarily be opening up R1 to all of this. It's it's. It would be to focus on specific Parcels.

C

But the counselors say no: if they thought that they context was not conducive to it.

F

Yeah, basically, the way this is written now open up the requirements we were talking about. You eliminate that reuse requirement um and.

A

C

Affects something happened, the only real.

F

Limiting factor here is the density restriction, no.

C

The limiting factor is before um a developer can get going on a project, even if they meet all the criteria in the zone. The council has to say: yes, we will be willing to rezone that property, because there isn't a Revolt in the neighborhood and there it is in the in a good context. It's a good situation where it won't be out of character or whatever. So.

F

They still have ultimate.

C

Control to say.

F

No, yes, and no, because the reality is like with a special use permit saying once you've got the legislation on the book. The City cannot simply categorically refuse to Grant the permits for.

C

An overlay Zone, they can categorically Grant to say no, there's no reason: there's no obligation to rezone a property under the law, so they can say absolutely no. This is the wrong spot um look over here, but this is the wrong street, so they absolutely can say no to any rezoning.

C

Some of the other suggestions.

D

C

Parking requirements for designated affordable units, so you have a 10 set aside for those units, require no parking. So it's an incentive to provide those and to provide enough housing that you qualify for an affordable housing designated unit, also lower the multi-family parking requirements. City-Wide there are leftovers from like the 1970s when really big cars, and- and you know there was 3.6 people living in every single family house. Now the the persons per household has gone down, 25 percent, but our parking rigs are still the same.

C

Why is it that we have a mandatory parking requirement for every use in the city, but we don't have mandatory anything else. You know I mean you have to have a bathroom, you have to have a kitchen and you have to have a parking space or two parking spaces to get a house housing unit. It's it's. um We live in a city where people can walk, they don't necessarily need a car, um so many cities across something like 200 cities across the country have eliminated parking altogether requirements.

C

They allow the people who build it to come into the planning board and say this is what we think we need and if the planning board says it made sense, it makes sense because most of these marking standards are arbitrary, anywhere they're left over from either Suburban ite numbers I studies that primarily look at Suburban examples in places without Transit without walkability.

C

So um when you look at the cost of a housing unit, something like 17 percent of a rental unit is the cost for the parking so they're all over the country, primarily in the South. It's funny that it's in Houston and Charlotte in places where you wouldn't think it they're allowing Housing Development to happen without parking spaces.

C

The people self-select, if I'm, going to rent a place in this I'm, not going to get a parking space designated to me for free, and so they attract people who have bicycles or are willing to use Uber or the only one to use the bus or whatever.

C

um Now maybe Beacon isn't ready for that, but you could at least lower the parking standards so that it's a minimum rather than looked at as a maximum.

C

um Just like I identified a few Parcels where you could put multi-family housing for seniors. The city could identify places where they want to do Rd, residential developments that allow multi-family. So you start breaking up that 90 percent Stranglehold on available land for more than single-family houses.

C

um You can make multi-family dwelling in a permitted use in the Rd District right now, even if you get the rezoning 4D again, you have to go through a special perimeter process which opens you up to them getting a lot of complaints and therefore saying no. So people put out a lot of money for applications and content plans and then the special permit allows them, even if they rezoned it to say no to the special permit.

C

um You can allow two family dwellings in the R1 District, that's sort of minimalist, there's very little impact of a two-family dwelling over a one family dweller.

C

um So right now you have to have a special permit and a site plan approval, whereas a single family home. Unless it's in the historic district, you don't have to have anything more than a building permit.

A

For instance, is like that I mean I can understand on a larger scale: development where you don't have owner proximate or owner occupy. That makes sense um for for instances like this, where you have this mix Within resin, you know dense residential, like a two family. What would be the city's requirement on maintenance, repair, safety.

C

The same as any other multi-family or even single.

A

Family, so it just needs to be enforced. Yeah I'm, just curious, I'm just concerned about specific types of developers who meet the minimum basis.

C

There's developers out there who build single family homes and they don't have any requirements to do those sorts of things. Extra standards, yeah.

A

C

Don't go to the planning board and I need a special permit. Yeah.

A

I'm not I'm not saying that I'm just I'm just I'm just talking about upkeep maintenance.

C

Well, there's maintenance laws in the city right now.

A

C

Maintain your property, single family, or otherwise they can. The city can notify you that you're, not maintaining your property, I'm.

A

More thinking about the occupants of a rental, for you know with a landlord like that right, the impact of the community. It's more, you know types of landlords who don't care right.

C

Others, there's people own property or don't care either. You have to I think we have to get away from thinking that all renters are bad.

A

C

The city, uh you can't have 90 of it locked up in single-family homes, no.

A

I get that my concern more is about the welfare of the renters, meaning the safety, the conditions, requirements for owners and landlords to look after them.

C

Protections law both at the state law.

A

So it's enforcement yeah.

C

Let me get. We only have a few minutes left. Let me just throw out a couple other options: uh the cities, uh Main Street access committee provided a dozen a dozen half a dozen places where you could put affordable housing on parking lots in the city, city-owned Lots, where they could just the way they did on West End Lofts, um sponsor an affordable housing project on public land, and so there's an incentive to actually do it in cooperation with the city.

C

But the city is overwhelmed with capital projects right now, so they said, we'd love to do these things, but we just don't have the Staffing power to do them. So I suggested two places where you could have affordable housing projects, targeted sites for affordable housing or housing in general, um where the city wouldn't be the main player, because it's not on city property, it's on other public properties, so, for instance, the County Center lot.

C

We talked about I think this. Before it's big Corner parking lot, that's only half used even on peak days, um a real Gap in this Main Street streetscape. So what was suggested in both 2007 and 2017? Comprehensive plan has put a building on the corner frame, a green space on Main Street next to a Civic use and then consolidate the parking to the rear, and you can actually put more parking on the back two-thirds of the space if you do it efficiently. So here we have 92 spaces throughout the property and 114 spaces.

C

Just on the rear portions of the property so I, um the County Administration was interested in micro Apartments because those are inherently affordable. Those are properties under 300 square feet, real minimal studio type Apartments.

C

On that corner parcel you could put 40 of those in a three-story building and framed that Park and the developer were responsible for making the park as well as the as the building and reconfiguring the parking lot.

C

um The green could be designed for the farmers market as an intro entrance. You know with tables on both sides as you enter and then filter back into the parking lot, where the more.

B

C

Oriented tables are, could have a bus stop out front, so it starts working with the bus system, so this would be on County property in I. Think I could talk the County Planning Department into running the show and getting County trust fund money to help it help it.

A

Go it's probably about the fourth iteration of that lot. I've seen you plan out over the years yeah! Well, it's.

C

Still a good idea yeah since 2007.

A

Well, we've been we've been going at it for a while right.

C

Well, this time I think the incentive is out there, both from the city and the county. The county just set up a Housing Trust Fund to fund properties just like this, and this is their own property. It's sort of a no-brainer to. Why would you give money for other part persons when you own one and can subsidize.

A

C

In that way, what.

A

Was the city's response to this one.

C

Same as always, it looks like a good idea.

C

um The other main parcel and I'll just leave this one is the north parking lot at Metro. North Metro North um was interested in doing a housing project there years ago. They were in the zoning, wasn't in place so in after the 2007 comprehensive plan, which looked at this properties, in particular uh the city rezoned, that for Waterfront development and put in a whole design standard for what this parcel would look like with a building on it.

C

That's built in a deck over the parking lot it's built into that Hillside, so it would have no view impacts from from other areas, and you could put a number of housing within walking distance of the riverfront parks and the train station and Metro North, that's on their property, so they would, in theory, run that process, not the city, but they would do it in cooperation with the city.

C

B

It would convince them to upgrade their station at the same time. That would be.

C

Nice so I think we're over time, but those are some of the ideas that were out there.

A

Okay, well thanks John, um certainly a lot to think about it's. Do you think this is something we're going to be asked to come back to over the next couple of months? Well,.

C

Certainly the senior affordable housing overlay District, it seems to me, like a no-brainer but um we'll see.

A

Okay, yeah because I we haven't really formalized any kind of response here tonight. So no.

C

Well, they're not proposing anything yeah yeah, so they haven't even authorized me. Even though I have a red line version the uh the overlay District they haven't asked me to do it.

A

B

Can we continue this next month.

A

Yeah, that's what I was thinking if, what's.

C

A

We're thinking we'd continue this next month, perhaps okay, yeah great well, thanks welcome Judd sitting in.