Roger Lentz, president of the N.C. chapter of the American Planning Association, presented former Mayor Randy Kincaid (right) with the group’s Marvin Collins Award for Distinguished Leadership.

Also Tues.: honors for former Mayor Kincaid and a slew of committee appointments

By DAVID BORAKS
DavidsonNews.net

The Town Board on Tuesday deferred action on a proposed policy spelling out how owners of affordable housing may recover the costs of replacement floors, cabinets, roofs, and other “capital updates” when selling their homes – with town officials’ approval. Davidson affordable housing coordinator Cindy Reid said she would take board members’ suggestions back to a committee working on the new rules and present a revised version at a future meeting. Also Tuesday, commissioners:

• Voted to appoint a long list of citizens to local boards and commissions: (See a list of the new appointees and existing members below.) The committees include one new one – the Natural Assets Committee – whose formation follows through on a key recommendation of a task force last year that studied the town’s trees and other major natural assets and how to preserve them.
• Heard a presentation by planning expert Stan Leinwand of GHD Consulting Inc. on “Eco-Industrial Urbanism,” and potential uses of several town- and privately-owned properties off Beaty Street on the west side of town.
• Applauded as former Mayor Randy Kincaid was given an award for planning leadership by Roger Lentz, president of the North Carolina chapter of the American Planning Association. Former Mayor Kincaid received the association’s Marvin Collins Award for Distinguished Leadership. “Through his 28 years of community service, Mayor Kincaid gave Davidson the vision and the tools to embrace growth, while still retaining a keen sense of community,” Mr. Lentz said. [Read more about the award and former Mayor Kincaid in the town's "eMessage" of Oct. 13, 2009. (PDF.)]
• Approved changes to the town personnel policy governing tuition reimbursement (now must be related to their jobs, with full reimbursement for full-time employees and 50 percent for part-timers) and comp time (now allowed for management-level employees, to be taken no more than 16 hours in a week).
• Approved two property tax refunds and wrote off $1,640 of uncollectible taxes dating from 1998.

AFFORDABLE HOUSING RULES

Davidson is one of only two towns in North Carolina with a mandatory affordable housing requirement in its planning ordinance. (The other is Manteo, in eastern North Carolina) Manteo has yet to see any affordable housing built under its rules. Davidson now has 46 units built under the ordinance, and just this year is beginning to see the emergence of a resale market.

Homes must be priced so they are affordable for buyers who meet certain income guidelines. All the units sold in Davidson come with the requirement that the home remain in the affordable housing program through successive owners. Deed restrictions on the properties cap at 10 percent the amount that homeowners may recover on the cost of big improvements when they resell the home.

Ms. Reid told the board that the rules are needed to safeguard against excessive improvements that could sharply raise the price of a home. “The price will jump out of the affordable range if a homeowner is allowed to do whatever,” Ms. Reid said.

During a public hearing early in Tuesday’s meeting, commissioners generally supported the idea of limiting and requiring town approval for big-ticket home updates, as Ms. Reid outlined it. But they asked her to revise the proposal, among other things, to incorporate specific percentage or dollar limits on the cost of work that homeowners can recover if they sell their homes.

At Ms. Reid’s suggestion, the board did not take a vote on the proposed guidelines Tuesday. As presented, they would not allow owners of affordable homes to seek to recover the cost of “non-permanent” items or luxury improvements – granite countertops, high-end bathtubs or home-entertainment centers.

“The town wants to encourage our homeowners to maintain, update and improve their homes,” Ms. Reid said. “It also encourages folks to stay in their homes.”

By allowing such improvements, albeit within limits, Ms. Reid said, “It also gives them the benefits of ownership that market-rate owners have. We all buy a home and expect to be able to improve it. Why shouldn’t the affordable homeowner be able to improve it and realize some of that cost in their resale price?” Ms. Reid asked.

During the public hearing, one citizen told the board he thought the scheme wouldn’t work, and could result in homes becoming unaffordable, “You’ve created a monster,” he said.

Commissioner Laurie Venzon asked why the town would care what sort of improvements are done, as long as a homeowner sticks the 10 percent cap. “I feel like we’re micromanaging something that doesn’t need to be micromanaged,” she said.

Assistant Town Manager Dawn Blobaum replied that “the town has such as take in these homes, that we do need to manage them.”

Near the end of the public hearing, Commissioner Evan Webster summed up the issue, and the point of Davidson’s affordable housing ordinance: “I think we need to be very aware of the fact that the purpose of this program is to maintain the affordability of these units. And I think there’s a social contact involved here. When someone buys an affordable unit, they’re buying into the program. The program involves them (and) the town, but it also involves the person who’s going to buy that home from them.”

The proposed changes presented Tuesday would include a written policy and process governing what capital improvements and “updates” homeowners may complete. Ms. Reid said deed restrictions that limit what homeowners may do require written guidelines.

New committee members

Below are citizens whose appointments to town committees were approved Tuesday:

Design Review Board: Bob Lauer, Stephen Mills, Mike Kessler.
Planning Board: Brad Cardwell, Paul Dienemann, Bonnie Newell, John Chesser, Vince Winegardner, Susan Dailey.

Recreation Advisory Committee: William Hackenson, Britt Dayton (vice chair), Barrett Kollme, James Kennedy, Olivia Bearden.
Greenway, Bikeway & Trails Committee: Chad Randolph, Loretta Wertheimer, Steadman Lyles, Matt Zimmerman, Shireen Campbell, Bill Hartwell.

Natural Assets Committee: Bruce Henderson, John Shryock, Jennifer Fielder, Mary Jane Leach, Pamela Dykstra, Doug Shoemaker, Rob Phocas, John Kennedy, Rebecca May.

Public Art Commission: Pamela Mahony, Rob Richardson.