By DIANE VALDEN
COPAKE—The lack of affordable housing is a crisis throughout Columbia County and the country. Committees and task forces on all levels of government have been engaged in investigations and discussions about what can be done to address the complex problem for years.
Action on tackling the affordable housing issue got a boost forward earlier this year in Copake with a strategy involving the establishment of a six-month moratorium on major subdivisions February 28 and the activation of a “SWAT team” in January.
The team the Town Board appointed back then was an ad hoc short-term working group to study the zoning code and come back to the board with suggestions for amendments to the code which would facilitate the creation of more moderately-priced houses.
Town Supervisor Jeanne Mettler said in a March 9 story in The Columbia Paper, “Copake activates team to look at housing,” the Town Board is “not asking them to engage in an in-depth study of the housing crisis—that work is being done elsewhere. This is a SWAT team, charged with working quickly but thoughtfully to recommend practical strategies to address the lack of housing.”
Planning Board Chairman Bob Haight was appointed to the new team along with Meredith Kane, who serves on other housing committees and Deputy Chair of the Zoning Board of Appeals Dale Peterson. The town’s land use attorney Ken Dow also worked with the team.
The result of their efforts over the past few months, during the major subdivision moratorium, is Local Law #9, “A Local Law to Promote Affordable Housing in the Town of Copake,” which the Town Board adopted at a special meeting September 5.
A description of the proposed action in connection with the State Environmental Quality Review (SEQRA) negative declaration determination read by Attorney Dow at the September 5 meeting says:
“This action would amend Chapter 232 of the Code of the Town of Copake (Zoning) to streamline certain processes for applicants proposing to add certain types of affordable housing and would require provisions and set-asides for affordable housing in connection with major subdivisions.”
The main provisions of the law are to:
•Streamline the process for creating certain accessory dwelling units
•Expand the geographic area in which certain small multifamily dwellings could be located
•Establish eligibility criteria for purchasers or renters of designated Affordable Workforce Housing (AWH)
•Require that in connection with a major subdivision, the subdivider/developer set aside 20% of the residential capacity of the subdivision and development for AWH, either by constructing it or making alternative provisions, in exchange for a density bonus that allows an increase in the number of permitted lots in the subdivision
•Require that units created as AWH remain subject to price controls for extended periods.
The memo goes on to note that the town “already has zoning and subdivision laws that regulate the subdivision and development of land for residential purposes. This law, created to promote affordable housing within the Town, makes modest modifications to existing law, which allow some measure of increased development in certain situations and exempt certain minor projects from review, but do not substantially diminish or impair the Town’s policies that protect the environment.”
The new law also sets guidelines for what are “AWH Affordable Purchase Levels” defining the “Purchase price for a residential dwelling unit at which the total monthly cost of mortgage, insurance, and taxes does not exceed one-twelfth of 30% of the applicable Qualifying Income.”
“This action would … streamline certain processes for applicants proposing to add certain types of affordable housing….”
Local Law #9
AWH Affordable rental levels are also addressed. The law states the rental cost of a residential dwelling unit at which the total monthly cost for rent, heat, hot water, and electricity does not exceed one-twelfth of 25% of the applicable Qualifying Income. Both purchase and rental standards are calculated based upon the number of bedrooms in the dwelling unit and schedules for the number of bedrooms in relation to the number of people in the household are set forth.
Median Family Income (MFI) and Qualifying Income (QI) are both determined for Columbia County by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and are available at www.huduser.gov.
The nine-page law in its entirety may be found on the Copake website at townofcopake.org.
At the September 5 meeting, it was noted that the new law would be submitted to the New York State Division of Local Government Services for an advisory opinion even though the law was already passed.
Mr. Dow noted that he and the Town Board are aware there are some remaining issues to be addressed by follow-up legislation. He mentioned by way of example, “grants of land or money by developers and eligibility.” But regardless of future amendments, he said, it is important to put in place these new regulations that developers will need to know if they were to go ahead with a project.
The attorney said that submitting the law to the state agency after the fact “is a great thing to do” because whatever guidance, ideas or input the agency can offer will be helpful to future considerations of the law. Mr. Dow said, “Some of these things will take a long time to sort out.”
Deputy Supervisor Richard Wolf brought up the question of who will do the evaluation of income/household eligibility based on the prescribed formulas?
Noting that is just one of the aspects of the law still to be ironed out, Ms. Mettler turned to the three ad hoc committee members who developed the law and told them their term is not over, in fact there is more to consider and they need to continue their work.
“In perpetuity,” noted Mr. Wolf.
Later in the special meeting the board adopted the new law.
In her supervisor’s report for September, Ms. Mettler wrote, “The law, inspired in part by a law in Amenia, seeks to encourage the building of moderately priced homes, either by requiring developers to include those homes in their projects or to build such homes on a different site…
“Before passing the law, the board heard from planning board members, as well as the Columbia County Planning Board.”
Calling the law “cutting edge legislation,” she noted that the town’s long-time planning “consultant Margaret Irwin said that the law is one of the first in New York. While it may be further improved, ultimately it will be a model for the state.”
The supervisor said she was “proud of the board and grateful to the three-member committee and Ken Dow for taking a creative, innovative approach to address a crisis in this town. Understandably, this law may need to be improved. There are still areas which need to fleshed out. Amenia notwithstanding, our law is one of a kind, a first and original attempt at solving this thorny problem.”
To contact Diane Valden email dvalden@columbiapaper.com
