MINUTES CITY COUNCIL HOUSING COMMITTEE Tuesday, May 13, 2025 - 3:45 PM City Hall Council Chambers Members Present: Pamela Holder, Chair, City Council Member Aaron Baker, Vice Chair, City Council Member Victor Foster, Citizen Member Mayor Maureen Copelof, Ex-Officio Staff Present: Wilson Hooper, City Manager Paul Ray, Planning Director Dean Leubbe, Assistant City Manager/Finance Director Denise Hodsdon, City Clerk Guests: Meg LeBeck (HAC), Nory LeBrun (representing HAC), Paul and Lily Wilander, David Bradley (representing Transylvania Times) A. Welcome and Call to Order Chairwoman Pamela Holder welcomed everyone and called the meeting to order at 3:49pm. B. Certification of Quorum City Clerk Denise Hodsdon certified that a quorum was present. C. Approval of Agenda Mr. Foster made the motion to approve the agenda, seconded by Mr. Baker. The motion carried unanimously. D. Approval of Minutes Mr. Baker made the motion to approve the April 8, 2025 meeting minutes and the motion was seconded by Mr. Foster. The motion carried unanimously. E. Cashiers Valley Road Land Disposition Development Agreement Meg LeBeck, Housing Assistance Corporation (HACV), presented the same presentation regarding the Cashiers Valley Road project that has been presented to the committee twice. She gave a background of the project and other projects completed by HAC. This covered styles of proposed homes, affordability, use of sweat equity, sizes ofhomes, use ofhousing counseling for potential homeowners, etc. Ms. LeBeck estimated that the 3- 4-bedroom homes are likely to cost approximately $260,000 and subsidies will reduce interest payments to 1%. Mr. Ray distributed a draft of the development agreement for the Committee's review and approval. He noted that under this agreement, the City would convey the property to Housing Assistance Corporation for the sole purpose of constructing 10-20 housing units for sale to low to moderate income households as defined by HUD standards for Transylvania County. Other terms within the agreement are for the city to extend public sanitary sewer services to the site and accept dedicated public infrastructure including the roads, sidewalks, waterlines, potentially the stormwater system, and other necessary improvements built to city standards. Mr. Hooper clarified that the agreement is to extend public sewer from the road to the property line. Ms. LeBeck indicated that HAC may need to find additional funding to bring the sewer lines all the way into the site to the homes to reduce the cost of the homes eventually. The committee members had additional discussions regarding the number ofhomes, infrastructure needed, types of homes, including the potential to add town-home style homes. Mr. Hooper noted that the menu on cost of utilities has been sent to the county for their consideration. Mr. Hooper recommended that the city have some sort of protection, even with a handshake agreement or memorandum of understanding (MOU) with HAC for the city to reconsider the project ifit has not been initiated within 10 years. After additional conversation and clarifications from HAC and city staff, Mr. Foster made a motion to recommend that city council approve the development agreement as amended with the above-mentioned MOU to revisit the agreement after a 5-10-year period ifthe project has not been initiated and/or completed. This motion was seconded by Mr. Baker and both voted in favor of forwarding the development agreement to the full city council for approval. F. Public Comment Mr. LeBrun, a member ofthe HAC board, spoke in favor ofthe HAC project discussed during the meeting and expressed his support for this project. Mr. Hooper provided an update that the signed loan documents for Fairhaven Meadows are waiting for First Victory to get their bonds approved. He advised that he will update the committee when a groundbreaking is scheduled. He noted that the Azalea Avenue project is waiting on an appraisal to be completed and hopes to close on the purchase of that property soon. Mr. Baker expressed his thoughts that he would like to see the city take a more active role in supporting accessory dwelling units (ADU) and long-term rentals as it related to the affordability ofhousing in general. Wilson suggested that staff will need to begin Minutes - Housing Committee Meeting May 13, 2025 Page 2 of3 revieing the city's code to see what the city can do to encourage the building of more affordable housing related to ADUS and long-term rental housing. G. Next Meeting Date The next meeting of the committee was scheduled for June 10, 2025 at 3:45pm. H. Adjourn Mr. Foster made a motion to adjourn. Mr. Baker seconded the motion and the motion was adjourned at 4:58pm. Minutes Approved: fne 10,2025 din aD h ) chb Pamela Helder, Char, Council Member Aaron Baker, Vice Chair, Council Member lena - - Selena D. Coffey Assistant to the City Manager Minutes - Housing Committee Meeting May 13, 2025 Page 3 of3