WPCNR COMMON COUNCIL CHRONICLE-EXAMINER. January 27, 2008: WPCNR noted briefly in last week's report on the Common Council Work Session Thursday that the proposal to increase the affordable housing set-aside on new construction rentals from 6% to 10% had not been referred out to departments as yet. Commissioner of Planning Susan Habel advised WPCNR of the more intricate status of the proposal today. WPCNR had reported that Ms. Habel had stated it had not been referred out and would be on February 4. Ms. Habel explains:
In your e-article on the Common Council work session, you state that "It was announced by the Commissioner of Planning that details of the Common Council proposal to raise the number of affordable housing units required in any new multiple dwelling residential projects to 10%, together with higher buyout fees, had not yet been referred out to departments but would be on the February 4 Council meeting."
That is not what I said. I said that two proposals for changes to the affordable housing regulations were submitted, one by some members of the Common Council and a second by the Mayor and two Council members. A communication addressing both of these was prepared by the Planning Department and provided to the Common Council this past fall.
What is being submitted to the Common Council for the February 4 meeting is revised regulations for both the Affordable Rental Program and Affordable Home Ownership Program which incorporate elements of each of the proposals and the comments from the Planning Department.
You can not refer to a Common Council proposal as there were different proposals by Common Council members, including the Mayor and two Council members, and there was the analysis by the Planning Department.
The revised regulations being referred out at the February 4, 2008 meeting do not reflect any one of these alone, but an integration of proposals from each that the Planning Department feels are appropriate. The Council will discuss the proposed revisions at the February work session.
