Board of Aldermen 09-28-2021 Page 8
shopping and say okay this is not an ideal location for that type of housing. You can pay the value differential and then
we'll use this money to try and invest in other projects that are better located and better served.
So those are some of the recommendations that we think that if the city were to move forward with building a new
inclusionary zoning policy, we both hit the expectations that the city has as well as doing it in a manner that is going to
mitigate the impact on the development community. So that is my very long winded presentation. My apologies if | took
longer than | was supposed to but | am happy to entertain any questions.
President Wilshire
Anyone have questions? Alderman Lopez.
Alderman Lopez
With regards to the density expectations for downtown housing and the possibility that in order to incentivize it or continue
to get people to build low income housing or housing that includes a percentage of low income housing, you would grant
the density bonuses? It seems like there's the possibility that if you calculate differently for downtown versus other places
to encourage that, you could potentially create an opportunity for gentrification. So does your suggestion to do that also
include use of the housing trust fund in order to mitigate the expenses they might have if they propose such a project?
Kyle Talente, President of RKG Associates
Yeah so yes, absolutely. | think one of the things that you can do is as the trust fund generates revenue, even though you
may be requiring a lower percentage, you can use the trust fund to mitigate the costs of bringing it back up and so that the
hardship doesn't explicitly fall in the development community. | mean, frankly, an inclusionary zoning policy like this |
don't believe creates gentrification. It helps mitigate the impact of it by requiring all new development to include a certain
percentage of affordability within the project. Like | mentioned, you could do the payment in lieu in certain situations but to
me if it were my purview that would be on a very, very limited basis and only when he was going to benefit those lower
income households rather than exclude them. It's meant to make sure that where investment is made is to the maximizes
the economic benefit that those households get so that they can be part of the success, and the growth, and the
investment that is going on for the city and not just in one location but in multiple areas of the city so there's opportunities
depending upon their needs or their particular location, challenges.
But absolutely. | believe to go back to your question using the revenue generating a household fund to help incentivize
some of those projects to maybe bring the percentages back up and downtown is definitely a strategy that could be
employed.
Alderman Lopez
And you would calculate the amount | mean, | guess | shouldn't speak to you but it seems like it would makes sense to
also calculate access to those amenities that you mentioned above like access to healthcare, shopping, and that kind of
stuff in order to justify using the trust fund money and saying like, yep, this is definitely a project that we're interested in
doing and we're interested in making sure that it has a as good a percentage of low income housing so they can have the
same access to those amenities as the other residents in the same place.
Kyle Talente, President of RKG Associates
Yes. | think creating a matrix that determines where those monies are based on decision making points with the priorities
of the city establishes. So you know is access to health care more or less important than access to transportation? Is
access to healthcare more or less important than access to retail? Then coming up with that decision making matrix will
then allow you to determine how you want to deploy those resources as they become available. That absolutely is a tried
and true way that many communities use to maximize the effectiveness and the efficiency of their trust funds.
Alderman Lopez
Madam President if | could ask one more question.
President Wilshire
Alderman Lopez.
