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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAWHC 2026-01-06 AWHC 2026-01-06 Final AFFORDABLE AND WORKFORCE HOUSING COMMITTEE January 06, 2026 Virtual (via Zoom) Present: Leonardo Vargas-Mendez (chair and Town Board), Christina Dravis (Town Board), Charles Geisler, Ryan McHugh, Martha Robertson Absent: Miles McCarty (Village of Freeville), Michael Murphy (Village of Dryden) Staff: Ray Burger (Director of Planning), Gina Cassidy (Planning Department), Loren Sparling (Deputy Town Clerk) Guests: Amy Kremenek (President, Tompkins Cortland Community College), David West (Housing and Community Development Director, Tompkins County Planning Department) The meeting was called to order at 2:03 p.m. Q&A with Dr Amy Kremenek re: Sale of TC3 Dormitories At the behest of M Robertson, Dr Amy Kremenek, President of TC3, provided an update on the College’s plan to sell surplus dormitory space. TC3 was one of the first, if not the first, community colleges in New York State to have residence halls. Due to declining and changing enrollment, the College has identified a significant surplus in its 816-bed inventory. The College will be maintaining the four residence halls (A, B, C, and D) closest to the main campus. The three residence halls located on the hill (E, F, and G) have been listed for sale through CBRE, a commercial real estate firm, since Fall 2025. The residence halls are owned by the TC3 Foundation rather than the College itself, as New York State community colleges are legally prohibited from owning residence halls. Current bond terms restrict the use of these buildings exclusively for student educational purposes. This has prevented the College from leasing space to workforce employers or other non- educational entities. The sale of those bonds to a private or non-profit entity would effectively lift the educational use restrictions and open the buildings to broader residential applications. There have been multiple showings of the buildings to parties interested in senior housing and traditional apartment conversions; all have some type of local tie. The call for offers will be open until the end of January. These offers will be evaluated by the TC3 Foundation for acceptance and ultimately approved by the bondholders, who hold significant mortgages on the properties. Regarding access to the buildings via Lee Rd, A Kremenek stated that the College did not have any plans for Lee Rd. However, if the new owner wanted to pursue access, that would be something that they would have to initiate with the Village. Review and Acceptance of Minutes RESOLUTION #1 (2026) – ACCEPTANCE OF MINUTES FROM NOVEMBER 04, 2025 L Vargas-Mendez offered the following resolution and asked for its adoption: RESOLVED, that this Affordable and Workforce Housing Committee hereby accepts the meeting minutes of November 4, 2025, as written. 2nd C Geisler Roll Call Vote L Vargas-Mendez Yes C Dravis Yes C Geisler Yes AWHC 2026-01-06 Final R McHugh Yes M Robertson Yes Hillside Acres Hillside Acres residents Alan and Paulina presented a proposal for a resident-led purchase of Hillside Acres, a 46-acre manufactured home park containing approximately 190 homes. There are many residents who have lived there long-term, and for many, it is their first experience owning a home. The owners of the park (Jim Ray Homes) have put the park up for sale for an unknown reason. They have since received an external offer of $10.4 million. Under New York State Real Property Law, residents have the right to organize and attempt to match an outside offer when a park is put up for sale. (If an offer is put forth that matches the existing offer, the first offer cannot be bid up.) As a first step towards the cooperative purchase of the park, signatures from a majority (over 51%, potentially over 60%) of Hillside Acres resident homeowners have been secured. Residents then have 60 days from notification of the offer to submit a letter of intent (placing this deadline on approximately January 11), followed by 80 days to secure financing and make a formal offer. Residents plan to submit this letter of intent to Jim Ray Homes in the next one or two days. The $10.4 million price tag equates to roughly $54,737 per home. The residents are working with ROC USA (Resident Owned Communities), a non-profit that assists in forming limited equity cooperatives. This model ensures long-term affordability by capping the profit residents can make when selling their shares, prioritizing community stability over individual speculation. An engineering assessment would be required to evaluate the park’s water, sewer, and road infrastructure as a condition for funding. ROC USA currently provides Hillside Acres residents with initial training on how to become a cooperative. Only when the residents sign an agreement with ROC USA and accept their model will the non-profit provide them with an engineer to help with the initial assessment, assistance to secure financing (be it through a ROC USA subsidiary or elsewhere), and legal assistance (after an offer under contract has been made). It was noted that there is a non-profit akin to ROC USA (possibly named New England ROC) that serves New York State. Residents are also seeking grants and low-interest financing through New York State Homes and Community Renewal (HCR); they might have alternative pathways to suggest. Alan and Paulina are asking the Committee for help in navigating the grant and financing landscape so as to successfully form some sort of resident-owned entity. Suggestions from Committee members and municipal staff included the following: ∙ Talk with Beginnings Credit Union and EcoVillage. To approach such institutions, a cooperative needs to be officially formed. Once their letter of intent is submitted, Hillside Acres residents will determine the model that they would like to pursue for the park (cooperative, homeowners association [HOA], or other), and that is the next step they have planned. ∙ Contact State Representatives Anna Kelles and Lea Webb. Paulina has reached out to both representatives via phone and email, but has yet to hear back from either. She AWHC 2026-01-06 Final will continue her attempts to contact them. M Robertson offered to forward their introductory email to the two representatives. ∙ Reach out to Charlie Fillion (or someone above him) at HCR. D West has already connected Paulina and Alan to both Charlie Fillion and Scott LaMallow. ∙ Educate residents as to the benefits of equity limitation and long-term affordability. This will generate more buy-in and less backlash. ∙ Seek out advice from ROCs in New York State that have done this before. ROC USA lists the 13-17 park cooperatives that they have on their website. Hillside Acres residents have arranged to meet with representatives from one of these cooperatives, located near Poughkeepsie. There are other ROCs in or near Horseheads, Syracuse, and Unadilla. ∙ The Local Development Corporation (LDC) may be a source of funding. The LDC potentially has a meaningful amount of money in their balance and a lot of flexibility in how they use it. ∙ TG Miller might be a good source of information for engineering service questions. However, they might not be able to contract to perform those services for whatever entity Hillside Acres becomes. ∙ Create a homeowners association regardless of what eventually transpires. This would require an ongoing governance structure. The Committee (and the Town Board by extension) will consider providing letters of support for the Hillside Acres cooperative to assist with their grant application, as Hillside Acres is an anchor to Varna being a walkable community. When asked whether Tompkins County could help out in any way, D West stated that the Housing Fund cannot operate quickly enough to meet the 80-day deadline for an offer. However, it could be a source of funds down the line for infrastructure assessment or deferred maintenance. Update: RFP for Consultant on Leonardo Parcel Study The Committee discussed the status of a Request for Proposals (RFP) for a consultant to study a 100-acre parcel intended for housing development. R Burger explained that this RFP was not only sent specifically to a list of 20 consultants who typically work in the area, but also posted on the New York State Contract Reporter, which is monitored well beyond New York State. With a budget of approximately $11,000 (comprised of a $9,900 grant and a $1,100 Town contribution), the Town received two applications in response to the RFP. One bid (from CPL) exceeded $80,000. The second applicant, Fisher, was within budget, but submitted a deficient application. The Planning Department reached out to both applicants, asking that any resubmission be turned in by December 29; neither have responded with a resubmitted application. Assuming that the applicant who was overbudget was not interested in the project, the Committee advised that the Town contact Fisher directly to remedy their deficiencies in order to move forward with the project rather than reposting the RFP. R Burger will inquire of Fisher’s principal. Committee members believe the lack of applications to be a result of too much work for too little money. It was also noted that the ownership of the Leonardo parcel is still under dispute. AWHC 2026-01-06 Final C Geisler asked D West about the next round of County grant funding, to which was given the response that one project cannot be funded twice. Update: Outreach to Jeremy Thomas R Burger has yet to reach out to Jeremy Thomas about how Cornell might dispose of some of their properties for their common housing mission with the Town. G Cassidy had previously shared with him a map that detailed all Cornell properties located within the Town of Dryden. R Burger will reach out to see if that map has been reviewed and if there are any further updates on any of the properties. Update: ZAG C Geisler, representing the Committee on the Zoning Advisory Group (ZAG), updated the members on the ongoing rewrite of the Town’s zoning ordinance. He prefaced his report by stating that a lot of zoning in the past has been limiting and exclusionary and has held up densification (and so counter to affordable housing). He commended those taking part in the zoning update. Secondly, ZAG members have acknowledged the guiding importance of the revised Comprehensive Plan, prompting many to revisit the Plan. Thirdly, following public testimony, the Town Board rejected the Planning Board’s resolution on data centers and crypto-mining facilities and is now moving towards an outright ban on them, clarifying that these would not be allowed uses in the Town. In the future, the ZAG hopes to provide the Town Board with some preliminary education prior to a public hearing, so that any possible misreadings or misunderstandings do not occur again. Lastly, more and more people, both within the ZAG and to the extent that the Town Board is represented, are saying that housing is rising to a very high priority. The extension of this is that they will be looking to the Affordable and Workforce Housing Committee for advice on several important items that will be coming along. Among these are definitions for workforce housing (identified as housing for people in the 80%-120% area median income [AMI] bracket), affordable housing (typically defined as housing for those earning less than 80% AMI, who qualify for public assistance), floodplains (given new FEMA guidelines and mapping), farmworker housing, light industry (given its overlap with affordable housing in nodal areas), senior housing, and solar farms. Phase 1 is ongoing and recently focused on definitions and “low-hanging fruit.” Phase 2 will address later this year coding, regulations, enforcement, and density (e.g., units per parcel), which is critical for enabling developers to build affordable units. Phase 3 will entail everything else. Extend Invitation to Rachel Potter to Join AWHC Last month, Rachel Potter’s application to join the Affordable and Workforce Housing Committee was forwarded to Committee members. RESOLUTION #2 (2026) – APPROVAL OF RACHEL POTTER TO JOIN THE AFFORDABLE AND WORKFORCE HOUSING COMMITTEE L Vargas-Mendez offered the following resolution and asked for its adoption: WHEREAS, Rachel Potter has applied for membership to the Affordable and Workforce Housing Committee, AWHC 2026-01-06 Final NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that this Affordable and Workforce Housing Committee hereby approves the application of Rachel Potter and advances it to the Town Board for consideration. 2nd M Robertson Roll Call Vote L Vargas-Mendez Yes C Dravis Yes C Geisler Yes R McHugh Yes M Robertson Yes Additional Items Discussions are ongoing regarding Will Olson (Freeville Village Board Trustee) representing the interests of Freeville on the Committee in the absence of Miles McCarty. L Vargas-Mendez will inquire of W Olson if there have been any further developments on this. Because of the importance placed on Dryden2045 (and housing within it) by the Planning Board and ZAG, and in order to align the Town with the County’s strategic housing plan, C Geisler tasked members with bringing one or two priority objectives (e.g., senior housing, nodal development) to the next meeting to form a one-year strategic plan. The Committee was sent via email a list of Town-owned properties to identify developable land. R Burger explained that while the Town owns over 200 acres, most parcels are currently utilized for institutional purposes, such as wastewater treatment, Town Hall facilities, or protected conservation lands. Current assessments suggest there are zero “lost” or unused large parcels available for immediate new land use. Park Grove owns a 10-acre parcel in the village. M Robertson has been in contact with Tim Crilly (Senior Vice President of Development at Park Grove), who reports that they do not have a plan for that parcel yet. There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 3:41 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Loren Sparling Deputy Town Clerk