HomeMy WebLinkAboutHearing 2001 Small Cities Grant #1
TOWN OF GROTON
PUBLIC HEARING – 2001 SMALL CITIES PROGRAM
TUESDAY, MARCH 20, 2001 AT 7:30 PM
Those present: Glenn E. Morey, Supervisor
Ellard L. Sovocool, Councilman
Donald F. Scheffler, Councilman
Sheldon C. Clark, Councilman
Duane T. Randall II, Councilman
Also present: Colleen D. Pierson, Town Clerk; Stacey Crawford, Better Housing of
Tompkins County; Dean Luce, Supervisor, Town of Locke; Edie Clark,
Town of Locke.
The Town Clerk read the notice of hearing as published in the Town of Groton’s legal paper, the
Groton Independent, on March 14, 2001.
Supervisor Morey opened the Public Hearing and asked for public comment. He introduced the
new Town Supervisor of the Town of Locke, Dean Luce.
Mr. Luce
– I’m a new town supervisor and I’m just trying to get an idea of how things work. I
think next year we’re going to see if we can go after some grants for Locke. I’m just trying to
get my arms around what’s going on out there. Just here to observe, that’s all.
Supervisor Morey
– Okay. Well, this originally was HUD, the federal government, and just last
year they turned the administration over to New York State. So, what we’ll be doing is gathering
information, applications, throughout the Town and consolidating the whole applications, and
writing away from the State for this grant. It’s up to $400,000 and we will determine later,
depending on all the applications that we receive, how much we will go for. Any questions?
Comments?
Stacey Crawford, from Better Housing of Tompkins County had not arrived yet, so it was
decided to pause and wait for her. She arrived shortly.
Public Hearing Page 2 of 5 March 20, 2001
Ms. Crawford
– We sent out over 1200 surveys and got back over 160. We did a survey, called
a windshield survey, of housing conditions throughout the Town. Windshield surveys are what
you can ascertain about housing conditions, exterior conditions, through the windshield of your
vehicle. And quite a bit of…… (not using microphone)…… things being severely substandard
which would be $7,000 or above of rehab needed. About 28.7% of the houses that we surveyed
or 23.8% of houses and mobile homes combined were found in that category. And another
21.6% of houses and mobile homes were in even worse condition than that. So, we feel that
there’s definitely enough evidence to warrant going ahead with the application. Dave Carlson is
going to be here tomorrow, in town, and we’re going to go through some of the pre-applications
we’ve received and sort of from there look at what the next kind of strategy might be.
Supervisor Morey
– Good questions. I can’t make it tomorrow. He’s going to be here at 9:30.
Is there anybody on the Board that can make that meeting?
Councilman Randall
– As long as they provide coffee, I could be here.
Supervisor Morey
– It’s not here. It’s at the Women’s……
Ms. Crawford
– It’s at our office, and actually 10:15 would be better because someone else will
be there at 9:30. It’s at the Better Housing for Tompkins County office. Do you know where the
Women’s Community Building is? We’re on the top floor there.
Councilman Randall
– Okay.
Ms. Crawford
– One other thing, for the applications that you might need some detail about, is
the State was requesting that the applications sort of some way that community development
needs and priorities have been organized or decided on among members of the Town Board. So,
this is a sample thing, a check list, or way of prioritizing that the consultant, Dave Carlson has
drawn up.
Councilman Randall
– The previous application process, the pre-apps like this, is 160, I mean
where are we compared…..
Ms. Crawford
– It’s a lot. I’d say it’s as many as we’ve had on the waiting list at any given
time or have applied before. Since I have been doing this, preparing rehab grants, it’s higher
than we’ve gotten from other towns in some cases.
Councilman Clark
– That’s just from our town?
Ms. Crawford
– That’s just from the Town of Groton, not including the Village either. In terms
of putting together an application it’s a good thing, but in terms of describing needs it’s very
illustrative, let’s say.
Councilman Clark
– We’ll give an answer to everyone of those applications?
Ms. Crawford
– Everyone will at least get a letter saying that we got your application and
you’re being put on a waiting list and we’ll let you know if we get the grant and when your name
might get to the top. Some people who apply don’t qualify, like they are clearly over any kind of
income limits…..
Public Hearing Page 3 of 5 March 20, 2001
Councilman Clark
– Will they know that with that first letter then?
Ms. Crawford
– Yes.
Supervisor Morey
– There’s a blank that says your household income.
Councilman Clark
– They must have known that, but they sent it in anyway?
Ms. Crawford
– Yes. So, we’ll let people know about that that. The grant, when it’s done, if
we get it funded, would be able to probably do work on about 20 or so homes. So, what that
might mean is that people would be on the waiting list for a long time and we would need to
apply for more future years. We have to do that. Not everybody who sent in the yellow form is
going to be able to get helped. Basically what we would do is look at whatever the priority needs
winds up being in the grant; whether or not it looks like you are going to serve just 50% of
median income or below, or consider needs up to 80% of median or below; include some work
on mobile homes or just do houses that aren’t mobile homes; depending on everything, and time
of application date. Pretty much however that turns out would be how we prioritize who gets it
first.
Supervisor Morey
– Stacey, we can fill this out now, since we have the time.
Councilman Randall
– I didn’t know that they allowed work on mobile homes. I was under the
assumption that they didn’t before.
Supervisor Morey
– Yeah, they do.
Councilman Randall
– I think a lot of people thought that they couldn’t.
Supervisor Morey
– Yeah, it can’t be in a mobile home park. It has to be on a separate lot.
Clerk Pierson
– And it’s a set limit, because a mobile wouldn’t be worth that.
Supervisor Morey
– I think this last grant we had two mobile homes for senior citizens.
Councilman Randall
– Oh, it’s a good thing, I just didn’t realize that they did it.
The Board went through the following checklist provided by the consultant, Dave Carlson:
Identification of Community Development Needs and Priorities
As part of development of a Small Cities application, the Town is required to identify all of its
community development needs and list the needs in order of local priorities. The process used
to identify needs and set priorities must be summarized.
To comply with this requirement, the Town Board should examine Town needs, develop a
consensus as to priorities, and review these at the first hearing. A starting point for developing
this list might include the following:
Public Hearing Page 4 of 5 March 20, 2001
Need Priority
Provide low income homeowners with assistance to
HIGH
rehabilitate their homes.
Within this need the following should be prioritized:
HIGH
Single family homes
MEDIUM
- Mobile homes
LOW
- Multi-family homes
HIGH
- Very low income households
HIGH
- Senior citizens
HIGH
- Households on fixed incomes
Provide assistance to households to help them become
HIGH
first-time homeowners.
Improve/strengthen code enforcement.
LOW
Improve road conditions:
MEDIUM
Identify: ___________________________ ___
Expand the supply of housing that is affordable to low
HIGH
income persons.
Create/improve local recreation facilities:
LOW
Identify: ___________________________ ___
Create/improve community facilities for senior citizens:
HIGH
Identify: ___________________________ ___
Create/improve community facilities for youth:
HIGH
Identify: ___________________________ ___
Improve facilities for municipal government:
LOW
Identify: ___________________________ ___
Correct flooding or drainage problems:
MEDIUM
Identify: ___________________________ ___
Other:
____________________________________________
Public Hearing Page 5 of 5 March 20, 2001
Another Public Hearing is required as part of the application procedure for the 2001 Small Cities
Program. The next Public Hearing was set for April 9, 2001 at 7:30 PM in conjunction with the
regular monthly Board Meeting.
Motion to adjourn was made by Councilman Sovocool, seconded by Councilman Scheffler, at
7:50 PM. Unanimous.
Colleen D. Pierson
Town Clerk