Allen, I would say it was all hush-hush, you might have known through the bushes. People are demanding transparency. I retained my patience till the fiasco meeting happened. I don't see any minutes of that meeting. Do you know if they were recorded? Should we have trust when there is little accountability? "Russians are coming" again! Regards, Bijoy Misra
On Thu, Nov 2, 2023 at 5:54 PM Pastor Allen <pastorall...@gmail.com> wrote: > Bijoy, > > First, there was a Housing Trust vote to approve that Loan. I was there > for it. I do not remember if you were on the Housing Trust at that time, but > you were certainly made aware of those discussions and that vote, as all > Housing Commission and HOWG members were. The record of that vote can > also be found in the minutes from one of the Housing Trust meetings from > that time. > > Second, a wide variety of mechanisms were considered before structuring > that $1 Million payment to Civico as a loan - a process that, as I recall, > entailed several HOWG and Housing Trust meetings, and close coordination > with Town Counsel to ensure that this disbursement would achieve the goal > of permanently ensuring the town got those 60 units on the SHI, as well as > making sure they could never come off unless the town explicitly approved > it - even if ownership changed or there was a bankruptcy. > > An interest free "loan", immediately due and payable only if the units > came off the SHI, was deemed the best method of accomplishing that goal. > > -Allen Vander Meulen > > Sent from my iPhone > > On Nov 2, 2023, at 15:47, Bijoy Misra <misra.bi...@gmail.com> wrote: > > > Friends, > I was part of the Housing Commission and the Housing Choice Committee > (like one we have now). > We were given an impression that CIVICO was doing a favor by allowing > themselves to work in > Lincoln. They were a small company and needed capital. One million was > granted without vote, > possibly RLF had a link to CIVICO. It was said that the money was a loan. > School, parking, access, > landscaping and preservation issues were raised later. I was stunned when > Hong Kong style > development was proposed on behalf of South Lincoln Improvement Committee > the following > year. .Nobody has taken responsibility for the maneuver so far. > Accountability is required in > communication and for the town meetings..Why do we give volunteer time to > be loose and casual? > I urge all the new activists to populate the Committee. Do insist even if > there would be efforts > to ignore you. > Best regards, > Bijoy Misra > > > On Thu, Nov 2, 2023 at 12:10 PM Karla Gravis <karlagra...@gmail.com> > wrote: > >> Civico's analysis for Oriole Landing included 25% affordable units so >> their IRR calculation already includes the reduced rent for those >> apartments. >> >> From the document I linked to, Civico expected a 16.6% return on their >> Oriole Landing investment in year 10, above what was expected at the time. >> Instead, they got a much higher IRR (potentially $12M profit on a $20M >> investment) in only 4 years. Did they know they were going to get this >> much? Probably not. BUT having realized such a profit increase, this same >> developer is telling us that they refuse to go through town meeting again. >> The HCAWG is accommodating by including the mall rezoning through HCA, >> which would allow Civico to skip the town meeting process and build "by >> right". >> >> In more recent times, we are seeing other towns like Winchester negotiate >> with developers through town meeting. Winchester was able to get Civico to >> add more parking, even more affordable units, and at an even more >> affordable rate (60% of AMI as opposed to 80% of AMI that Oriole Landing >> has). They were able to include sustainability and climate change >> requirements. Civico is paying the town $1.5M. They were only able to get >> to this new proposal because the first one failed at town meeting. >> >> Yet Lincoln would be choosing to forgo our town meeting process so that >> Civico can push ahead with the project? We severely curtail our ability to >> influence and ask for concessions by doing so. >> >> >> >>> >>> ---------- Forwarded message --------- >>> From: Rich Rosenbaum <s...@bcdef.com> >>> Date: Thu, Nov 2, 2023 at 11:05 >>> Subject: Re: [LincolnTalk] the Rural Land Foundation and the Housing >>> Choice Act >>> To: >>> CC: Lincoln Talk <Lincoln@lincolntalk.org> >>> >>> >>> When calculating the cost to the developer for affordable units, >>> shouldn't it also include the present value of the reduction of rental >>> income below market rates? >>> >>> >>> On Thu, Nov 2, 2023 at 10:17 AM ٍSarah Postlethwait < >>> sa...@bayhas.com> wrote: >>> >>>> Your math is flawed… >>>> >>>> The town already required 15% affordable housing units, or 9 total >>>> units at Oriole landing. (See photo below from Oriole Landing’s analysis) >>>> >>>> This means that the town paid $1 million dollars to secure *6 >>>> additional units- not 10, as you stated.* >>>> >>>> *Thats $166,667 a unit*. >>>> >>>> I understand that the town has worked hard to maintain well above 10% >>>> affordable housing- which is why I don’t understand the desire to rezone >>>> every developable acre of south Lincoln at 10% affordability. >>>> Even with an additional $2 million in our Affordable Housing Trust to >>>> bribe developers, that will only secure 12 additional units if Oriole >>>> Landing is an indicator of what Civico is expecting per unit. >>>> >>>> The RLF is proposing up to 100 additional units. >>>> 10 are required to be affordable under HCA >>>> An additional 5 units (15% total) will cost $833k >>>> And additional 15 units (25% total) will cost $2.5 million >>>> >>>> And that’s assuming they haven’t raised their affordable housing bribe >>>> expectations since 2018. >>>> >>>> *This is why the HCA rezoning should be done in the least impactful way >>>> possible, and rezoning things like the mall and other likely to be >>>> redeveloped areas should be done through the traditional process that >>>> already requires 15% affordable housing.* That will save almost a >>>> million dollars from the Affordable Housing trust per every 100 units >>>> built. >>>> >>>> <image_123650291.JPG> >>>> >>>> Sarah Postlethwait >>>> >>>> >>>> On Thu, Nov 2, 2023 at 9:49 AM Margaret Olson <s...@margaretolson.com> >>>> wrote: >>>> >>>>> Here's a bit more background on the Oriole Landing affordable units: >>>>> >>>>> There are 15 affordable units out of a total of 60 units, or 25% >>>>> With 25% affordable, all 60 units count towards our SHI (the state's >>>>> affordable housing index) >>>>> Our zoning requires 15% affordable >>>>> >>>>> At a cost of $1 million the town obtained 10 additional affordable >>>>> units for qualifying people to live in at a cost of 100K each, with 60 >>>>> affordable units counting towards our SHI at a cost of $16K per unit. At >>>>> the time this was negotiated the town was paying an average of $250K for >>>>> each affordable unit for qualifying people to live in. >>>>> >>>>> By keeping our SHI above 10% we are not subject to "40B" developments: >>>>> 40B is the state law that allows developers to ignore town zoning density >>>>> restrictions for multi-family buildings. The town has historically worked >>>>> very hard to maintain an SHI above 10%. We are currently over 12%. >>>>> >>>>> Margaret >>>>> >>>>> -- >>> The LincolnTalk mailing list. >>> To post, send mail to Lincoln@lincolntalk.org. >>> Browse the archives at >>> https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/private/lincoln/. >>> Change your subscription settings at >>> https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/lincoln. >>> >>> -- >> The LincolnTalk mailing list. >> To post, send mail to Lincoln@lincolntalk.org. >> Browse the archives at >> https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/private/lincoln/. >> Change your subscription settings at >> https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/lincoln. >> >> -- > The LincolnTalk mailing list. > To post, send mail to Lincoln@lincolntalk.org. > Browse the archives at https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/private/lincoln/ > . > Change your subscription settings at > https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/lincoln. > >
-- The LincolnTalk mailing list. To post, send mail to Lincoln@lincolntalk.org. Browse the archives at https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/private/lincoln/. Change your subscription settings at https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/lincoln.
