10-23-1995 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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f Mefropolitan LiTable C< page 2 of 2 I » ♦ I M lunities Act/Hoosing Goals continued Housing Goals - Met Council Expectations In discussions with Mr. Freshley, I indicated this is a difficult lime for the city to initiate a process for setting housing goals and developing a housing plan due to nvo items. 1.Uncertainty regarding the location of Highway 12. which could have a significant impact on land use planning. 2.The city is currently in a major smdy of land use for a significant portion of the city. This study will require a significant amount of time and effort by both staff and Council. Mr. Freshley suggested a preliminar>’ short term goal at this time could be to conduct a housing needs analysis to determine the city’s current and future affordable and lifecycle housing needs. This information would be useful to the city when it sets its long term housing goals. In terms of the expectations of the Met Council and the role it will play in setting housing goals, Mr. Freshley indicated the Met Council wants to serv'e as a facilitator and not as an enforcer. Although the housing benchmark indicators for the community do provide a target to shoot for. the Met Council wants the city to make its own determination regarding what its housing goals should be. What is most important is that the city make a commitment to some level of effort regarding affordable and lifecycle housing. For example, the city’s commitment could be focused on mainuuiiing the affordable housing currently existing. This could involve additional efforts in tlie area of housing rehabilitation. Impart of Non-Participation If the city chooses not to participate in the Livable Communities Act program it could have an impact on any application that requires Met Council review. For example, one of the first items the Met Council will look for when reviewing an application for a MUSA amendment is whether the city is participating in the Livable Communities .Act program. However, this would not necessarily mean an automatic demal of the MUSA amendment. The city would need to demonstrate a good reason for not participating in the program. The uncertainty regarding the location of Highway 12 and the impact of this uncertainty- on all land use issues may be a sufficient reason. Participation Decisi-^n The Livable Communities Act legislation has set November 15 as the date by which C-- " must elect whether to participate m the program or not. To meet this date the Council v. if, ot J to make a decision at the November 13 Council meeting. If any Council members have additional questions or need additional information for their consideration of this issue, please let me know.