Weinland Park Community Civic Association

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Housing Committee Minutes – July 2, 2019

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Meeting notes – WPCCA Housing Committee 6:00, Tuesday, July 2, 2019

  • Godman Guild

Present:

  • Resident co-chairs Laura Bidwa and Sean Storey
  • Residents Donna Madlener, Michael Nelligan, Matt Borol, and Chris Micciche
  • Guests Erin Prosser (Campus Partners), John Turner (City of Columbus Land Bank), Hope Paxson (Central Ohio Community Land Trust), and Susan Keeny (University Area Commission and Columbus Landmarks).

Brief update on single-family house to be built at 1463 N. 4th St (a lot formerly in Campus Partners portfolio)

  • Dan Short and his family plan to build a single-family house (2400 sq. feet including the basement) with a 2-car garage and a 620 sq. foot apartment above the garage. The Housing Committee indicated general support for the idea back in April 2019.
  • Zoning variance requests were supported by the University Area Commission’s Zoning Committee on Monday, July 2, and will next go for a vote by the full UAC on Wednesday, July 17.

Fate of the last 3 Campus Partners doubles

  • 1424-1424 1/2 N. 4th (located in New Indianola historic district so cannot be demolished)
  • 1324-1326 N. 5th
  • 1243-1245 N. 6th

After 2 months of discussion, the full civic association voted 19-6 at its May 23 meeting that it preferred to preserve 1324-1326 N. 5th and 1243-1245 N. 6th by finding contractors who would agree to rehab and sell them as condos.

The Campus Partners board voted at its June board meeting to give 1324-1326 N. 5th St to the Central Ohio Community Land Trust, along with 3 other duplexes previously discussed and approved by WPCCA, for demolition and subsequent redevelopment. It voted to sell 1424-1424 1/2 N. 4th and 1243-1245 N. 6th on the public market.

Campus Partners will not provide any subsidy to reduce the purchase price of the 2 doubles to be sold and will not participate in any process of guiding selection of the buyers or adding any restrictions to the sale contracts (such as requiring the properties’ sewer systems to be divided to allow sale as condos).

Campus Partners is willing to consider exchanging the disposition of 1324-1326 N. 5th and 1243-1245 N. 6th (giving 1243-1245 N. 6th to the land bank and selling 1324-1326 N. 5th), if the community prefers.

All community garden properties currently owned by Campus Partners will be conveyed to the City of Columbus Land Bank and made part of its community garden program. All gardens will continue operation as gardens, as long as dedicated management is provided by the neighborhood.

Erin Prosser said that Campus Partners considered the WPCCA’s desire to preserve all three of the remaining doubles to comprise just one vote among the Weinland Park Collaborative’s member organizations. She added that the Columbus Foundation and the Chase Foundation had both indicated their agreement with the choices made by the Campus Partners board.

The Housing Committee will discuss at its August meeting whether it would prefer to save 1324-1326 N. 5th over 1243-1245 N. 6th.

Next steps for Weinland Park properties going to the city land trust

  • 4 Campus Partners doubles
  • 3 former community garden lots (not the same 3 garden lots that are moving from Campus Partners ownership into the city Land Bank, discussed above)

John Turner and Hope Paxson are working together on the Land Trust development plans.

4-5 other development deals are going on right now in other neighborhoods.

Demolition of any existing structures on WP lots expected to happen in fourth quarter of 2019.

The Land Trust will discuss with the Housing Committee in 2020 what to do on the lots. Looking for development partners and evaluating costs. Will do a single development agreement for all 7 lots.

Land Trust is willing to consider either singles or doubles for the new construction.

Finished properties will be listed on MLS but sales prices will not be comps for other “normal” sales in the neighborhood. Huntington will be the mortgage lender. Homebuyer education and income-qualification will be required (120% Area Median Income or below).

Anyone interested in buying one of the land trust properties once they are built should get in touch as soon as possible with one of the HUD-approved counseling agencies that will work with the program, to get pre-qualified. These counselors include Susan Colbert at OSU Extension, colbert.22@osu.edu, (614) 297-3861. The houses will be offered to buyers on a first-come, first-served basis.

It is hoped that the new Land Trust homes will be finished by the end of 2020.