HousingPartnershipMinutes3-3-2020/
Housing Partnership
6:00 PM, Monday March 2, 2020
Hearing Room, Second Floor City Hall, 210 Main St., Northampton (use back door) MEMBERS
Public Comment- Heather and Rebecca Martin discussed their concerns about poor maintenance and life/safety issues at Meadowbrook.
January 6, 2020 minutes- The Partnership approved unanimously, with one abstention (Junno) upon motion by Jim Reis and second by Gordon Shaw
Annual conversation on public record and open meeting law- The Partnership discussed that no conversations that is any kind of deliberation or serial deliberation between members of
the Partnership is legal outside of posted meetings held in accordance with open meeting law, including email exchanges between members. In addition, any email that is not copied to
a @NorthamptonMA.gov address will make the sender’s email account open to discovery and public records requests.
Current projects: Rachana Crowley updated the Partnership on the 12 unit 35 Village Hill and the 53 unit North Commons at Village Hill affordable family housing projects (city contributions:
CPA, CDBG, and a MassWorks grant the city obtained). Laura Baker updated the Partnership on the Sergeant House enhanced SRO project (city contributions: CPA and CDBG).
Zoning- Wayne Feiden provided the Partnership with a brief update on pending zoning changes but put off any substantive discussion or recommendations, with the understanding that two
pending zoning changes (expansion of Central Business and Smart Growth districts) will be acted on prior to the Partnership’s next meeting date.
CDBG program: Wayne Feiden discussed the 2020-2021 CDBG action plan. Upon motion by Gordon Shaw and second by Carmen Junno, the Housing Partnership voted unanimously to support efforts
to housing rehabilitation and first-time homebuyers grants as loans if that can be done without losing projects.
Other city updates: Wayne Feiden provided the Partnership with a brief update on other pending projects: 1) legislation is advancing to transfer Laurel and Burts Pit Road properties
to the City for affordable housing, 2) the City applied for an update to the Subsidized Housing Inventory to ensure more affordable units are counted, 3) the City is working to coordinate
its Net Zero Greenhouse Gas policy with its affordable housing actions. The Housing Partnership asked to keep the Mayor or his chief of staff in the loop on Meadowbrook issues.
Next meeting: The Partnership decided to discuss the1) the Partnerships annual landlord workshop and how vouchers can help landlords, 2) Safe Haven Advocacy efforts, and 3) understanding
the different city programs to fund affordable housing at their April meeting.
Adjourn at 7:40 PM