John Scarffe, Nederland.  The Nederland Planning Commission sent to the Nederland Board of Trustees draft ordinances regarding administrative streamline for multi-family units of four and under and regarding a Rental Licensing Program during a regular meeting at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, December 14, 2016 at the Nederland Community Center.

Town Administrator Alisha Reis said the Town is looking at how applications for small multi-family units are processed.

The Board of Trustees and Planning Commission have been working to provide additional housing units, Reis said. Local businesses are complaining about not having skilled employees because they have no place to live.

The Town has identified the need for 200 working units over the next two years, Reis said, and has added three or four units in that time. The Town has a very high number of jobs in tourism, teachers, firefighters and servers.

All multi-family dwelling units in the residential districts require Special Review Use (SRU) permits, which is about an eight-week process. Current code requires a planned unit application and SRU if it totals an acre or more.

“Potential land use applicants have indicated that the SRU process presents a barrier to development of lower cost housing due to developments costs, timeline and board approval,” Reis said. The Planning Commission sees this as an easily attainable housing goal.

“The Commission has previously discussed allowance for streamlined review of multi-family residences under four units for new construction or renovation projects. The allowance for administrative streamline is only available provided that all zoning aspects are compliant.”

Properties unable to adhere to yard and bulk requirements description will still be required to undertake the SRU process, or apply for a variance, if applicable and in alignment with required conditions. “Folks want to build these units in March, April or May, and by the time we get to them they have lost their building time,” Reis said. “This may be a hurdle to affordable housing in the community.”

The Planning Commission has discussed this three or four times. “We process most land use applications that come from the community. This is something that could easily be reviewed administratively,” Reis said.

Concerns include parking, traffic noise, renter turnover and lack of maintenance. Reis said the idea has been put forth that you could retain neighborhood noticing requirements, and everyone within 300 feet of a multi-family unit application receives a notice.

No changes will be made to existing standards, which require off street parking, height, lot, setbacks and current density for that zoning area. This is not a change in density, Reis said.

The draft ordinance has options for four units or three units. Commission Member Steve Williams asked if staff reserves the right, if it’s really complicated, to bring it to the Planning Commission.

Reis said that if clarity is needed on any project the Planning Commission may review it, and the applicant has the right to appeal to the Board of Zoning Adjustment. Board of Trustee Liaison Stephanie Miller asked, if someone were to propose three units or four units, would they have to have three acres?

Reis said, yes, they will cluster those together central to the lot. “You would have to have three lots. It’s not per lot but square footage. Neighborhood commercial is the only zoning area where they could ask for a density increase.”

Commission Chair Roger Cornell said he was glad Reis brought up notifying neighbors.

“I was going to request that,” and Reis said that would be part of the process.

Commission Member Wendy Williams said: “What you’re saying is you have to notify your neighbors to do something that is allowed in the code already. We’ve already said this is allowed in our zoning code. There shouldn’t be a neighbor approval.”

Reis said they always encourage people to talk with their neighbors. This would not be a requirement. “We probably do have some work to do on letting people know.”

Miller said that three units before SRU gets us to a good place. “It would be tougher to ratchet it back later. I’m more receptive to three than four.

“In my head, what the BOT heard from the public when we were trying to do higher density in Old Town was they’d like to see something equally applied. I think this addresses that, which is good.”

Wendy Williams said that we should encourage more multi-family dwelling units and more housing, so she’d like to go for the four units. Cornell said it should be over one acre and keep that rule.

Notify direct neighbors, and administratively that’s not a bad thing, Cornell said.

“There’s no hold up or waiting period, just let the people know. We’re changing that.”

The parking issue has come up but I also think you’re making parking easier, Cornell said. Steve Williams said he is comfortable going with four.

Commission Member Timmy Duggan said he is totally for this and doesn’t see a difference between three and four units. “Moving that barrier of the political review process is what we need to do and at the same time not change the requirements.”

The Nederland Planning Commission approved the draft ordinance with more than four units needed to trigger the SRU process.  The ordinance will now go to the Nederland Board of Trustees for approval.

The Commission discussed a draft ordinance to amend the rental licensing code. The Board of Trustees directed the Commission at the joint housing work session in August to forward legislation to advance rental licensing.

The ordinance and program has been reviewed by the Commission since 2014 and more recently on October 17, 2016. The Planning Commission reviewed the draft ordinance and subsequent program with suggested changes to be included for the Public Hearing on December 14.

The draft ordinance states that the current ordinance requiring licenses for rental properties is not being utilized and is out of date for the current needs of the Town. “An update of the existing Code started in 2011 and is now being finalized.

“The Town is not trying to create a landlord tenant relations board or allow tenants to nitpick about their living situations, but simply looking for a way to gain voluntary compliance on the part of the property owner to create safe and sanitary living conditions within their residence. A Housing Needs assessment easily identified 99 rental units within Town limits, but there may be upwards of twice as many.”

A direct mailing will be sent to 30 to 40 known rental property owners or property managers, along with notices being sent in water bills and the Town website containing program information. Using the 2006 International Property Maintenance Code, the Town will be able to identify unsafe, unsanitary or hazardous living conditions and address them as needed.

“Homeowners or property managers will be provided with a checklist of what we will be looking at so they can correct issues with their own due diligence prior to inspection. An initial inspection of the property will take place with continued inspections every five years or when a valid complaint from a tenant is received. Inspections will be scheduled during a certain day of the week with the possibility of one ‘exception’ day a month.

“Inspections will be by appointment only and will be made directly through the inspector. The inspector will have the ability to require the homeowner or property manager to hire separate inspectors if necessary,” according to the ordinance.

“A reasonable amount of time will be given in order to complete all required corrections or additional inspections.” The Nederland Planning Commission approved sending the ordinance to the Board of Trustees.

The Planning Commission will conduct a public hearing on January 25, 2017 regarding short term rentals.