BACKGROUND:

After the adoption (February 2004) of an amendment to the Comprehensive Plan to include an Affordable Housing Policy, an Affordable Housing Policy Advisory Committee was formed to make recommendations for implementation of the policy. The Advisory Committee completed its initial task of identifying priority strategies and recommendations and presented a report to the Board in December 2004.  The report was also presented on behalf of the Albemarle County Housing Committee.  A number of recommendations were considered feasible to implement as they involved mostly administrative actions using current available resources.  These included data collection and reporting, revising homebuyer counseling programs, and creating a homebuyer assistance program.  Other recommendations required more inter-departmental staff work to formulate actions for implementation which was completed in April and presented to the Board at a work session in May.  At the May 4^th work session, the Board instructed staff to proceed with the process for adopting three recommendations, one as an amendment to the Zoning Ordinance and two as amendments to the Comprehensive Plan.  

STRATEGIC PLAN:

Goal 3.2:  Promote a variety of safe, sanitary and affordable housing types

DISCUSSION:

Pursuant to the Board’s direction at the May 4^th work session, staff has prepared the attached Resolution of Intent to Amend the Albemarle County Zoning Ordinance and Resolution of Intent to Amend Albemarle County’s Comprehensive Plan.  Adoption of these resolutions will start the process to

• Amend the zoning ordinance to encourage affordable housing by providing revised density bonuses when affordable housing is proposed;
• Amend the Comprehensive Plan to establish the basis for calculating the amount/percentage of affordable units to be proffered based on additional units allowed after the rezoning. 
• Amend the Comprehensive Plan to provide a formula for calculating cash or cash-equivalent proffers in lieu of proffering the recommended number of affordable dwelling units

RECOMMENDATIONS:

Staff recommends that the Board adopt the attached resolutions.  Staff further recommends that the amendment process begin with a work session with the Planning Commission prior to a public hearing.  Although the usual process includes one or more focus groups to review proposed amendments prior to the PC’s work session, staff recommends that the work from the Affordable Housing Policy Advisory Committee be considered in lieu of additional focus group meetings.

ATTACHMENTS

Attachment A – Affordable Housing Policy Advisory Committee’s Report of recommended strategies to implement the Affordable Housing Policy, presented to the Board on May 4, 2005

Attachment B - Resolution of Intent to Amend the Albemarle County Zoning Ordinance

Attachment C – Resolution of Intent to Amend Albemarle County’s Comprehensive Plan 

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