Pine Plains Affordable Housing Task Force formed

PINE PLAINS — The creation of an affordable housing committee is something the Town Board has taken very seriously and discussed numerous times at recent meetings. Town Board member Sandra David volunteered to take the lead and meet with the town’s planning consultant, Bonnie Franson, regarding the formation of such a committee. David presented the results of her meeting with Franson, held on Sept. 22, at the Oct. 21 Town Board meeting.

According to David’s notes on the meeting, it was “very helpful,� and she learned there are three distinct organizational phases for dealing with affordable housing: pre-development, development and post-development.

The pre-development phase is the planning phase.

“This phase is for the purpose of gathering facts and making recommendations to the Town Board,� she stated, noting the county will do some of the required work. “It was felt, to make it more town specific and to raise community awareness, that a community group has an important role to play.�

David wrote that it might make sense to get Housing US (a program through the Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation) involved in seeking grant opportunities at this point. She also said those working on this phase would  officially become the Affordable Housing Task Force.

The second phase, development, will deal with the “construction and selection phase and often overlaps with the Planning Board’s role,� according to David. “This would be the Affordable Housing Committee and its task would be to construct the application process, household selection process and the rules and regulations that need to be in place.�

She surmised the county, along with Attorney to the Town Warren Replansky, would assist the task force in this phase.

The third phase, post-development, “is the administration of the laws, rules and regulations adopted by the Town Board,� David stated.

At the meeting, David proposed three resolutions. One was to form the task force to gather information and “raise community awareness of the benefits of affordable housing.� Because it would be an advisory group only, David said the task force would not be subject to the open meetings law.

The second resolution was to approve the payment of no more than $1,000 for a survey, as well as to allocate funds for Franson’s services when needed.

The third resolution was to populate the task force with the following members: Kathleen Augustine, Ed Casazza, Jerry Chesney, George McGhee, Jack McQuade, Jennifer Pindt-Mosher and Elizabeth White. David will serve as liaison between the task force and the Town Board. The Town Board voted to approve all three resolutions.