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MINUTES LAND ACQUISITION PANEL MEETING HOUSING RESOURCES COMMITTEE JUNE 20, 1967 The Land Acquisition Panel of the Housing Resources Committee met June 20, 1967, at 10:_00 a.m., in Committee Room Ill, City Hall. The following mE.mbers were present: Dr. Vivian Henderson, Acting Chairman, Land Acquisition Panel Mr. Jim E. Land Mr. Clayton R. Yates Mr. Cecil A. Alexander, Chairman, Housing Resources Committee Mr. Malcolm D. Jones, Director Mr. Wallace L. Lee was not present at this meeting. Dr. Vivian Henderson, Acting Chairman, Land Acquisition Panel, presided. He stated that a chairman had not yet been elected for this panel and asked if the members present felt that action should be taken on this, this date. He also reported t hat adaitional members had been asked to join this panel but that they have refused. He said that he felt the election of a chairman should wait until full membership was a~tained. Mr. Malcolm D. Jones, Director, said that he felt it would be easier for him if a permanent chairman were elected as soon as possible. Dr. Henderson said he thought it would be better if the election was delayed until a larger number of members were on the panel. He su ggested that perhaps at the next meeting a chairman and vice - chairman could be elected. He stated that another mat ter he wished to bring up was to f i nd something which they could come up with in t erms of possible land sites. He also stated that the last meeting of this Panel was concentrated on requesting inf ormation on the availability of land sites. Mro Jones stated that the r esult of that reque s t was that he followed it up with a Memo to Mr. Dan Sweat, Director of Governmental Liaison, in which he pointed out land needs in the City for the low-cost housing program. He pointed out that it would take three times as much land zoned for this pro gram as it would require for actual development because evE.ry acre that is zoned can not be acquireda He feels that at least 5,100 acres of land zoned for this type of housing are needed and he told Mr. Sweat this and Mro Sweat asked the Planning �,:r· - --::ta ·' '1;1?21 ' - - - - -, : · c;;·r- cb:r:: · et:::i:5'. M · -a .-;,,;z aG ' .. ;;; - c r· rs CJ i I 0 '4 2: Department to take action on this. Mr. Sweat followed this up May 24 by a Memo in which he stated that he had called on the Planning Department to prepare a map and listing of all property suitably zoned for construction of Turnkey and 221 (d) (3) housing. has been received, ie. These have not yet been received, but some material Sheets showing vacant land in the eastern half of the City and its current zoning: Mr. Jones pointed out however, that much of this 1and is not appropriate for low-cost housing construction. ¥.!I'. Cecil A. Alexander, Chairman, Housing Resources Committee, asked i f they were broken down into apartments? Mr. Jones replied that they were but the zoning of each parcel was shown, and that much of the land shown was not particularly useful to this program. Mr. Alexander a sked if the developers know that this report is in existence. Mr. Jones stated that several developers have come into his office and looked· over it and they all agree that it was not particularly helpful. · They have gone through it page by page, and selected sites properly zoned and in many instance s, after attempting to run them down, found out that they were not available because of future plans, other contemplated uses, e tc. The developers cannot tell much about t he l and f rom just a loca t i on. Mr . Alexander stated that the Planning Department's delay is because it i s attempting t o develope a Land Use Study over t he entire Cityt t hat one thing that this panel mi ght do is to as k the Planning Commission to pr epare a sU11UOOri zed Land Use St udy befor e the other one is published. Dr. Henderson asked what the time t able for t his report was? Mr. Alexander did not lmow. Mr. Jones stated that the list of land s uitable for this program was originally called for by May 4. Mr. Henderson asked i f this information was part of the study they would b~ ge tting. Mr o Alexander said yes--a detailed Land Use Study for the City; that one other t hing, perhaps is this information shown on the seperate sheets s hould be assembled into larger sec tions o Dr. Henderson asked i f all the r epor t was on l and in the easteI}ll half of the Ci ty? �3, Mr. Jones said ye-s , that Mr. Alexander has explained that we did lmow where available land was in the west. Also in a1 swer to Mr. Alexander, Mr. Jones stated that there were too many pages of it to mount successfully. Dr. Henderson said that he gathered that the study Mr. Alexander referred to WO!lllil be an analysis of land use. Mr. Jones said it would be, and for the whole City. It will also try to list proposals of changes which need to be made. He stated that it takes considerable time and that he does not know when it will be completed. Dr. Henderson said that he did not see how this panel could do much until they get this information. Mr. Alexa1der agreed that it was hard; that the only thing that he knew of that could help is to make it known that this is needed to move on as soon as possible; that one thing which the Mayor mentioned to the Chief Planner was that he would like to know where industrial tracts were that ·could be rezoned for housing . Dr. Henderson said that he had noticed that there was a housing project going on near Agnes-Jones School in which the conditions were not very good. He stat ed that wnile the Committee was fiddling around, somebody else was building. He also stated that this particular project is crowded and has too many families in it. Mr. Jones stated that this area was already zoned, and that there were some f ew areas such as this which were appropriately zoned. Dr. Henderson said that we were getting no information on land which is availabl e outside of thes e areas. Mr . Alexander said that t he primary pr oblem was the l arge tracts everybody knows about which have been ref used for one reason or another. He stat ed that there is another problem in the east ern part of the City. Perhaps this Committee should meet with HUD and review wi th t hem t he principl es that they have set up and inform them of t he si tuat i ono He also stated t hat he f elt that a man who really wants to build houses could find s9me areas on t he available sheets which would be workableo Mr. Jones stated that this was not the _p-oblem as he saw it. The problem is that there is not enough land zoned for apartments where the land can be used for this program. �Dr. Henderson stated that this panel's function is to find land that is already zoned for apartments and also land which can be rezoned, because zoning resistance is what is causing the problem now; trying to get vacant or near vacant land zoned for houses. Mr. Jones said that specific recommendations for suitable areas were needed. Dr. Henderson said that this was another f unction of this panel, to inform the Housing ResQurces Committee of zoning and to coordinate with the Zoning Committee of the Board of Aldermen. Mr. Jones said that we need to det ermine and to express the need and then let the Planning Department come up with where and what to do. Dr. Henderson agreed with this but said that we should reserve the right to review it and have influence on it. Mr. Alexander said that one thing which is available right now are the M-1 segments; that the problem is the Planning Department's staffing. Another problem is that some owners of M-1 may not want to develope it for apartments; that one other thing this panel might wish to do is to request the City for additional help to get this thing solved soon. Mr. Clayton R. Yates said that the mat ter hinges on two things: Location and Zoning. Mr . Jone s said that our main concern was t he part zoned for multi-family construction • . Mr. Alexander said that another problem was high prices. Mr. Jones said that s everal people have attempted t o acquire land for this program, but could not because prices were too high. Mr. Alexander said that two other f eatures were utilities and streets; that he wrote to the Atla..~ta Real Estate Board and the EJT1pire Real Estate Board earlier and asked them if they would use us as a clearing house for their land, but he has received no answero He stated that he also talked with them over the phone and that they sounded favorable, but we still have no answer as yet. Dro Henderson asked how .much low-income housing was under construction now? �- - --. - - - - --- - ----~ = ~ - = 5 Mr. Alexander told him approximately 5,000 units proposed~ which appear fiirm. Hr. Henderson asked if it is known where these are? Mr . Jones said that they were listed formally on a detailed Housing Inventory report. Dr. Henderson asked what they could do as a Committee .on these sites? Mr. Alexander stated that one of the problems is that when we go to the Planning Department we have to get something rez:amed which they have already promised would no t be rezoned. Dr. Henderson asked if it would be a good idea to ask Mr. GlacUmto go over this list with us, item by item. suggestions: 1. 2. He also suggested they follow these two Try t o go over the "Problem Areas" with t he Planning Department. See if we can get an over-all picture of this study and ask for an opportunity to revi ew it. Mr . Alexander sai d that another thing would be to sit down with HUD and r eview their policy, what i t means and wher e t o go to apply it. Dr. Henderson asked if we should go to the Regional Office. Mr. Alexander said yes , to tal k with Mr . Ee . Baxter, Regional Administrat or. Mr. Jones stated at this point tha t a positive position by t his Panel should be taken and s hown in the minutes and be passed to t he Press. At this poi nt the Panel pr epared and adopted the attached resoluti on . Mr . Alexander suggested that the Panel writ e t o the Real Estate Boards reques ting i n.formation on available locations f or l ow~cost housing in the Ci ty. Mr. J im Land asked if any r eal . estat e people had been asked t o serve on this Panel. Dr. Henderson said that the ones asked had declined . He also proposed and obtained agreement of the Panel t o ask, in coordination with Mr. Al exander, both the Atlanta Real Estate Board arid the Empire. Real Estate Board each to provide a representative for membership on the Land Acquisition Panel of the Housing Resources Committee. Mro Alexander reported that one item on which he and Mro Jones did not quite see eye to eye is the rezoning of large pieces of land one at a . time. . �6 He said that of the over all plan, one portion, Fairburn Road (originally proposed for Turnkey Housing) was coming up for rezoning soon. He stated that this land had been discussed with several other peo ple on the Planning Committ£e and agreed that the argument a gainst Public Housing on this site is well founded: that now Mr. Gillmore wants to have 221 (d) (3) housing built there on a co-operative basis; that Mr. Jones had asked him t o appear before the Zoning Committee and support it; that he ( Mr. Alexander) feels that an individual going before the Committ ee would not have the same good result that a committee's going would have. He asked Mr. Jones to give the location and history of the site. Mr. Jones reported that this was a location on West side of Fairburn Road and that it is just north of Holy Fanily Hospi tal; 59 acres proposed for 221 (d) (3) co-op. It is ideal for this type of development because of the general nature of the community i n that area. The sponsor is proposing 221 (d) (3) co-op f or sales unit s only, like Canlbridge Square. sold from pre-built models. These are built multi-family and There mus t be 90% of the uni.ts in a particular segment already sold before construction can even begin. has been very successful in other areas. This t ype of program Under 221 (d) (3) there are two ways yuu can go : 1. The cheaper rout e--)% interest, 40 ·year mortgage--produces lowest cos t uni ts to be sold. 2. More expensive r oute --6% inter es t and½% f or FHA i nsurance fees. He has a letter from Mr . Gillmore asking t hat this Panel support him on this site at the Zoning Hearing. He also stated that he and M. He f elt it would do this Panel credit t o do so. w~w. Gates, Housing Resources Committee Consultant, went to the Planning Board and talked with t hem . recommended favorable action. As a result, the Planning Board He stated that he agreed with Mr. Alexander, in that it would be better to have worked out an over- all plan, but until this is done the Zoning Committee will not know what part this site and other similar ones play in our program., unless this Committee tells them so. Dr. Henderson asked if that was originally pl anned for Public Housing? Mr. Jones said that it was; that if it is now made available to moderate income families the experience is that they move out from lower price dwellings, thus making those units available to lower income families. �I , ~-- -- -- - - - - - ~ -- 1 Mr. Henderson stated that this was what made slums. Mr. Jones said not necessarily. Mr . Alexander stat ed t hat he thought that this was a good site for the type of thing being discussed. Dr. Henderson asked what the Panel thou ght? Mr . Yates stated that it was fine, if 221 (d) (3) at Mr . Jones said that the specific proposal now was for i t could not be got t en for J% 6% interest could be got~en. interest and that 3%. Y1r. Land a sked why HUD refused t his? ¥1r. Jones explai ned th~t this particular sit e was not actually proposed to HUD: that HUD made i t s policy known through the newspapers; t hat t hey would not permit public housing in an area of racial concentration. Mr. Alexander stated t hat this was why t his site was not submitted t o HUD . Mr . J ones said t he developers ' main problems were on locations and zoning . He sai d that he fe lt t his Panel s hould ~upport t he developers on sites which we feel are appropriat e. He al so stated that i n t he future he could bring potent i ally appropriate s i tes to t he Panel's a t tentiln. Mr . Alexander asked if anyone (Mr. Henderson part i cularly ) would appear with hirr. before the Zoni ng Committee in t he Council Chamber of City Hall at 2: 00 Thurs day, June 22, i n support of the Fairburn Road s ite . Dr. Henderson said he could not because he would .be out of t own, but YJr. Land said that he would. As there was not other business the meeting adj ourned 11:00 a.m. Approved by: Encl: Resolution Vivian Henderson, PHD, Chairman Land Acquisition Panel �