After completing two housing studies, Yachats seeks third grant to help find short- and long-term solutions

 

By QUINTON SMITH/YachatsNews

YACHATS – The data has been collected, potential solutions sorted, and now the recommendations – short and long-term — have been made on how to possibly help Yachats correct some affordable housing issues.

The recommendations will need more community conversations and even the simplest will not be easy to implement, so the Planning Commission wants the city to seek a third state grant to help it write changes in code changes to bring before the public. The deadline to seek the grant is July 31.

The recommendations come after two state-financed studies the past 12 months by Cascadia Partners, which was hired to quantify Yachats’ housing issues and then suggest solutions.

Commission chair John Theilacker said the state Land Conservation and Development Commission is encouraging Yachats to seek the third and final grant to help implement some of the suggestions.

“It will be great for the city to have this opportunity to work with the state on this issue,” Theilacker said in an interview. “The question to me is will the community and the council be accepting to regulatory change and can there be (financial) incentives.”

Similar housing studies are wrapping up throughout Oregon, spurred by the state’s housing crisis and funded by the LCDC grants.

First, some background

In its first report assessing housing in Yachats, the consultants said that, among other things:

• 81 percent of the housing consists of single-family homes, which means the city lacks housing options, particularly smaller units and long-term rentals.
• 58 percent of Yachats’ housing consists of second homes or vacation rentals;
• There is enough buildable land zoned for housing overall, but that does not mean land is available or practical to develop.
• There is a deficit of land available or zoned for duplexes, townhouses or multifamily housing;
• There are there are few options on the market for first-time homebuyers and local workers, meaning housing will remain out of reach for many people unless other types of housing are increased;

Community support

Over the past year the consultants held several community meetings, conducted online and written surveys, worked with the city planner and Planning Commission, and got help from a smaller group that included two commission members, Coun cilor Mary Ellen O’Shaughnessey, and Drew Roslund from the Overleaf Lodge/Fireside Motel, Layne Morrill, developer of two rent-assisted developments in Yachats, and Bob Barrett, pastor of Yachats Community Presbyterian Church.

In their final report, the consultants said the community showed:

• Broad support for encouraging smaller and more affordable housing options such as duplexes, cottage homes and townhomes;
• Broad support for increasing the supply of land where townhomes, multi-plexes and cottage clusters are allowed;
• Broad support for more flexible zoning requirements allowing a wider range of housing types;
• Support for financial incentives such as tax breaks and fee waivers or reductions to help facilitate housing development;
• Support for more action to support low-income households and local workers, particularly the homeless or people in unstable housing situations;
• Concerns about the impacts of short-term rentals and seasonal housing on the availability and affordability of housing.

Still, Cascadia Partners project manager Rachel Cotton told the Planning Commission last month that their suggested ideas and proposed changes “are going to need community conversations to see if the community is supportive.”

The recommendations

The consultants had 17 recommendations and suggestions they termed either “regulatory strategies” and “financial incentives” and then put them into three categories to help the city prioritize its work. The three are:

Immediate focus: The consultants said these recommendations are less complex to implement, have a “high feasibility” of completion but still have high impact, and should be done first. Suggestions under regulatory strategies include:

• Define and allow a wider range of housing by changing or updating zoning ordinances, including allowing accessory dwellings, clusters of cottages, and duplexes in neighborhoods zoned for single-family residences;
• Slightly reduce minimum lot sizes for housing units in areas zoned for single-family and duplexes but sharply reduce lot sizes and densities in multi-family and commercial zones.
• Allow mixed-use dwellings in commercial zones but consider limits or prohibit most types of new residential housing in commercial zones.
• Under financial incentives, projects under the “immediate focus” label included:
• Consider creating a property tax exemption for housing projects that provide certain benefits and may otherwise not be economically feasible, such as income restricted and workforce housing;
• Adopt a land disposition policy that says the city will prioritize selling or dedicating any surplus publicly-owned land to meet housing needs;
• Explore the feasibility of implementing a tax of up to 1 percent on new residential construction (here is no cap on the tax rate for commercial construction) and dedicate it to housing programs;

Opportunistic projects: The consultants said these recommendations are also less complex to implement but have less impact. They also have a “high feasibility” of completion but that Yachats should only do them as resources are available. Suggestions for these include:

• Studying the city’s system development charges – now $12,528 per dwelling unit – to evaluate potential changes to rates and allowances for deferrals, financing, scaling, reductions, or exemptions;
• Helping convene housing organizations, charities, foundations, or other stakeholders who may be interested in founding a local land trust or expanding an existing land trust to Yachats;
• Engaging with local non-profits and faith-based organizations that may have surplus land that could be sold or donated to be developed for high-priority housing needs, including affordable housing;
• Whenever planning infrastructure projects, consider how any improvements will affect and help housing development;

Major projects: The consultants said these strategies are relatively complex to implement but can be highly impactful. They may require new resources, additional study, coordination with many groups and residents and take longer to implement. Suggestions for these include:

• Maintain limits on short-term rentals and periodically assess parameters for the limit as population and housing inventory grow and to possibly mitigate the impacts of short-term rentals on the local housing market;
• Adjust minimum parking requirements to be consistent for all types of multiple-unit housing;
• Establish a minimum housing density in R-3, R-4 and C-1 zones to preserve buildable land in these zones for needed townhomes, plexes and multi-family housing;
• Where appropriate or feasible, rezone land in the R-1 zone to a higher density zone;
• Explore the feasibility of implementing a vacant property tax to incentivize development on vacant lots, activate empty unused structures, and discourage absentee property ownership;
• Explore opportunities for partnering with non-profits(s) to establish a local land bank;
• Explore allocating urban renewal funds to targeted housing development and redevelopment projects or to offset the costs of housing development incentives;

What’s next?

While Theilacker and the Planning Commission acknowledge the suggestions and recommendations from Cascadia Partners are potentially daunting for a small town with limited staff, there are ways for the city to not let the report just sit on a shelf. Much, he said, will be up to how seriously the council, a new city manager and the community itself view the issue of affordable housing and how they might address the issue.

Theilacker said the Planning Commission – with the help of the third grant and Cascadia Partners — can take up some of the suggested regulatory issues involving codes and ordinances, hold hearings and present them to the council.

But, he said, “Regulatory efforts alone aren’t going to solve our problem. There needs to be an overall package of proposals and tools to help with affordable housing.”

That could lead to discussions and some decisions on whether to use city funds to help purchase land – generally considered the biggest roadblock to development — for affordable housing, changing the city’s system development charges, considering using revenue from the city’s urban renewal district for housing, and setting up a special city committee or commission to keep the issue on the front burner.

“The community has spoken that we have an affordable housing problem,” Theilacker said. “We just can’t cherry pick the low-hanging fruit and say ‘OK, we did something.’ ”

To read the full housing report from Cascadia Partners, go here

• Quinton Smith is the editor of YachatsNews.com and can be reached at YachatsNews@gmail.com