[yrhcworking] YRHASC background info

[Mlongreene2 at aol.com]

Good Morning,  The attached (and opened document) was sent to all  voters and 
is a good summary of the YRHC proposal which may be a helpful  review for the 
Application and Selection Committee (YRHASC)??.
    Please request any other things that you think may  be useful to get this 
process going.
 
Brenda,  Could you copy us all the exact wording of Article 47 as  amended at 
Town Meeting?  Thanks, Mark 
 
Brenda - copy for Newell - thanks
 
Mark 
 
 
 
Informational Summary of  Article 47 
A Proposal by the Year  Round Housing Committee (YRHC) to Lease Town Lands   
For Long Island Year Round  Residents to build Homestead  Housing 

Article 47.  To see if the Town will vote to  authorize the Selectmen to 
lease certain parcels of Town owned or tax acquired  property for an annual fee of 
no less than, but not to exceed the amount that  would otherwise be collected 
as tax revenue if the property were privately  owned, for the purpose of 
allowing construction of privately owned homes under a  criteria established by 
the Long Island Year Round Housing  Committee 

“If the people who need to live here year-round, who do  the work, who make 
it work, can’t live here, it’s all going to collapse. Simple  as that. And 
this isn’t charity. Let’s forget that.  This is reality.  This is being members 
of a great  community.  And it’s emblematic of  the oldest, simplest truth in 
the world: if you want to be happy, do everything  you can to make other 
people happy.”   
You might think this is yet another great quote from the YRHC, but it is  
not.  It is from historian and  Martha’s Vineyard seasonal resident David 
McCullough speaking on that island’s  housing crisis, which is not unlike the one 
brewing here on Long Island. 

We are not alone in our growing housing crisis; in fact we are late in  
coming to the table on this issue compared to other islands in Maine and elsewhere. 
 But make no mistake - we are in no way  exempt from the same forces that are 
at work undermining the future diversity  and stability of our community like 
every where else on the coast and especially  islands. The housing issue here 
is kind of like global warming – hard to see,  hard to believe, and it may 
happen slowly enough that it can be doubted.  But if it is true…then what? 
To this end, we of the YRHC have worked hard this year to put together a  
plan to begin to address this issue, which may be the most serious long term  
threat to our community of any that we have faced in the past. 
We think we have a proposal that is a real “win-win” for everyone.  We hope 
you will take a few minutes to  review what we have agreed upon as a proposed 
pilot project.  This article comes very late in the Town  Meeting agenda 
(#47), so we hope you will give us feedback and questions even  before Town Meeting 
next week so that we can address them properly.  Even better, if you find 
these proposals  acceptable, please consider working with us in the future on our 
continuing  efforts to refine the proposals and make them happen if we get a “
Yes Vote” at  Town Meeting.  Above all please stay  long enough at the 
meeting to support these efforts with your vote. 
Why?                    
The short summary of the Housing Survey, past articles in the Long  Islander, 
and the Town Report is this:   housing costs on Maine’s coastal islands  have 
severely outstripped the income abilities of residents except the  
wealthiest, generally seasonal residents, to buy into their own communities.  This is no 
ones fault, but is a result of an aging population nationwide with  
substantial resources in primary homes elsewhere looking for future retirement,  
investment, and/or vacation homes.   
We are fortunate to live in a place that is desirable towards that end,  but 
it has driven up the value of the limited property here beyond the reach of  
most moderate income residents.    Most impacted immediately are young  people, 
young families and single individuals of all ages who are not presently  
property owners, but wish to remain a part of our strong, diverse, unique year  
round island community.  The  single biggest thing we can do to bring housing 
costs within reach of our own  citizens is to control the cost (and 
availability) of the land, which is  what this plan proposes to do. 
Equally threatened over the long term are all of us of all ages as the  
younger folks needed in any community to carry on the support activities are  
unable to find suitable, stable, year round housing, rental or otherwise.  Their 
departure has happened on most  other islands already and is happening here.   
We remain fortunate to have many younger folks still here, but uncertain  of 
their future because they are in rentals that could change at any time.  The 
lack of available, reasonable lands  and houses to purchase is mostly of out of 
reach and getting worse.   The potential loss of this part of  our population 
will diminish the quality of life for all of us as our makeup  becomes ever 
more seasonal and elderly.  There will be fewer and fewer strong backs to help “
carry the load” and  maintain the basic institutions and services we all need 
to safely and  comfortably stay here. 
The Plan 
Allow the release of several parcels of Town owned land  to be leased to 
qualified applicants upon which they will, entirely at their  expense, build a 
home to suit their needs. 
We have crafted a plan that asks for no money, but rather brings in new  full 
tax revenues on the (now untaxed) lands as well as the future improvements  
including the house at the same rates as if the property were privately owned.  
All costs of legal, survey, site plans, etc. on the Town lots being 
considered  will be covered by the candidates and/or outside grant monies.   At the 
same time, it allows the  participants to build their own home as they see fit 
and be guaranteed that they  can stay Long Islanders as long as the want without 
worrying about where they  may have to move to next. Most significant is that 
it also gives hope and peace  of mind to our young folks that there is a way 
to remain here if they want.  
Getting some of our present renters into their own homes, also  potentially 
frees up very scarce twelve month rental housing situations for  other folks to 
stay on or return to the island and maybe also become future  permanent 
residents.  Equally  important we are conserving the future affordability of these 
properties by  maintaining ownership of the scarce and valuable land upon 
which these houses  will be built.  We will be able to  guarantee the repurchase 
of these relatively “affordable” homes in the future by  the next generations. 
Details   
The devil is always in the details.  It has been impressive how 
professionally the committee members have  worked to craft the basic workings of the 
program. Getting the conditions of  this proposal right so that is fair and 
attractive enough to the participants  and acceptable to the voters has been very 
challenging.   
We offer the following as our best compromise so far and acknowledge that  it 
is incomplete and will need more detail as we begin to implement the  
program.  The list of “what if”  questions is continuous but will make a better end 
product.    Further resources, including the  legal reviews and assistance 
needed will be committed to some of these questions  if we get the go ahead to 
try this plan on several parcels with willing  candidates.  We need your “Yes” 
vote  to move forward. 
There were seven major areas of the proposal that needed  to be solved: 
1          Who is eligible? 
2.         Who gets priority for the limited land available and who gets 
which  parcel? 
3.         Who will make these difficult decisions? 
4.         What  will be the transfer provisions if an owner decides to leave 
the  program? 
5.         What will the lease provisions be? 
6.         What about financing? 
7.         Which  land might be suitable? 
A brief synopsis of the plan for each of these  topics: 
1.         Who is eligible?  We  boiled the basic eligibility to enter the 
program down to four major  criteria: 
* Pre-approval for a mortgage
* Year-round residence on the island for a period of  time
* Willingness to build a home in a set time-frame
* Eligibility by income. 
2.         Who gets priority for the limited land available and who gets 
which  parcel? 
We devised a point system to “rank” the most eligible candidates.   It is 
important that: a)  candidates who opt to lease the land have the greatest 
potential to stay long  term on the island and be contributors to the community and 
b) it is in no ones  best interest to have a house vacated and potentially be 
re-sold quickly, nor is  it desirable to lose another year round family. The 
point system developed tries  to keep those two points in focus and is as 
follows: 
* Not a current property  owner: 10 points
* Immediacy of need: up to 10 points
* Involved in community  life: up to 10 points
* Employed on the island: 10  points
* Number of people in  household: 2 points per person, up to 10
* Family ties to the island:  up to 10 points
* Length of time on the  island: 1 point per year, up to 10 
3.         Who will make these difficult decisions?                           
                      
It was proposed that an application process be used with an independent and 
diverse Selection Committee  appointed by the Selectmen to review applications 
and assign points.  This Selection Committee would develop  the application 
and the application process and be given the authority to refine  the criteria 
further before beginning the selection  process. 
The qualified applicants with the highest number of points, as determined  by 
the Selection Committee would be highest on the list for the next eligible  
lease property. 
4.         What will be the transfer price provisions if an owner decides to  
leave the program? 
Another important part of the lease is a  formula that would determine the 
price the house could be sold for if the owner  decides to leave the program.  
The YRHC, on behalf of the Town would have  first refusal on the house at a 
price that would be equal to the replacement  cost of the building, as calculated 
by insurance company standards and  practices. Additionally, a complete home 
inspection for defects that might  affect the value would be part of the final 
transfer price calculation.   The additional value to the land  and house due 
to the development of the property and improvements could also be  added or 
split with the owner and Town.  This price would give the first  homeowners a 
potential return on their investment, especially if they used  discounted 
materials and/or their own “sweat equity”.  It would also make  the house 
affordable to future eligible buyers, since they also would not have  to buy the 
continually inflating land beneath it.  The Year-Round Housing  Committee, as 
noted, would have first refusal to buy the house, but first choice  would normally 
be to broker a sale between the selling homeowner and the next  eligible 
candidates on the waiting list.  In the event that a house is not  needed, the YRHC 
could opt to rent the property or ultimately the Town could opt  to sell 
house and land outright and end the program if no longer in demand.   
5.         What will the lease provisions be? 
The YRHC is considering the use of a "ground  lease" to allow eligible 
tenants to lease parcels of town land and build their  own private houses.  The 
committee is studying ground leases used on other  islands to make them Long 
Island  applicable.  An important condition of the agreement would be that the  
tenants build an appropriate, year-round home on the site in an agreed  
timeframe, so the land does not sit unused indefinitely.   Although the  tenant would 
own the building, and could leave the value of the house to his or  her heirs, 
the committee feels that the home should return to the program and  its goals 
of keeping these Long Island  properties as available, affordable, and year 
round as intended.  (It was, however, agreed that an  otherwise eligible 
offspring on the YRHC eligible waiting list should have  additional priority on that 
list – an interesting example of some of the  challenging “details” we have 
tried to deal with in planning this program).   
Significant legal assistance from grant monies will be utilized to fully  
develop and refine the model leases we are studying from other islands’ housing  
programs. 
6.         What about financing? 
Where this is leased land, many questions were generated as to how the  
financing would work.  All financing  for the building of the home on the leased 
land would be a private transaction  between the lessee and a lending 
institution as with any other home mortgage  program.  Both Island Fellow Alden  
Robinson and Housing Administrator Mark Greene have attended numerous housing  
conferences and worked with the Genesis Community Loan Fund.  We have been assured 
by lenders that  this is a normal and straightforward situation that is gladly 
handled by many  (but not all) banks. Camden National Bank, which has a 
Portland branch is an eager participant in these types of  affordable housing 
initiatives up and down the coast of Maine. 
7.         Which parcels might be  suitable? 
The Town has a modest number of land parcels – some in clear Town  ownership, 
some in use by the Town, and others in the process of having their  titles 
cleared for eventual Town ownership.  All may be viewed on the Town website  
(townoflongisland.us).  Most  of the parcels are very small or very hard to get 
to or of uncertain title as  yet.   We are requesting some  of the smaller 
parcels as a beginning to start the program modestly.  We do not know if they are 
buildable at  this time, but will undertake the necessary survey and site plan 
work to see. We  will work with abutters and neighbors to see if they have 
concerns that we may  negotiate.  The parcels being  requested for use by this 
program are: 
Lots 255/256 on Fowler  Road across  from the Transfer Station. These will 
not clear title to the Town until Nov. 07  and may be merged or reconfigured.  
They are minimum size. 
Lot  361 on Beach Ave. to the south of and behind  Barter property.  Minimum 
size and  needs access via paper street  work. 
Lot  344 at the corner of Beach  Ave. and Fern Ave.  Minimum size and 
uncertain ground  quality. 
We hope the success of this program this  year will encourage our fellow 
citizens to consider future releases of  additional lands if needed to sustain 
this program in the  future. 
Summary of the benefits of the YRHC  proposal – Article 47 
·        Year round housing can  be created by the private enterprise and 
efforts of the individuals involved in  a time frame that can be as short as 
needed to keep folks permanently on the  island. 
·        The candidates selected  can build a home to their liking, within 
broad guidelines, with their own  financing and sweat equity. It will be theirs 
as long as they remain year round  residents and meet conditions of the lease. 
  Transfer provisions will be an  agreed part of the contract to keep the 
properties as affordable and available  as possible for future residents, yet 
give a fair return to those who have built  and own the homes.  
·        The affordability part  of this is obvious as land does not have to 
be purchased, but will be leased by  the Town and/or YRHC on a long term basis 
as long as conditions of the lease are  met. 
·        The Town still owns the  land and it would be available for future 
year round housing needs if the  original lessees leave or buy a different 
property.  The value of the land and improvements  can be sold at some future time 
should the need for this type of program ever  disappear. 
·        Lease payments would  accrue to the community and be equal to the 
taxes that would otherwise be  collected as if the land were privately owned.  
In addition, taxes would be paid on the  home and improvements to the property 
the same as any other private  residence.  For all intents and  purposes, the 
Town owned land is fully back on the tax rolls. 
·         As our citizens build their own homes,  hopefully the places they 
rent now will become available for others year round  and contribute to the 
housing stock of the island by providing entry level  rental housing options for 
young folks and others, and help maintain the future  stability and diversity 
of our population. 
Please contact any of us with concerns  or questions and hope to see you at 
Town  Meeting. 
Year Round  Housing Committee participants: 
Mark Greene,  Chair                                           Alden Robinson, 
Island Institute  Fellow 
Ruth Peterson,  Selectman                                   Steve Train, 
Selectman 
Leah Doughty and  Michael Maloney                 John Billings 
Will and Amy  Tierney                                        Mary Nanos 
Lorrinda  Valls                                                       Tom and 
Tammy  Hohn 
Jonothan Norton  and Katie Wegner                      Cade and  Melissa Brown
 
 



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