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Item No: 6A Meeting Date: May 2, 2007 Type of Business: Discussion City of Mounds View Staff Report To: Mounds View Planning Commission From: Jim Ericson, Community Development Director Item Title/Subject: Review Housing Replacement Program Guidelines and Criteria Introduction: The Mounds View Economic Development Authority (EDA) provides the funding for the City’s Housing Replacement Program. The Mounds View EDA reviewed the program guidelines at their meeting on April 9, 2007 and suggested the Planning Commission also conduct a review and recommend any changes which may be considered appropriate. Created in 1995, the Housing Replacement Program is a voluntary program that allows the City to purchase blighted residential properties from willing sellers. A secondary component of the program involves providing demolition assistance for property owners who would like to remain in the community rather than building new elsewhere. Due to concerns raised by the Office of the State Auditor (which were resolved in 2004) the program had seen little use until recently. This report will serve as an opportunity to review the program guidelines and funding criteria. Any suggested changes would be forwarded back to the EDA for their consideration. Discussion: Purpose: The purpose of the Housing Replacement Program, as stated in the attached program summary, is to reduce the social costs of blight, improve residential neighborhoods and increase the tax base. Objectives: There are three stated objectives for this program—replace deteriorated lower value housing with larger, higher valued housing; eliminate blight; and increase the availability of quality housing for families. Criteria: The home will likely be substandard in some way or exhibit some level of blight. This is defined as follows: 1. Substandard as to condition, property value, size or usage. 2. Obsolete and having a faulty design for block and area in which it is located. 3. Deterioration which has caused blight to other adjoining properties 4. Detrimental to the safety or health of abutting properties in the block. Participation in the program is voluntary! To acquire a property for demolition and resale, the parcel must be represented on the list created in 2004 to satisfy concerns raised by the Office of the State Auditor. The City is under no obligation whatsoever to acquire a property, and the mere presence of a property on the list should not be construed as the City’s intent to acquire.