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News-Times’ Newport, OR PLANNING COMMISSION
Weather day: Rain. High by 10 am., then neat 48 during 3inder of the day. Cipitation amounts 1 and 2 inches Wednesday night: öre 10 p.m., then after 10 p.m. Low South, southwest to 16 mph, with high as 24 mph. Showers likely. with a high neat :h, southwest wind nph, with gusts as 23 mph. Chance of tion is 70 percent. y night: Rain. Low 90 percent chance itation. iy:
ain. High near 47. of precipitation is ant. Friday night: ;. Cloudy, with a low
ist Weather 3st High 46: .45 .42 .43
Wednesday, January 78, 2017
Low 32 32 32 30 32
Rain 0 0 0 0 0
Housing incentive programs in the works al property tax exemption on land may be given if some the News-Times Of the or all of the residential hous In an effort ing is for low-income people NEWPORT to increase housing develop (80 percent of area median ment, the city planning com income or below). To complement the pro mission has begun drafting three property tax exemption gram, the commission sug gested amending the zon programs. The first program, Verti ing code to allow residential cal Housing, attempts to in uses in commercial areas centivize creating residential outright as long as they are units above commercial de above street grade, eliminat velopment in downtown and ing the current conditional use review process. Residen South Beach. The exemption would ap tial units participating in the ply to properties zoned re program would also be pro tail and service commercial hibited from being used as (C-i), and heavy commercial vacation rental dwellings. In the long-term, the com (C-3) within one-quarter of recommended loos mission a mile of fixed-route bus ser vice. The properties have to ening off-street parking re be located outside of known quirements for qualifying tsunami and landslide hazard projects, requiring projects to invest in transit through areas as well. following state statute, building bus stops or shelters, the exemption varies in ac and assessing the boundaries cordance with the number of of Vertical Housing Devel residential floors on a project opment Zones from time to with a maximum property tax thne. The second program, Al exemption of 80 percent over 10 years on the structural fordable Housing, tries to improvements. An addition- incentivize development of BY GLORIA TUCKER
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low-income housing any would not pencil out without the tax relief. where in Newport. The planning commission Following state statute, the program allows non agreed the designated areas profit developers that provide should be in multi-family res rental housing to low-income idential zones (R-3 and R4), households to receive an ex as well as the Vertical Hous emption of up to 100 percent ing Development Zones. of the property tax for an un Location outside of known hazard areas would also be limited time. Although the state pro required. They also agreed applica gram expires in 10 years, the would be subject to tions renewal. expects commission Low-income households third-party review to ensure are defined as those at or be the need for exemption is low 60 percent of area medi demonstrated accurately and an income for the first year of transparently. Similar to the tenancy, and ñpto 80 percent Vertical Housing program, vacation rental dwellings for subsequent years. For the last proposal, Mul would not qualify. The issue of including af tiple Unit, the planning com housing as part of fordable mission hasn’t fully defined the local requirements for the the requirements created the most indecision for the planprogram. In the state program, de fling commission. Chairman Jim Patrick said velopers of multi-unit hous ing in a designated area are while he is in favor of incen granted a property tax ex tivizing affordable housing, emption on structural un he recognized the need in the provements to a property for community for all kinds of up to 10 years following con housing. Newport Planning Direc struction, if they can show a public benefit and the project tor Derrick Tokos said city
staff would prepare a few options for defining public benefit for the commission to review, at least one of which’ would include an affordability requirement. In addition to new devel— opment, the commission sug gested allowing rehabilita tion projects to qualify for the program. Requirements for rehab projects may include Americans with Disabilities. Act compliance, adding ame nities or increasing the num ber of units in a project. After ironing out the MultiUnit program in an addition-’ al work session, the commis sion expects to present its tax exemption proposals to the city council and other taxing entities in May or June. As well as property tax ex emptions, the city is evaluating System Development Charges and a Construction Excise Tax for affordable housing. -
Contact reporter
Gloria
Thcker at 541-265-8571, ext. 217 or gtucker3newport-
newstimes.com
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News-Times• Newport, OR
Friday, April 14, 2017
PLANNING COMMISSION
Tax exemption programs seek to create housing BY GLORIA TUCKER
Of the News-Times
NEWPORT To increase housing development, the city planning commission has finalized three tax ex emption programs for the city council to consider. The first tax exemption program implements Verti cal Housing Development Zones (WIDZ) to incentiv ize creating residential units alongside commercial devel opment in downtown and the Wdder area. The exemption would ap ply to properties zoned retail and service commercial (C-i) and heavy commercial (C-a) within 1/4 mile offixed-route bus service. The properties have to be located outside of known tsunami and land slide hazard areas as well. Following state statute, the exemption varies by the number of residential floors on a project with a maxi mum property tax exemption of 80 percent over 10 years. An additional property tax exemption on the land may be given if some or all of the residential housing is for low-income people (so per-
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cent of area median income or below). Vacation Rental Dwellings would not quali1’. The second program, Mul tiple Unit Thx Exemption Program (MUTE), is de signed to incentivize devel opment of multi-unit hous ing. In the program, develop ers of multi-unit housing in multi-family residential zones (R-3 and R4) and W{DZ are granted a property tax exemption on structural improvements to a property for up to 10 years following construction. Like the VHDZ program, vacation rental dwellings would not quali, and de velopment outside of known hazard areas would be re quired. The MUTE exemption is applied to projects where three or more new rental units of housing or two or more rehabilitated rental units are created. As part of the application, developers would need to have a description of public benefit(s) in the project. The draft code lists green build ing requirements and afford-
able housing requirements as qualil3ring public benefits. The green building benefit requires the project conform to the 2011 Oregon Reach Code or perform at least 10 percent more efficiently than the performance established in the Oregon Energy Effi ciency Specialty Code. One affordable housing benefit requires a minimum of 20 percent of the number of units must be affordable to households earning 80 per cent or less of the area medi an family income, or a mini mum of 10 percent of the number of units must be af fordable to households earn ing 60 percent or less of the area median family income. The units meeting the af fordability requirements must match the unit mix in the project as a whole regard ing the number of bedrooms. For example, if a developer constructs five three-bed room apartments and five two-bedroom apartments, one three- bedroom and one two-bedroom would have to be affordable. The other affordable hous ing benefit requires the owner of the project to pay
the city an amount equal to 10 percent of the total prop erty tax exemption. The city would place the payments into an account dedicated to fending affordable housing. In case the project does not provide those public benefits, the applicant may request a bearing with the planning commission to show that the project will flilifil the purpose of the program in an alternative manner. Lastly, the application would require evidence that the project could not finan cially be built but for the tax exemption in a project pro forma with a list of assump tions. The third program, the Non-Profit Corporation Low-Income Housing Tax Exemption, tries to incen tivize development of lowincome housing anywhere in Newport. The program allows non-profit developers that provide rental housing to low-income households to receive an exemption of up to 100 percent of the prop erty tax for an unlimited time.
Although the state stat Low-income households are defined as those at or ute that created the pro below 60 percent area me gram expires in 10 years, dian income for the first the planning commission year of tenancy and up to expects renewal. “We’ll bring these pro 80 percent for subsequent grams for (formal) hear years. The property must be ings in May and June for occupied by low-income the planning commission,” persons or be held for the Planning Director Derrick purpose of developing low- Tokos said at the commis income housing for not sion work session April 10. more than three years to “The initial hearings for the quahir. If additional time city council will be in July.” In addition to the three to develop the property for low-income housing is tax exemption programs, needed, the non-profit must the city council will con seek approval from the sider changes to System De planning commission for an velopment Charges, fees on new development, and a po extension. Applications may be ap tential Construction Excise proved for qualiIing prop Tax, a tax on new construc erties built on or after Jan.1, tion. “The concept is it’s best to 1985. To seek the exemption, look at these things in total the non-profit must file’ a and not piecemeal,” Tokos request for exemption with said. “Then you can connect the city for each assessment the dots. They all target dif year. ferent things. What might At any time, the city coun work for one (housing) cil may, by motion or upon project is going to be differ request by the Lincoln ent for another project.” County Board of Commis sioners, set a limit on the Contact reporter Gloria maximum amount of fore Tucker at 541-265-8571, ext. gone tax revenue through 217 or gtucker’ifnewport newstimes.com the exemption.