Housing board weighs financing options for Ball O'Brien project; seeks short‑term rental revenue and phased approach

The New Shoreham Housing Board discussed financing options and next steps for the Ball O'Brien redevelopment and related projects, reviewing current grant outreach, developer responses and several revenue options.

Project and developer outreach: Board members reported mixed developer interest. One outreach firm (1 Neighborhood) declined to work on the project but referred the board to a company called CapX; CapX discussed financing and construction approaches but flagged the island’s high costs and financing uncertainty. Omni, another outreach contact, was unresponsive to calls. Board members said they will continue to solicit development partners and requested additional information from respondents.

Rhode Island Infrastructure Bank (trunk line): The board received an update that Bain (contractor) provided an estimate of $224,700 for a reduced scope trunk‑line project. The board must submit forms for minority‑business compliance and confirm that the original project was competitively advertised under Rhode Island General Law; town staff were assigned to provide those advertisement records.

Fidelity grant: Chris asked to continue drafting a Fidelity philanthropic application and circulated a prefilled form for comments; the board voted to authorize him to keep working on the Fidelity grant application but he said he would not submit it without a separate approval vote.

Financing options and town bond discussion: Board members reviewed internal borrowing capacity (an existing authorization to borrow up to $2 million was noted) and explored asking the town to float a bond or to place a bond article on an upcoming warrant. Staff provided rough debt‑service estimates for a $2 million bond (illustrative: a 15‑year term at 4% would produce about $145,000 in annual debt service; at 5% about $190,000). Board members said a very large bond (e.g., $7 million) was unlikely to pass and discussed pursuing phased construction or repackaging the project to reduce per‑unit costs.

Short‑term rental license fee as a revenue source: The board discussed requesting the town council to allocate revenues from the new short‑term rental license fee (current fee discussed at $200 per license, about 500 licenses projected, roughly $100,000/year) to the housing board. The board voted to ask the town council at its February 5 work session to consider directing short‑term rental license revenues to the housing board; the motion passed with one abstention.

State legislation watch: Board members raised two state legislative matters to monitor: (1) a Rhode Island bill to allow local transfer fees on high‑end real‑estate sales for affordable housing, and (2) a proposed application of the hotel tax to short‑term rentals. The board briefly debated whether to oppose the hotel‑tax expansion; members reconsidered an initial motion to oppose and decided instead to track the legislation and discuss positions after reviewing the bills and the town council's February 5 workshop.

Next steps: Board members agreed to pursue a phased approach for Ball O'Brien to reduce per‑unit cost, continue developer outreach (including following up with CapX and with Church‑based housing inquiries), complete the infrastructure compliance paperwork required by the Rhode Island Infrastructure Bank, and to request the town council consider allocating short‑term license fee revenues to help housing efforts.