Joanne Nelson, director of the BendPak Community Services department, told a joint session of the Boone County Commission and the Columbia City Council on Jan. 10 that the jurisdictions are moving from study to action on housing policy and programs. "This has been a long, hard battle, but it's not over," Nelson said, opening the work session.

The meeting focused on implementing recommendations from a comprehensive housing study prepared for the city and county, including proposals to make permitting and development review more predictable, establish a local affordable housing trust fund, create a housing preservation inventory, and explore tools such as tax-increment financing and a land bank. Becky Thompson, director of the city's Housing and Neighborhood Services Department, said staff aim to prioritize the consultant's recommendations and asked elected officials for guidance on which items to advance first.

The nut of the discussion centered on three priorities staff described as feasible in the short term (0–2 years): clarifying and streamlining development review steps, standing up a city affordable housing trust fund seeded with $1 million in the 2025 city budget, and creating an inventory of subsidized affordable housing to track imminent affordability expirations.

Officials and staff outlined specific implementation steps. Thompson described work to produce visual process flowcharts for development review steps that she said would help external applicants and internal staff identify bottlenecks and discretionary approvals that could become administrative. "The hope is that this is not only a tool for outside developers and builders to be able to easily see what steps would need to be taken for any given project, but also can be a tool for us internally to reflect and say, where are some of these bottlenecks happening in the development process?" Thompson said.

Boone County Presiding Commissioner Kip Kendrick spoke in favor of moving discretionary approvals to administrative processes where appropriate, saying the county had directed staff to bring forward changes that would reduce discretionary review. "If Bill feels good about it, bring it. Let's have that discussion," Kendrick said, referring to Bill Floria, the county's director of resource management.

Planning-related options discussed included amendments to the city's accessory dwelling unit (ADU) rules, zoning changes to better integrate small lots into existing districts, and reconsideration of the definition of "family" in residential zoning to allow greater occupancy in R‑1 and R‑2 districts subject to unit- and room-size limits. Planning staff said a long-running small-lot integration item needs more GIS data before the Planning and Zoning Commission will take it to public hearing.

On permitting modernization, county staff said they are preparing a statement of work for permit-processing software that will map current workflows and recommend best practices; the county also mentioned a proposed office coordinator position to be included in the FY2025 budget contingency to help developers navigate reviews.

Funding and incentives drew extensive discussion. Thompson said the city budget for 2025 includes a $1 million allocation to create an Affordable Housing Trust Fund; council members and county commissioners discussed what the fund’s priorities and governance should be. Thompson proposed a two-track approach: most of the fund used competitively for capital subsidies to create long-term affordable units, and a smaller portion available to reimburse fees (such as utility connection or building permit fees) for qualifying affordable projects.

County and city officials discussed possible revenue sources for a permanent fund, including tax-increment financing (TIF), linkage (impact) fees, and philanthropic and private contributions. Several officials urged a careful, evidence-based approach: city staff recommended a nexus study to estimate what fees could reasonably generate without discouraging development. "If we don't do the study, we may not have a well defined concern, and we may not be fully understanding why we don't want to pursue this," a staff member said.

Preservation actions discussed included creating a housing preservation inventory that tracks subsidized projects, the length of affordability restrictions, unit counts and physical condition, and identifying at-risk units whose affordability covenants will expire. Thompson said an inventory of subsidized affordable housing would be a practical first step; staff noted that collecting the data and centralizing it would be feasible and might be suitable as a graduate-student or internship project.

Code enforcement and neighborhood maintenance were raised as immediate, practical measures to protect existing housing stock. City staff described adjustments to municipal court procedures — including a dedicated docket hour for property maintenance cases — and discussed expanding dumpster days and better targeting vacant-property management and owner engagement.

Other items on the agenda included workforce training and capacity building for nonprofit housing providers, potential creation of a quasi‑governmental regional housing trust entity (a city–county collaborative that could widen fundraising options), and an exploration of a land bank enabled by House Bill 2062. Thompson summarized the land bank statute and said it could help resolve tangled title or tax-delinquent properties, enabling redevelopment with clearer, faster title transfer.

The meeting closed with staff and officials agreeing to keep momentum and return with narrower proposals, studies and timelines. City staff suggested a quarterly joint check‑in, with a tentative follow-up in March to report progress on prioritized items and on items requiring additional analysis such as a nexus study for impact fees. "These conversations are really helpful," Thompson said; county and city leaders agreed to reconvene in the spring.

Ending: The joint session produced no formal votes at the meeting; staff were tasked with returning to elected bodies with timelines, draft ordinances where needed, cost estimates and targeted analyses to support decisions such as whether to pursue a nexus study, TIF policy, or land-bank formation. Officials emphasized pursuing both near-term, operational fixes (permitting flowcharts, code enforcement tweaks) and longer-term funding and policy work to sustain affordable housing production and preservation.