Prescott City workforce housing committee elects chair, advances policy redlines after council study session

The Prescott City Workforce Housing Committee elected Nicole Kennedy as chair and Randy Goodman as vice chair in a 7-0 vote and continued drafting a workforce-housing policy after a council study session on May 27.

The committee, an advisory body to Prescott City Council, voted to make the officer appointments during its meeting and agreed by consensus to meet again in August to review staff-prepared redlines to the draft policy. The committee also received updates on related items including a $200,000 Arizona Department of Housing grant used to commission a housing needs assessment and changes in state permit review law that could affect expedited review processes.

The committee’s work matters because members and councilors described workforce housing as one of Prescott’s most pressing challenges: council liaison Connie Cantelme said the issue has drawn sustained attention and that “there’s no 1 silver bullet,” citing council interest in options such as down-payment assistance and targeted subsidies. Staff reported that council members broadly supported the policy’s direction but requested clearer definitions of fees, a transparent certification process for workforce projects and more detail on eligibility and math used to set income limits.

Committee members, staff and the council liaison discussed several substantive trends that city staff will incorporate into a redlined draft for the committee’s review. Council-level preferences reported by staff included:

- A longer affordability period: several council members favored a 30-year minimum affordability period for deed-restricted units, partly informed by examples such as Low-Income Housing Tax Credit projects; staff noted council consistently asked for longer enforcement than earlier drafts proposed. The committee discussed trade-offs, with some members saying a shorter term (for example, 10 years) might be more attractive to private developers.

- Fee waivers tied to production percentages: staff said many council members preferred a percentage-for-percentage approach to waiving development fees (for example, 10% workforce units = 10% fee relief), and staff will propose clearer sliding-scale language.

- Parking reductions treated case-by-case: council members expressed widespread concern about blanket parking reductions, particularly in historic and downtown neighborhoods where ingress/egress and emergency access pose constraints. Staff will propose neighborhood-specific analysis and require council approval for any parking reductions.

- Clearer fee definitions and state-law compliance: staff reported requests to specify which impact fees can be waived or reimbursed under state law and to separate internal developer fees from statutory impact fees so the policy unambiguously follows state requirements.

Staff also flagged a recent state bill requiring a 15-day permit review option for certain single-family permits; that change affects the city’s expedited-review language and was added to the draft.

Committee members stressed the need to balance developer appetites with community protections. “If you’re going to set aside 10% of your planned area development, you’re taking a loss on those 10% of projects,” Mayor Pro Tem and Council liaison Connie Cantelme said, urging members to consider incentives that make workforce units feasible. Committee member Randy Goodman emphasized persistence on the issue: “I promise you, we will not give up.”

Staff told the committee they had met individually with several council members to avoid open-meeting-law problems and to collect input; Amber Fraser, staff liaison and executive assistant to the city manager, said legal counsel and the city manager’s office were reviewing language to clarify committee-level recommendations versus day-to-day administrative actions. Deputy City Attorney Matthew Podracki offered to provide additional open-meeting and conflict-of-interest training for the committee if members wanted it.

On scheduling and next steps, the committee agreed by consensus to hold a regular meeting in August (staff noted the tentative August 6 date) to review a redlined policy prepared after legal, community development and manager-level review. Staff also said Pollock and Company — funded by a $200,000 Arizona Department of Housing grant — has completed a draft housing needs assessment and will present findings to council later in the year; staff described a separate implementation/strategic plan due as part of the grant timeline. Community Development staff liaison Mike McGinnis noted the city’s Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) work will proceed to council next week.

Members asked staff to incorporate more incentives for existing housing and apartment owners as well as for new development; staff pointed to an existing revitalization and infill section and said additional options — including fee waivers for qualifying existing properties and HR-led employee down-payment assistance concepts — could be added for committee review.

The committee’s formal actions from the meeting included the officer election and the scheduling/consensus to review redlines in August. Staff said the redlined draft would be provided to committee members in advance to allow a productive review.

The committee meets the first Wednesday of each month; staff said minutes, past videos and meeting packets are available on the city website for new members who want to review prior discussions.