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Housing Opportunities Commission authorizes letter to ZPAC urging affordability be prioritized in Century Code update
Summary
The commission authorized two members to finalize and send a letter to the joint Plan Commission/ZPAC asking that affordability be treated as a paramount consideration as the Century Code update nears final recommendations; the motion passed by voice vote.
The Housing Opportunities Commission on April 9 authorized two commissioners to finalize and send a letter to the Zoning and Planning Advisory Committee (ZPAC) urging that the Century Code update be judged primarily by its effect on housing supply and affordability.
The commission acted as ZPAC prepares additional draft language ahead of a May 5 ZPAC meeting and a planned July council discussion. The motion to empower commissioners to finalize and sign the letter passed by voice vote; a formal roll-call tally was not recorded in the meeting transcript.
Commissioner Scott Rogers, who drafted the initial letter text, told the commission that the Housing Opportunities Commission is charged by the City Council to “recommend and review ordinances and other policies that best ensure availability of affordable housing” and that, in the commission’s view, “the goal to produce more housing supply, diversity of choices and affordability is . . . the most critical purpose and should be a paramount consideration against which all other sections of the code should be measured.”
Rogers and other commissioners said some proposed design standards and aesthetic rules in the draft code—anti‑monotony rules, materials requirements, tree-preservation language and park impact fees—could, if written too rigidly, raise construction costs and reduce affordability. Commissioners cited examples builders have submitted to ZPAC showing concrete impacts: staff said one Creekside project estimate showed tree-preservation language raising costs on 50 lots by about $1,100,000 as written in early drafts.
Commissioner Thrun—who also serves as executive director of the Chippewa Valley Home Builders Association—has been collecting “real world” build budgets that commission members said they expect to be added to the letter or shared with ZPAC. Staff advised the commission that the group could collect edits and, if there was general agreement, authorize one or two commissioners to finalize the letter and send it on commission letterhead with the chair’s signature.
At the meeting the commission voted to authorize Commissioner Scott Rogers and Commissioner Jennifer Chaput to finalize a draft based on board feedback, to incorporate specific examples provided by Commissioner Thrun and others, and to send the letter to ZPAC on behalf of the Housing Opportunities Commission. The vote was by voice; minutes record the motion passing.
Next steps: staff said it will accept edits from the commission, add them to the draft, and circulate a final version to the authorized signers. Commissioners and staff emphasized getting the letter to ZPAC ahead of ZPAC’s May 5 meeting.
