Council discusses creating Canton Community Land Trust to lower purchase prices for selected buyers at North Canton site

City staff and members of the Canton Housing Team spent more than an hour on June 5 discussing whether to form a Canton Community Land Trust (CLT) and use it to guide development of the 1.9-acre North Canton Cottage Village parcel.

The discussion did not produce a final vote. Instead, staff described a proposal for a project-specific CLT and asked council whether it wants staff to pursue the legal documents, board structure and resale rules and return with a formal package for future action.

The proposal aimed to lower the purchase price of homes by separating the land value from the cost of the house and selling the structure with a long-term ground lease. "If we decided to do this, the city would transfer the land to a land trust," city staff member Michael Dyer told council, adding that the buyer would purchase the structure and a lease rather than the land. Dyer suggested limiting future buyers to households within a targeted area of area median income (AMI) to preserve affordability without complex equity formulas.

Housing-team member Jeff Patton (referred to in the meeting as "Mister Patton") reviewed resale formula options and income limits. He…