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City staff outline land‑use incentive grant options to encourage affordable housing development
Summary
Housing director Nina Wilson briefed the committee on land‑use incentive grants — structures (property‑tax rebates, fee waivers, reimbursements), scoring rubrics tied to AMI and covenants, and examples from Asheville and Carrboro — and cautioned these tools require revenue sources and pilot testing.
Nina Wilson, the city’s community development and housing director, presented land‑use incentive grants as an informational tool the city could add to its housing toolbox. She described the mechanism as a grant paid by the local government after a public benefit is verified rather than an automatic tax exemption.
"A Land Use Incentive Grant is a local government incentive that is structured as a grant and it rewards a developer for delivering a defined public benefit tied to land use," Wilson said. She outlined common structures — incremental property‑tax rebates, fee waivers, reimbursements for eligible costs — and described how a scoring rubric can prioritize AMI bands, affordability covenant length, unit mix and location.
Wilson walked through examples: an Asheville illustrative calculation showing an estimated $52,000 annual grant based on post‑completion assessed value and a 15‑year payment term that could total roughly $778,000 over the term; and Carrboro’s fee‑waiver policy that uses a special revenue fund to cover waived fees and attaches strict long‑term affordability requirements.
Why it matters: Incentive grants can make mixed‑income and affordable projects more financially feasible and provide transparent, performance‑based subsidies, but they shift future tax revenues or require a funding source. Council members compared the tool to tax increment financing and asked whether the city had developer input; staff said developer outreach and pilot testing are next steps.
Next steps: Staff will continue to refine the housing implementation strategy, test scoring rubrics, consider revenue coverage options and consult developers and nonprofit builders before any policy adoption.
