11 months of it okay not here in clearwater though good morning today's meeting of the neighborhood and affordable housing advisory board is called to order on may 12 2026 welcome everyone agendas of today's meeting are on the wall at the entrance to the chambers please remember to turn off your cell phones to ensure a complete record of the board's actions we ask that each individual wishing to speak clearly state your name and spell your last name for the clerk i am robin field the board chair and i will ask the board members to introduce themselves and identify the fields that each represent i will start to my left linda byers city resident charissa doughty affordable housing kelly bettsford hope villages of america christine bond low income and homeless individuals and again i'm robin field and i am a lender in the affordable housing space our first order of business is to approve the board's minutes of march 17th 2026 may i have a motion to approve item 2.1 move approval second second all in favor aye any opposed minutes are approved is there anyone here to speak on items not on today's agenda if so please step to the podium and state your name and spell your last name for the record you will have three minutes to speak on a subject that is not on today's agenda seeing no one come forward do we have any e-comments we will move on to the next item item 4.1 is to approve the staff recommendation funding allocations for the use of cdbg funding for the program year 2026-27 danya perez will present this item danya perez p-e-r-e-z there we go so we're going to go over the annual action plan budget so the annual action plan budget which which is also called the aap is our yearly roadmap to budget it's a yearly roadmap and budget that helps ensure we stay on track with the five-year consolidated plan which is developed based on identified community needs this slide shows our available funding for cdbg home and ship entitlement in addition to our fiscal 26-27 allocations we also have carryovers from prior years and below you can see the total funding available for each funding source do you guys need a minute to look at it or good on this side um for each funding source a percentage is allow allowable for administration cost these funds are applied towards staff salaries for duties such as monitoring compliance and project management and then at the bottom you have the the totals for each funding source i won't go over i won't go through each project and service in detailed since the organizations had already did their presentations but if anyone has any questions please go ahead feel free to ask for cdbg public facilities and infrastructure improvements we were able to fund all eligible projects and here's the list we broke it down between the homeless community development and special needs and then at the bottom is the subtotal of the total amount that we estimated amount that we'll be spending which also includes um our soft cost unfortunately for cdbg public service services not every applicant was approved due to the 15 cap so this means that only 15 of the entitlement allocation can be used for eligible public services activities which i believe everybody is aware of and and then under the economic development which isn't subject to the 15 cap prospera and upward care was approved to provide technical assistance to low moderate low moderate enterprise businesses all right so then we have affordable housing sorry guys my notes got mixed up okay this is um this budget is for our affordable housing development programs as you see we can um we can reuse multiple funding sources to dedicate and for dedicated to the creation and preservation of both rental and owner occupied housing we also have a choto set aside which is which is request which is required which is a required home program allocated for certified non-profit organizations that develop affordable housing and overall the majority of our home funds are invested directly into housing activities then we have our housing assistance programs so through these programs we work with multiple agencies to assist clearwater residents with preparing for and achieving the goal of home ownership in addition in addition in addition we utilize home tbra in partnership with the housing authority for security deposits you know what i'm sorry i need to backtrack because i did miss something i wanted to go over oops wrong way so back to economic development i wanted to address the facade um um we have this program took time to update because it was important to ensure that all the program requirements and compliance standards were properly met we also sought out assistance from professional consultants within the industry and i am happy to report that we're actively processing files now seeing making sure that they do qualify for the for the program for the program sorry i missed that let me go back and slum and blight so slum and blight basically we just it's i know it's it's a small portion but we are able to allocate some funding each year to address lemon blight which can include demolition or acquisition and rehabilitation of properties to expand affordable housing stock and then any questions the facade improvement program and slum and blight is that designated to to any particular area like a cra area um or a special taxing district so the facade the cdbg facade program is designated for all the lm low mod area so it's so we didn't make it where it was just specifically for one area it's all low mod area and the slum and blight i believe if i'm not mistaken is cra area which would be north greenwood any other questions all right well thank you thank you are there any comments or questions from the board which we've had does anyone from the public wish to comment on this item do we have any e-comments hearing no further public comment may have a motion to approve do we have a second second all in favor aye aye any opposed motion carries item 4.2 recommend approval to the city of clearwater's community redevelopment agency's board of trustees a proposal for the redevelopment of cra owned parcels located within downtown clearwater and authorized cra staff to negotiate an agreement for development purchase and sale of the property with said entity mr dylan may you will present this item good morning my name is dylan may you i'm the housing manager this presentation is an overview of the cra owned properties between washington and martin luther king here in the downtown gateway i'm going to go over the solicitation and evaluation process the proposals received and then the staff our request for your recommendation to the cra board of trustees the washington mlk site consists of seven cra owned parcels located within the redevelopment area on january 14th 2026 the cra released the request for development proposals uh for redevelopment of the site the intent of the solicitation was um to uh was that we would receive proposals aligned with specific goals in the cra economic revitalization housing opportunities long-term sustainability activation of the corridor community benefit um staff received five uh responses to the rfp after which a technical review committee met on april 21st to evaluate and score the proposals um and today's presentation will summarize those proposals in our discussion so before we get into it this is a slide here that that shows the evaluation criteria that we utilized um the scoring i'll kind of go through each one um optimal community and economic benefit so that scoring was discretionary um price offered so the way that was scored was highest price received 20 points second highest price received 15 third highest price received 10 and then everyone else received five project diversity um so if the project included non-residential use affordability workforce and market rate um then the project would get full points otherwise it was it was a reduced number off of that uh regulatory compliance this is pass or fail this is based on our community development code uh presentation complete completeness um so we asked the question did the proposal um come with conceptual site plans and renderings uh and then uh financial completeness so this was scored based on financial forecasting um project budget timeline and then resumes of past projects from the developers and then we had a section that was discretionary um uh based on just the proposals and kind of where everyone each each staff member that was part of the trc was from a different department so it allowed them to to kind of adjust their scoring that way uh the committee evaluated not only the conceptual vision of each of each proposal but also financial feasibility readiness to proceed uh compatibility with redevelopment goals long-term visibility viability um and the level of public subsidy requested this approach was intended to be balanced uh with community impact and then also realistic realistically can these be implemented staff received five proposals as i mentioned the proposals included mixed use and mixed income developments affordable workforce housing projects market rate multi-family and hospitality and commercial activation concepts so the first proposal was submitted by archway partners for a project titled washington commons this proposal includes a mixed use mix mixed income mixed use development consisting of 178 residential units and this will be developed in two phases the project also includes approximately three thousand square foot of neighborhood service retail some additional amenities a fitness center tech lab a community built community room and green green building elements such as solar and ev chargers a notable aspect of this product of this partnership uh proposal is a partnership with cora housing authority the project is primarily structured around low income housing tax credits they proposed uh kind of a two-prong approach going for nine percent and also four percent with bonds at the same time uh the committee discussed the proposal's mixed use elements housing mix and overall redevelopment potential the next submission was uh by clear mlk civic district holdings this is this proposal is a little bit different than than the rest this proposal presented a catalytic mixed use concept intended to create a destination uh district and gateway into downtown in north greenwood the proposal includes 75 mixed income residential units a boutique hotel commercial and civic space a food hall event space and a co-working incubator space uh the development team described the project as a long-term phased redevelopment focused on creating both daytime and nighttime economic uh activity the committee's discussion focused on mixed the mixed use version or vision rather uh economic activation opportunities and uh complexity associated with the phased implementation there was some concern there's some things lacking in that um uh proposal um something like the the long-term feasibility or financial feasibility items were missing dw development group this is the third proposal um this proposal focused entirely on affordable housing this is going to be a split between 30 and 60 percent units um 168 total units amenities included a community center and residential support services again this is another light tech project um and the committee discussed uh the importance of affordable housing production financial feasibility and overall alignment with the CRA redevelopment objectives kind of the rest there it's kind of a breakdown of what the project was the fourth proposal was from new star development uh this proposal included 171 units so we mixed income at 30 60 and 80 percent ami units the proposal included amenities such as community gathering space fitness center playground and a pet park the concepts proposed two five-story residential buildings uh developed through phased tax credit um the committee discussed the proposal workforce housing approach development scale and scale ability to support the local employment base and then finally next one oops back there we go the last one was bel-air so this one was different than the rest this one was a fully market rate proposal um it consisted of 151 residential units there's gonna be a mix of studios through three bedroom units and emphasize pedestrian pedestrian oriented design and streetscape improvements um unlike the other projects this requested no public subsidy the the committee discussed uh market feasibility long-term sustainability the afford the absence of affordable housing components and the benefit of requiring minimal uh public investment so during the evaluation process the trc the technical review committee discussed several overarching themes that applied to all the proposals um these included the importance of mixed use development and creating activity beyond uh residential only projects the balance between affordable workforce and uh market rate units alignment with the cra redevelopment goals regulatory compliance considerations this included local act implement implications and financial feasibility um and requested subsidy levels um additional focus on market conditions and long-term sustainability sustainability so we talked about vacancy rates finance financing uh conditions construction costs the ability of projects to proceed through permitting and development timelines we also imported we also noted the importance of selecting a proposal with a realistic path forward um and another reoccurring discussion point was the desire to minimize public subsidy exposure while still achieving minimal uh most meaningful uh redevelopment outcomes so these were the scoring outcomes archway partners new star development clearwater mlk district holdings valaire and then dw development group these rankings reflect the committee scoring based on the adopted uh evaluation criteria that's what i went over on that second or third slide um and then the overall project assessments the committee considered factors including redevelopment impact housing mix financial readiness community benefit uh project feasibility and then long-term sustainability so today staff is requesting um your recommendation to the CRA board of trustees um after this meeting uh we the CRA will be bringing this to their board i think it's next week um for their approval to um to start negotiations with whoever they choose um so with that i'm happy to address any questions um can you go back and show the archway one again sure the number one please so that was the first one you covered right yeah i think i think this one was kind of the best of all worlds because it did come with some commercial um so that allowed it to score higher on on those uh points um it they have they had good experience their proposal was well laid out it actually covered everything that we requested in the rfp so um and it says mixed income mixed income it'll be under 80 so it'll be a standard light tech project but likely have units 30 50 and 80 this will be phased so it'll be two different uh light tech applications one would be the 84 unit and then 94 unit the only thing that with the the commercial space which i mean in the real world that's great right but like we have nolan and that commercial space has not flourished i mean and they had the food hall and they've had all those spaces and i mean i drive past it every single day and it's just not i don't know i'm almost like up to saying like is that really what we need in that area well i think the conversation is at the trc was it's only 3 000 feet so it would be likely like a small coffee shop or something like that yeah that whole bottom half right whereas you know one of the develop one of the proposals uh this one here was much more mixed use much more commercial um yeah so but a lot less housing a lot less housing yeah and housing is important it is important yeah that's why we're here and archway has a good track record with the city i mean they just they just did the ribbon cutting for dora gardens they can they continually um receive uh uh tax credit awards um for different projects in the florida in the state of florida so um they seem to have kind of the the full package as far as a proposal is concerned exactly where is this property located you said washington and mlk but trying to visualize exactly where that might be so this this uh site was actually used as a temporary dump site after the hurricane i think hurricane helene um right now it's actually i think the northern parcel there is being utilized for a uh parking for the um the bus transit station i'm not sure if it's for their their construction workers or if that's just you know a place you can park and then be transferred over to the the transit station um trying to think how i can give you a better idea of where that's at it's it's close to the no to the nolan it's not too far away i see a lot of waterfront i mean when you see the building you see the the bay out in the background and i'm thinking it's pretty close to the water but evidently it's not no it's not no i think sometimes the uh um developers in their conceptual renderings will add it enhances it it certainly does but i'm going boy it's right on the water there on the bay housing on the water right yeah i do have a question um since i clearwater housing authority is in this do i have a conflict of interest with moving port or should i step up you would need to unfortunately i can't give you an answer one way or the other you have to determine it for yourself okay i'm gonna not include myself on the recommending since there's enough here sure thank you we can vote on that we do we need to vote on it and yeah oh yeah just a small part if you follow just the the item 4.1 at the bottom there it'll be the same process okay i'm supposed to write my whole script here are there any more comments or questions well it's kind of i mean it's all of a sudden we're voting on these multi-million dollar projects and you look at a slide and you make a decision based on that information i'm just taken back by the fact that it's these four huge projects that we until this moment even knew those applications or those proposals even came forward so to make a decision based for example i like the fact that the housing authority is involved in this particular project are there other projects where not-for-profit organizations are involved there's not enough information for me to make a to vote and make a decision i'm sorry but it would have been nice to get get it in advance but i'm relying heavily on the fact that you had people review these thoroughly and did an evaluation so we're kind of relying on y'all's expertise if there's any i mean do you have any specific questions there there are no other um proposals that came with a non-profit attached to it that was the question basically we're not specifically making the decision this is just a recommendation to the board of trustees for them to based on based on uh five minutes of conversation but also based on the recommendation of the committee okay all right all right now i understand so your recommendation has value and consideration so we then would make a decision on one of these projects based on your recommendation correct yes and these you have four recommendations there's there's five total projects five total projects the recommended projects from the technical review committee which was made up of staff from different departments right is archways washington commons all right all right so they did points and that was the highest point i got it i got it okay that makes sense to me now i didn't realize that gotcha okay okay um does anyone from the public wish to comment on this item are there any e-comments okay so hearing no further public comment may i have a motion to approve i'll make a motion to approve the recommendations of the trustees do i have a second second all in favor aye any opposed thank you very much uh at this time i'll ask the board members if there are any other topics previously discussed that the board would like the staff to present an update on at a future meeting mr mayor do you have anything additional to report only that the um the city audit i wanted to call out some of my team here um the city audit was just completed you're calling them out i'm calling them out and getting their backing recognition um the city audit was just completed and uh no findings were found for our department we had a very clean year so really great job team back here it's not a it's not an easy thing to do there's a lot of moving parts but they they kept it together and they really did a great job so other than that congratulations do any board members have any final words before we adjourn this concludes our business for the day our next may have meeting is scheduled for june 9th 2026 thank you everyone the meeting is adjourned thank you