Agenda Item Name:
Title
Settlement Agreement with Ability Housing regarding Dogwood Village Project
End
Presenter:
Michele Lieberman, County Manager, 352-374-5204
David Forziano, Senior Assistant County Attorney, 352-374-5218
Description:
Settlement Agreement with Ability Housing regarding Dogwood Village Project
Recommended Action:
Recommended Action
1. Approve the proposed Settlement Agreement and authorize the Chair to execute the Settlement Agreement and the Contract to Purchase Real Property attached as Exhibit 1 to the Settlement Agreement;
2. Authorize a budget amendment to fund this settlement according to the funding source(s) determined by the Board, including the cost of performing due diligence and associated closing costs;
3. Authorize the expenditure of funds to perform due diligence as provided in the Contract to Purchase Real Property;
4. Authorize the County Manager to issue notices of Title Defect(s) or Environmental Defect to the Seller if any are discovered during the due diligence period; and
5. Authorize the County Manager to execute all documents necessary to close the purchase of the Dogwood Village property on behalf of the County.
End
Prior Board Motions:
On September 20, 2020, the Alachua County Board of County Commissioners (“Board” or “BOCC”) approved a $230,000.00 funding match for an applicant to be determined that received approval under the State of Florida’s State Apartment Incentive Loan Program (“SAIL”), with the release of loan funding contingent on the applicant executing the appropriate loan and other documentation required by the County. The Alachua County Housing Finance Authority would match the County’s $230,000 in support of the applicant’s Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (“LIHTC”) application, for a total funding loan amount of $460,000.
On September 13, 2022, the Board voted to request that Florida Housing Finance Corporation (“FHFC”) allow Ability to relocate its Dogwood Village Project to another location within Alachua County and requested that Ability consider alternative sites; however, FHFC denied the request to relocate in its letter dated December 28, 2022.
On December 13, 2022, the Board approved the following:
1. That this Board re-affirms our Policy and Goals that states that while we support Affordable Housing Projects we do not support projects that further concentrate poverty within the City of Gainesville. Further we recognize that within the City of Gainesville 85%-90% of affordable housing projects are located East of Main Street therefore for all current and future projects we will first seek to locate these projects west of Main Street and follow our new guidelines passed at our September 13, 2022 meeting.
2. Staff continue to work with Ability Housing and the City of Gainesville and inform Ability Housing that the
a. BOCC cannot support a local match at this particular site for the reasons stated above and for the reasons stated in our September 19th Chair Letter to Executive Director Price.
b. While the BOCC cannot support this affordable housing project at this location, we absolutely support this type of project at other locations within the City of Gainesville and the rest of the County that do not further concentrate systemic poverty and follow our policies passed on September 13th, 2022.
c. Finally, work the both the City staff and Ability Housing to come up with an Acceptable and Fair price to acquire the property recently purchased by Ability Housing on S.E. 15th Street.
3. That we send another letter to Executive Director Price that restates our previous objections to this project at this particular site as stated by Chair Wheeler on September 19th and further states that specific justification of why the County would like to move this project is because both the City and the County are trying to disperse affordable housing equitably throughout the City to change decades of systemic and intentional concentrations of poverty. Therefore, to proceed with this project at this location would violate both the City and the County’s policies and goals to equitably disperse Affordable Housing in Gainesville. Further states that while this site is not acceptable for this type of project, there are other potential sites that require additional time to either secure or vet that would absolutely be supported by the BOCC. While we are withdrawing our local support for this particular site we would not withdraw our support for this type of Affordable housing Project that is located in an Area of Gainesville that properly disperses Affordable Housing in our Community (i.e. Anywhere west of Main Street). Please provide both Ability Housing and Alachua County additional time from the deadlines stated in paragraph 9 of Ability Housing’s December 9, 2022 letter.
Fiscal Consideration:
Fiscal Consideration
142.79.7950.541.63.99 - Land + Acquisition Costs - Surtax Funds $1,840,934
001.04.0440.590.99.20 - Remaining Settlement Cost - General Fund Reserves $1,123,797.00
Total Settlement Cost: $2,964,730.60
OR
001.04.0440.590.99.20 - All Cost - General Fund Reserves $2,964,730.60
Total Settlement Cost: $2,964,730.60
Excerpt from the Fiscal Year 2023 (FY23) Board Approved Budget Policy:
a. Reserve for contingency requests in the General Fund, Municipal Service Taxing Unit (MSTU) Law Enforcement and Municipal Services Benefit Unit (MSBU) Fire Funds must be approved by the Board of County Commissioners. The Board will use the procedures and evaluation criteria set forth in this, and other policies. Such requests will be evaluated as to the:
i. Urgency of the request.
• The county is purchasing land and making a settlement with Ability Housing for the Alachua County Parcel Identification Nos. 16107-150-000 and 16106-129-000
ii. Scope of services to be provided.
• This request will finalize the settlement agreement.
iii. Short and long-term fiscal impact of the request.
• Short term impact as it is a one-time request to utilize reserves.
iv. Potential for alternative methods of funding or providing the service(s).
• A portion of the settlement is being funded through the surtax which is to possibly purchase the two parcels of land. The remaining amount does not have an alternative method.
v. Review for duplication of service(s) with other agencies.
• There is no duplication of service and no alternative funding methods.
vi. Review of efforts to secure non-County funding.
• There are no alternative funding methods and the compliance date precludes us from including in the Fiscal Year 2024 (FY24) budget request
vii. Discussion of why funding was not sought during the normal budget cycle.
• There are no alternative funding methods and the compliance date precludes us from including in the Fiscal Year 2024 (FY24) budget request
viii. Review of the impact of not funding or delaying funding to the next fiscal year.
• The impact of not funding and/or delaying could would lead to further litigation and increased court and attorney's fees to settle the matter.
•
End
Strategic Guide:
Strategic Guide
Housing
End
Background:
Ability Housing has alleged that the County’s decision on December 13, 2022 resulted in the Florida Housing Finance Corporation revoking its preliminary award of Low-Income Housing Tax Credits (“LIHTC”) for Ability Housing’s Dogwood Village Project. Ability claims the loss of LIHTCs caused the project to fail, resulting in financial harm to Ability Housing and its subsidiaries. On December 13, 2022, the Board directed County Staff to try to negotiate a settlement with Ability Housing. Attached is the proposed Settlement Agreement negotiated by staff.