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Mr. Johnson stated that the owner of the property has told him that there are no covenants on the <br />property by which he is bound upon development. He also stated that the residents of this <br />property would have to have a source of income in order to make the rent payments, even with <br />Section 8 certificates. <br /> <br />Councilmember Haas Steffen stated that this site is not necessarily the optimum site for this <br />project and the timing is also questionable as the City is in the process of a Comprehensive Plan <br />review. She felt that this plan should be completed first, in the event of neighborhood opposition <br />and the City needs to "do battle" over this issue, she would be more comfortable doing this if she <br />knew that the Comprehensive Plan was in place and that the plans for this property was secure. <br />She said that the plan and the zoning were not in place, and she did not want to "do battle" on <br />two fronts, both with defending the Comprehensive Plan and this low-income housing project. <br />Therefore, this project may be premature in coming before the City for commitments. <br /> <br />Mr. Walther responded to Councilmember Haas Steffen's comment on the site selection. <br />Although staff may have recommended a number of suitable sites for this project, he noted that <br />City Council and the Planning Commission have not approved any plans. The site selected was <br />not a site that City staff recommended to ACCAP staff. But the site, according to the current <br />draft of the Comprehensive Plan, is proposed for higher density residential than proposed by <br />ACCAP. <br /> <br />Councilmember Haas Steffen cited that City Council and the Planning Commission have not yet <br />approved the draft Comprehensive Plan. <br /> <br />Mr. Johnson stated that they have a deadline for application for Federal Tax credits and that is <br />February 18, 1999. He said that staff had suggested several properties, some were too large, <br />some were too expensive, and this property best met their needs. He also stated that they were <br />not seeking a final judgement from the City on this project, rather some inclination that the City <br />would be willing to provide TIF funding if it completes the City's review process. <br /> <br />Mr. Norman stated that the public hearing process would come after the State or Federal process <br />for the tax credits so that the development review process would come later. The timing for the <br />Comprehensive Plan is that the City applied for an extension to the end of March. ACCAP <br />would not be ready to come to the City to begin the development review process until May. <br /> <br />Councilmember Haas Steffen said that the site that they are looking at may change to be <br />commercial instead of residential in the Comprehensive Plan. She believes that there is some <br />support from other members of Council for that to happen. <br /> <br />Mr. Johnson said that any commitment of the City to provide TIF funding in this area would be <br />contingent upon site approval for the project. <br /> <br />Councilmember Haas Steffen asked if their commitment to TIF funding for the project could be <br />non-site specific. What if the City finds that through the Comprehensive Plan there may be a <br /> <br />Economic Development Authority/January 12, 1999 <br /> Page 9 of 11 <br /> <br /> <br />