Transcript With Gorman & Company and Eden Housing
[REDACTED], started transcription
Kevin Kellogg 0:03
Gorman novan.
Our NHS and Optic host team.
Interviewing here for the Eastern village.
Redevelopment project.
I'll. Let's see if I can make sure I can do this quickly.
I'll like to let.
Our team members introduce themselves left to right. According to this picture.
So, Iman, you want to start?
Iman Novin 0:38
Sounds good.
Thank you, Kevin.
Hi Iman Novind here, president of Novan development.
We are a Contra Costa County based affordable housing developer, very excited to be working with Gorman and neighborhood housing services on this important project. I'll pass it to Nikki.
Nikki Beasley 0:57
Good afternoon, everyone.
My name is Nikki Beasley, the executive director at Richmond Neighborhood housing services.
Alongstanding affordable housing organization in the City of Richmond since 1981, I've been on the team since 2016.
Kevin Kellogg 1:19
Stefan.
Opticos Design | California Poppy Parlor 1:21
Thanks Kevin.
Hi everybody, Stefan Pellegrini.
I'm principal with opticose design.
We are an architecture, urban design and urban planning firm located in Berkeley, CA.
Very happy to be here.
We have a long standing relationship with the City of Richmond on many long range and short term planning projects and I'm joined here today by my colleague Alex Pondelling.
Who's principle and leads up our architecture work here at opticus? Happy to be here today.
I just wanted to say that we're currently working with novan development on a Richmond home key project that's just starting construction.
Kevin Kellogg 2:08
Great. Well, I'm Kevin Kellogg, market president for Gorman and company, Pacific Northwest region.
We are a 40 year old affordable housing development company.
We've been in the business for quite a while.
We're a nationwide firm currently, supposedly the 7th largest in the country, dealing primarily in affordable and workforce housing.
I'm located in Portland, the company's corporate headquarters headquarters in Oregon.
Wisconsin.
And yes, we're we're extremely excited to be here and we're very excited about this project.
And this team particularly.
So we'll go to the next slide here just to introduce you know how we want to talk about this project.
Really, we put this kind of in a sense of priority.
We really are here for the people and in this case the residents and.
Stakeholders of the Eastern Village and the Eastern Village neighborhood.
We also are very, you know we maintain a lot of advocacy for the government and public agencies that we represent and work for and with.
And the unique challenges that you face?
In California, especially with state.
Laws that are coming out every year.
And HUD issues and the various challenges that you faced were very interested in being able to be part of that solution as well as working on.
On this project we.
The proposal will get into in a second.
Nikki, can I ask you to speak about your role in working with the Community here?
Nikki Beasley 4:11
Sure. So our NHS was approached by the development team to support them in their efforts of staying very close, closely connected to the community and especially with our history, not only in the city of Richmond but the close attachment that we had with the Niestrom project.
Thought it was appropriate for us to make sure that we ensure that the Community needs were met and that's really what has been our overarching success.
Of making sure that we're listening to the people, and especially in this arrangement, that the development team are executing based on the needs.
Our goal and participation will be convening being the eyes and ears of the project, as well as the community working with the different partners that we're aware of that can possibly support this project and again, just being closely attached to make sure that.
And the commitments that are being made here today, if selected will be executed in a way in which Community can definitely feel as though it has been well worth the wait for the many years that this project has been undertowed.
Kevin Kellogg 5:28
Great. Thanks, Nikki.
And Stefan, Alex, can you guys share a little bit of your vision for this project? I know this goes back a ways for you and you have a lot of history with this.
So yeah, you can share your perspective on the neighborhood.
Opticos Design | California Poppy Parlor 5:48
Sure. Thanks Kevin.
You know, this is sort of really a pivotal site in the neighborhood with its sort of location along the the Richmond Wellness Trail.
And I think that's sort of a key sort of introduction or organizing element for the
plan.
We know that the residents that will live here will only be a few minutes away from downtown Richmond.
And Bart and Amtrak.
By bicycle and also maybe 5 or 6 minutes away from the waterfront.
Thinking about Lacretia Edwards Park.
So we really wanted to think about how this site could really be well connected.
To other amenities in Richmond, it's just going to be a couple minutes away from the Greenway and Pogo Park and Unity Park, and we'll be talking a bit more about that in our presentation.
We are looking for sort of seamless connections and interface with the neighborhood.
And where we really sort of build on some of the strengths that are in the neighborhood today.
We also sort of want to think about how we can increase housing opportunities in this part of Richmond while being respectful to the vision that the Richmond General Plan sees.
For this site, and that really means sort of transitioning from higher intensities at the core to lower intensities at the edge.
That so neighborhood compatibility is going to be sort of a key important thing to think about, particularly as we transition out to the edges of the West side.
At 13th and east side at 16th and then lastly, if we have a chance to sort of talk about this a little bit more.
We're thinking about introducing a series of common open spaces that can become sort of a primary organizing element for the site, but also sort of be the locator for a lot of the services and non residential amenities that can help sort of support the future neighborhood that would.
Be here.
And that sort of has technical aspirations.
Thinking about what?
The zoning requires.
But we also think that there's a key opportunity to engage the Community to sort of envision and make sure that those open spaces are meeting the future residents needs and desires.
Thanks Kevin.
Kevin Kellogg 8:33
Great. Thank you.
Any questions?
Right. Move on.
OK, so I want.
You mind walking us through our original proposal from from the original RFP, if that's handy?
I think it's really telling.
I think we assume that the 100 unit replacement is phase one and that is the focus of this of this project right now. But we also have a plan or an example of a plan.
For the other three blocks as well.
Iman Novin 9:17
Happy to do so, yeah.
So a phased approach to the four blocks.
With our first phase on block A, which is strategically located close to MLK Park.
And also the location of where we would preserve the three cottages.
We felt like that was an important aspect of our proposal to address that Community.
Space up front in the first phase.
So the plan would be to work with Housing Authority in the city to relocate residents from blocks BC and D.
And into 100 unit tax credit phase on block a simultaneous with the preservation of.
Of another three to five cottages.
That that first phase would be financed through a combination of tax credits, state financing, project based vouchers.
And we then have three more phases of housing totals, roughly 400 units, with a mix of uses.
We're we're very much open to permanent supportive housing as a set aside.
In each phase up to a certain amount, you know 25% of the units would be working with the city and the continuum of care to identify the need.
And match it to the project in our original proposal we we looked at a mix of tenure, both family affordable housing.
We looked at senior housing.
We've also looked at home ownership opportunities on the last phase and so we are, we continue to be committed.
It to all of those things and more, we feel like this original vision aligns with the goals of the the specific plan and Community plan and.
Believe that we've presented a detailed, financially viable.
Pro Forma's and and sources to to fund these 4 phases.
I I will also add with with Noven and Gorman being vertically.
Being integrated.
We have ways of leveraging both public sources and private sources to get really creative with our financing and that allows for more mixed income workforce housing.
And sort of broader serving of broader community and that's really important to us and and part of our original proposal as well in terms of densities, I can maybe have Stefan talk about that or Kevin, you can talk about that, but we didn't really try to limit it.
To that three stories.
Maybe for in some locations, but to really respect the residential character of the edges of the property and.
Most of the buildings are designed to be, you know, either tucked under or courtyard par to also be efficient with cost.
Kevin Kellogg 12:26
Yeah, great.
Yeah. So the swift action on the on the 1st parcel, we, we do believe we can focus our energies.
On getting the replacement housing done. This is this is the first domino in the project and we understand the importance of this to the Richmond Housing Authority and your, you know, your YOUR admin plan and so forth. So we're very.
Focus on how we can move.
The.
Simultaneously, the community engagement for larger project together with evaluating and surveying the existing sites, going through all of the process of understanding the relocation challenges.
What do we have?
What can we work with?
How we can put this all together and how can we structure section 18? Potential.
Section 18.
Rad combination which offers a lot of really great resources that can be brought to this project.
And we would definitely intend.
Unless told otherwise to move forward with a straight 1 to one replacement.
Right along the strictest guidelines of relocation and also bringing the most resources that we can to the project so that phase one can get implemented.
As quickly as possible.
And really set ourselves up for a tax credit rounds as soon as possible, and also as strong of a case as we can make to the state to award those tax credits.
So, OK, we'll go into a little bit into our experience, a couple of specific projects we.
Do have between Gorman and Novan a lot of experience.
Gorman, we have an entire region in chicago-based on surveying public housing authorities.
To date, we've completed 3791 public housing.
In units in various projects all over the country, as well as some very large scale redevelopment on site.
Relocations, where the residents were all.
Managed to shelter in place during the entire redevelopment process and and we and we do have a pretty robust relocation agent in House that coordinates that with us, so OK.
So.
One example we wanted to share here.
This is a Gorman example called Madison Heights.
This in Phoenix, this was 143 unit project.
You can see the before condition on the lower right and the after condition above and then some of the public spaces on the left.
This was a project that was a 100% rad.
It was built exactly 1 to one replacement.
We went through the entire process of.
Right to return in a couple of phases in order to bring all of this together.
So this is a. This is kind of a direct example and we have more of of doing those.
We're currently working on 108 unit project.
In Oregon.
In Portland, OR. That has three phases of demolition and redevelopment. As we move people around over three-year period.
And no one will have to relocate all that project.
So this is this is tough, but familiar.
Turf for both Gorman and Novan.
And so, yeah, Iman, I'll, I'll go to your slide now.
Iman Novin 16:28
Thanks Kevin.
So novan development as I again Contra Costa based affordable housing developer we have 14 projects currently with about 12186 units in the pipeline.
And.
In the past life I was a project manager, director of Development, director of acquisitions and a project manager for mid pen Housing and bridge housing.
And in my role as project manager for bridge housing, I worked on some fairly significant public housing redevelopment projects, including Jordan Downs helped win that original RFP and put the original vision together with the the Housing Authority of Los Angeles and our partners. At that time the the.
Michaels organization.
A lot of community engagement, a lot of the financing was done by me.
In that role.
I also worked on the Westview Village project in Buena Ventura. 320 units.
It took 180 unit public housing site and densified it to 320 units, phased over multiple phases.
Very similar four phase project.
Also worked at Wildat Ridge on the Potrero project.
So a lot of the barbecues and community engagement so have had the opportunity.
Throughout my career to work on a number of significant public housing projects.
As well as you know currently.
Dozen tax credit projects throughout the Bay Area and and a handful of projects in county.
Kevin Kellogg 18:16
That's pretty much it for our presentation and we're happy to answer any questions.
From the committee.
I'm going to stop sharing, but we can jump back on with any of us that need to.
Show any any graphics to illustrate what we're talking about.
[REDACTED], 18:44
All right, perfect.
I'll start with a couple questions that the Member that is not here today sent me in advance.
But the discussions regarding federal budget cuts, how do you anticipate these changes impacting the nation project?
Kevin Kellogg 19:05
Well, we're very attuned to the federal situation.
And what just happened yesterday? Was that the A long sought set of requirements or or set of measures to tax credits?
Were approved, at least in the house, and these include.
A.
A large expansion of the 9%.
Tax credit.
And a reduction of what's called the 50% rule, which would requires that your bonds have to be 50% of the total cost of your project.
That number was reduced to 25%, which just dramatically literally doubled the amount of 4% tax credits that we have now in the marketplace.
So now tax repricing will go down a little bit probably.
But what we're really seeing in California?
Where tax credits are, you know, very oversubscribed the entire West Coast is completely oversubscribed on 4% tax credits and even nines.
And this is going to open up a huge cash flow now on the other hand, we see discussions.
We haven't seen any action on this, but we do see discussions of vouchers and staff positions and whole departments and programs of HUD being eliminated.
Up to, you know, nearly half of Hud's budget, so.
This is exactly what happened in 2017, 2018, and in fact, Hud's budget was actually increased.
Under the current administration's first term.
And so we just don't really know what to make of this as far as the potential vouchers or programmatic issues associated with this, but.
We feel pretty solid that the RAD and section 18 programs and the current vouchers that are in everybody's control will not be eliminated.
And so we're proceeding as if we are working in the same world that we have been for the last few years.
Since most of these programs were put in place, and so we do anticipate there being a lot of turbulence and we're going to have to be very flexible and attuned to that and we subscribe to multiple.
Channels of information from Washington. We do have our lobbyists on contract in DC that are very tuned into HUD and what's going on with HUD and the adjacent agencies.
So we feel like we do have a good window into what's happening and some of it's fantastic and other of it is a little bit.
Concerning, but we're going to wait and see what really happens in order to really, you know, work with facts that are real when they happen.
Does anybody else want to jump in and say anything please?
Iman Novin 22:20
I would just add that we've as an industry, we've dealt with this uncertainty before when we developed, many agencies went away.
We're a creative bunch.
Our first phase, which 100 units is the priority.
Is, you know, does rely on the replacement vouchers and so, so long as those are there our financing, it works with state funding sources.
So tax credits and would not be impacted by.
Other HUD programs.
In terms of other phases that may be less defined in terms of its particular capital stack, you know I would just add that this is a long term project and we would take a long term view.
And.
As Kevin mentioned, work with the Faa's as they develop.
There are a number of other programs out there, like state programs.
We have the home key program, $3 billion. Everyone thought was gonna.
Go away. It got reappropriated once Prop 1 passed.
We are working as one of the first developers to do a new construction home key project.
We're working with HCD to help change their regs to make that source more user friendly for new construction projects.
So I feel like California is like the 5th largest economy in the world.
We will be able to continue to do deals.
In spite of federal cuts.
But again.
And like if if all the vouchers go away, that's it is a challenge, you know. But we're not seeing that as necessarily what's happening.
Kevin Kellogg 23:59
Yeah, I mean, the last piece I wanna add is that the debt markets have been, well, a little higher than we've been used to.
Very stable, even considering the tremendous amount of turbulence that we've seen in the global economy in the last three months.
The 10 year Treasury, which indexes most of our borrowing funds, has amazingly stable, so I don't think right now we're we're cautious, but we're not anticipating a huge spike in interest rates.
Anytime soon. So.
We are like the Federal Reserve in a wait and see mode that will we remain flexible and alert as to what's going on in federal government.
[REDACTED], 24:45
Perfect. Thank you very much.
And then the second question from the committee member, that's not here is how would you address potential NIMBY ISM from the surrounding neighbors?
Kevin Kellogg 24:58
Vicky, would you like to take that?
Nikki Beasley 25:01
I think this is going to require.
Community.
I don't want to overuse the word 'cause. It's used all the time.
Collaboration, but coordination.
I think that from our preview.
The immediate community understands the asset of Niestrom and are all very interested to see this project move forward.
So what we know to be traditional nimb yism I don't see that to be a major issue.
Those that would possibly be concerned, I don't think, are a part of the immediate community and I think those that have been displaced and or considered niestrom home will be able to advocate for themselves, to validate why this project needs to move forward and that will be our.
Role to be able to coordinate.
Listen here.
So that people really understand this is a high value opportunity for community.
To eliminate any major concern.
Iman Novin 26:06
And I'm a I'm a past SFEND board member.
[REDACTED], 26:06
[REDACTED],.
Iman Novin 26:09
So we'll call all of our EMB friends to show up and provide an alternative perspective as well.
[REDACTED], 26:19
Alright, [REDACTED], [REDACTED],
You guys have any questions?
[REDACTED], 26:24
I was hoping you can give a little bit more detail on the relocation process.
Kevin Kellogg 26:30
Sure.
So.
There's kind of there's two questions associated with that that were put forward.
Would it be OK if I just answered them both at the same time? And it is.
I want to be thorough, so it might take a minute or so to spin this out, that OK with everybody.
Relocation is specialty for us.
We take it very seriously, but according to the way the questions were initially asked, which was.
How?
How would you deal with right to return?
And how would we ensure the 100 unit get replaced?
And then I can talk about the relocation plan.
So our first phase block A is we're proposing 100 new units funded with tax credits and our assumption is this would be compatible with section 18 RAD requirements.
We're anticipating that this would include.
One to one replacement of all units for the current program, which we saw in the HUD pick is 27 one bedrooms, 56 two bedrooms and 17 three bedroom units.
We'll we'll survey and inspect every unit, review the rent rolls, income certs and each residence lease of payment. Go through the our obligations of general information notices, resident information notices.
And.
Whole gatherings to inform the residents of the right to return the scope of the project and the timeline.
Gorman and.
Neighborhood housing services will work very closely together with us, primarily minding the legal federal requirements and the whole basket of acts and laws that we need to comply with in order to do this properly.
And and that is the kind of.
You know, how does it make it easy?
For us or for the residents?
So Nikki and her organization will be working closely with the site managers coordinators on the human side so that all the residents are well informed and and can have someone to talk to no matter what.
They there is a lot of fear and stress and understanding.
You're gonna have to move, even if it's down the road.
And have to watch your homes demolished and so forth while you're waiting. And so while Gorman will provide.
The the legal requirements.
Then.
Yeah, I'll let Nikki.
Nikki Beasley 29:17
And I think what's going to be most important is to keep track of individuals that are being relocated because what we have found is because of the length and time of projects, people, you know, move on with their lives.
So our goal and mission is to make sure that we don't lose track of individuals by being very diligent of making sure that address changes, phone numbers, changes that we stay in contact so that they do understand.
That if they want to come back, there will be.
Be a place for them.
So I just wanted to insert it basically a front end and back end of how to get people.
Relocated while the work is happening, but I think it's absolutely critical that there's a lot of time of attention of staying engaged with individuals so that they do know that there is a home waiting for them upon the completion of the project.
Kevin Kellogg 30:11
Yeah, great.
Thank you, Nikki. That the just on the relocation itself, you know we'll prepare a relocation plan and everyone will be involved with that.
And this will provide fair and equitable treatment of all residents relocated from their current units to new units in the proposed phase one development and for us, the goal is to put forth a program that will minimize the greatest extent feasible hardships of residents displaced and temporarily re.
All current residents and newest village will complete a resident family needs assessment by the relocation specialist so that residents receive the required support during.
And after relocation.
As Nikki said, they'll provide services to the residents, participate in resident relocation meetings, partner with the relocation agent to provide necessary information regarding residence and to assist with seamless relocation.
So our relocation team will work with individual households during the moving phase.
They'll get the movers.
They'll help manage all the moves since it is moving in a very short distance.
It it it all can happen pretty quickly.
We envision that there will be a few temporary relocations off of block A, so at once construction starts.
Into temporary units and block BC or D and hope during our surveys will determine how possible that is. If there are some. We saw some units needed rehab.
We don't know whether we can do some quick rehabs to be able to get people in.
But that that's all.
What we'll be solving right at the very beginning of the project.
So you know the community has been anticipating this project for some time and we'll from the very beginning work.
To create open communication and build trust, and we've had a lot of experience doing this and and over the years.
You know, empathy has really come to the fore on these projects and really understanding how emotional and stressful it is for the residents.
So while we kind of in the background are compliant.
With like five or six federal acts, what's really important to us is the the results for the folks that are living here.
[REDACTED], 32:43
Thank you.
That's all I have right now.
[REDACTED], 32:48
Do you have any questions?
[REDACTED], 32:48
Good afternoon.
I do. Good afternoon.
Thank you for the presentation.
All right.
Wanted to know about your plan for the three to five preserved units? What are your thoughts around that?
And then also what are your thoughts around on site supportive services?
Kevin Kellogg 33:09
Those are two questions.
And Iman, you want to handle the supportive services and then hand it off to Stefan to talk about the.
Historic units.
Iman Novin 33:24
Yeah, maybe we want to pull up the site plan again to look at that block A with the three to five units.
In terms of in terms of supportive services.
We are very much committed to to supportive services for the for the project.
There are, you know, having set asides for formerly unhoused individuals and families is one way to achieve that.
And those can be funded through a combination of sources. We are working with about services.
As our uh preferred service provider, they are the largest service provider in the Bay Area.
Umm, we're working with them now in Richmond on 100% permits, supportive housing, home key project.
And.
They have a lot of experience in PSH funding.
Operating behavioral health.
Also, you know, I personally have a lot of experience.
With permanent supportive housing and.
Special needs housing.
We have projects with set asides for individuals with developmental disabilities as well as.
Bash as well as just a permanent supportive housing for unhoused populations.
Those get funded through a variety of sources like Cal AIM is a new source of we're experienced with and and using.
We're also experienced with MHP.
There's a HCD state program that provides now provides for a coercive, capitalized
operating services reserve that allows to help fund some services.
I previously served as the Affordable Housing representative for the Contra Costa County Council on homelessness, and so I'm very well connected with a variety of service agencies and partners that provide these types of support.
Of services in Richmond and in Contra Costa in general. And so if there is, there's a bucket of funding to be had.
I probably know the right person to call to help weave that together and.
Just just as a.
A core tenant of our work, we are really focused on that type of work and it it has become a a priority for the state and.
We see set asides of of.
Supportive housing.
In, in each phase really is, is a, is a, is a, was a win win an opportunity to serve a broader community, but also leverage additional local state sources of.
I'll pass it over to Stefan about the cottages.
Kevin Kellogg 36:20
Great. Thanks.
Opticos Design | California Poppy Parlor 36:26
Oh, sure.
Thanks Kevin, you know.
Want to sort of start with the you know the village as sort of a historic resource and there's pieces of that that are part of this part of Richmond's history.
And so, preserving a suite of these buildings helps to kind of connect to that past.
But there you know.
Thinking about this as a neighborhood where more people have an opportunity to live and there's a really a chance to kind of reorient the way that buildings relate to open space and community space on the site. And so at like a basic level, having the chance to sort.
Of renovate a cluster of these cottages for community use.
Means that they can be sort of.
Opened it up to the neighborhood in a way that today particularly sort of the interface with streets and.
Public spaces in the community.
There's room for improvement, so we can think about opening up those spaces on the interior.
Reorienting some of those spaces to particularly Marina Way South and this network of open spaces that we're proposing.
Thing and also provide ADA access.
To those uses and activities to make them part of the.
Community serving services.
And then the last thing I sort of want to just mention about that is that you know, we're envisioning sort of.
A.
A spine of community space.
That runs in the East West connection and is crossed by that great public network along.
Marina Bay South with the Richmond Wellness Trail.
And so we want to make sure that this cluster.
Is becomes sort of a key part of that network.
Particularly because it will connect beyond the site to MLK Park Eastern Elementary.
Places where the neighborhood has a chance to come in to the site. This would become sort of we see it as sort of an important gathering space, both for the residents but also for the greater community and neighborhood.
[REDACTED], 39:15
Thank you for that. And just going off of that a little bit. So can you all speak to your plan for community centers or maybe the 3:00 to 5:00 will be used for as you as you shared community space in various ways, but I can't tell from the.
Image right now, if there is other buildings that will serve as actual like communities gathering spaces outside of the outdoor.
The outdoor courtyard areas and I ask that.
Because the city is also.
Wanting to rebuild the MLK Community Center, which is really close by and it could be up to 20 to 30,000 square feet of new Community Center space.
So just thinking wanting to know what your plans are right now? In consideration of a brand new Community Center.
Kevin Kellogg 40:08
Yeah. Let me get give a little overview of this and then we can.
The rest of my team can also type in in detail, so we're we we believe in the concept of the village. That's not just housing. And we do know there are offsite projects that might want to relocate onto the east from properties or that there's some partnership we.
That we can develop to develop on off these sites.
The Community Center, definitely.
Is I guess I would say they're all very welcome.
The the commercial.
Concepts like grocery store or or what have you.
Those have an economic feasibility function.
And and so would all the public areas.
So to the extent that we can provide expertise.
And a way to fit this in economically, architecturally and socially into the project.
We will look at all of these, no matter what it is.
It's identified by the community in our projects. We will look at it and if it's if the will is there and we will do everything we can to find the finances and so forth.
And so maybe Nikki and Iman and Stephanie.
Can say a little bit about your unique perspectives on this as well.
Nikki Beasley 41:41
Well, one of the things that came up for us when we were in front of Council and Council definitely had an interest to figure out how we could create some amenities and I think our team was very open to figure out how we could do this in Coll.
So as you know, Pogo Park, who has been a long time community partner, we've engaged with them to see if there's ways that we can cross collaborate some of the work that they're doing.
I would say that.
The.
Mlk Center is going to be instrumental because we also understand the vested value that that brings to community.
So I think from our perspective, Richmond neighborhood housing services is to make sure that Nystrom is a gathering hub for community because of where it's located and that it basically creates, you know different.
Access points to other parts of the community.
So I would say I'm in agreement with Kevin that the objective is to look at this as a holistic opportunity and make it more than just housing so that the full Community can take benefit.
[REDACTED], 42:56
Thank you so much.
My final question is, can someone just remind me of the parking plan? For the site.
Kevin Kellogg 43:05
Yeah, I mean the parking.
[REDACTED], 43:05
Is it like underground parking or?
Kevin Kellogg 43:10
We're anticipating that most of the parking will be surface parking.
[REDACTED], 43:16
OK.
Kevin Kellogg 43:16
And we will ask for one parking space per unit.
[REDACTED], 43:22
OK.
Kevin Kellogg 43:23
Which?
You know, under the state law, there's a lot of flexibility here, but we have found in sites like this one space per unit, especially in public housing, is pretty good.
[REDACTED], 43:37
Mm hmm.
Kevin Kellogg 43:38
We have a lot of block frontage.
As well, these are very long big blocks. We almost have like a set of four blocks. We kinda have like 8 blocks.
[REDACTED], 43:42
Mm hmm.
Kevin Kellogg 43:48
And all that perimeter does provide a lot of other guest parking and so forth that can contribute as well.
And Stefan, do you want to weigh in on the parking?
Opticos Design | California Poppy Parlor 44:01
Yeah, I'll just say that.
You know.
There's capacity here, just given the general plan to add a lot of units.
So there's a future neighborhood that goes beyond that first phase that could be, you know, there could be over 400 homes.
In this in this in this neighborhood.
But thinking about the scale of the project, that might be sort of three to four storeys in the middle.
And two to three stories at the edges.
That is a scale that is not going to require.
A lot of parking infrastructure. And so to Kevin's point, we can park on the surface, we can park in a tub cutter configuration, which might be, you know, this housing above a residential garage on the ground floor.
But that also just brings a lot of opportunities to make a space.
That's sort of oriented to streets and sidewalks.
Makes it easy for residents to get in and out on not only their vehicle, but on foot or by bike to really sort of take advantage of just how many great destinations are going to be really close by and convenient.
To.
Serve all modes of travel.
So we want to make sure that we sort of are keeping that in mind.
Particularly as we sort of move forward with kind of the longer term design for the site.
[REDACTED], 45:38
Thank you.
Those are my questions, [REDACTED],.
[REDACTED], 45:42
Perfect. I'll ask a couple more because I know these have come up in the past as well, but.
Green building strategies essentially switching the area to electric solar inclusion.
EV Chargers for residents, for for electric vehicles that are coming.
Do you guys have experience with that or essentially doing full electrification of buildings?
Kevin Kellogg 46:09
Let me kick this off just really quick and then I'll, I'd like Amand to go into the details.
Iman Novin 46:09
Yeah.
Kevin Kellogg 46:15
But Gorman, we have right now 1500 net 0 units between Portland and and the Colorado market where our residents are benefiting from solar as well as.
As well as the House loads.
So we do believe in this.
As well.
And we know how to do it. So. And do you wanna share some of your unique experience with this cause? You've got a really good perspective on all of the things that [REDACTED], just mentioned.
Iman Novin 46:48
Yeah, you know, we we help do actually one of the first ever when I was a pilot phase lead for neighborhood development projects when I was working on the MacArthur
Transit Village project and.
I think this would be a really good candidate for any of the neighborhood development process. We're committed to lead and or build it green equivalent. For this. We're 100% committed to all electric.
Buildings of no natural gas.
Having solar?
We're working with Regrid right now on free solar for our other Richmond project.
Umm. And do believe in having that solar not just for the common areas, but to help offset the resident utility costs. And so as a team we we collectively have a very strong focus on sustainability as one of the bottom lines and you know would ensure that that.
Happens.
Kevin Kellogg 47:52
Yeah, [REDACTED],, if I can just add on to this, it's OK.
Energy is just one part of our sustainable building strategy, though. You know, we really support the idea of healthy families. So indoor air quality and.
And then design.
The spaces that Opticose has laid out really demonstrate how we're presenting really friendly building.
That support neighborhood life, St. life and and active neighborhood. There's also spaces that are very secure and safe inside for smaller children and so forth.
So that folks have a natural sense of security in their in their homes so.
The.
The the sustainability is just a part of larger obsession that we have about design and detailing these projects out so that they really.
Not only look great, but function very well for the families who live here.
[REDACTED], 49:02
Great. Thank you.
And then one more question, 'cause, I know this has come up in the past as well.
Units for formally or currently in house persons, do you guys have any plans regarding that or any anything regarding that?
Kevin Kellogg 49:20
Come on. That's that's you.
Iman Novin 49:22
Absolutely. So as mentioned previously, we are contending to be committed to having set asides of units for formally on house individuals and families.
And as a team have a lot of collective experience in serving.
That population and the financing required to support that, it really comes down to.
Having sufficient operating subsidy.
And having right size services, budgets and working with the right service providers to ensure that permanent supportive housing is successful, we are a very big belief.
Mixed income housing as a way to increase housing to a broad spectrum and.
Given the scale of this project, feel that like scattering PSH units throughout each phase or a couple phases is a really good approach. It it helps.
To address the need but also create sort of mixed income neighborhoods that have a broad spectrum so that that's something we're absolutely committed to nearly all of the our projects have some form of set aside for PSH or a special needs populations.
Kevin Kellogg 50:45
Nikki, do you wanna add some from the services side?
Of your perspective of how you would what you would bring to this.
Nikki Beasley 50:53
Yes, because we have some lived experiences with our own work of being property managers, landlords and understanding the different levels of needs as well as advocating for a number of Richmond residents who have not been cared for well through property management and service.
So this will definitely be a high focus areas of ours of being able to help select determine the type of services that are going to be needed for the residents.
So that we can adequately find the right, you know, support to make sure that individuals are getting serviced in because our belief is that you just can't throw units at the housing issue. People need to be serviced where they are.
So we definitely will be working very closely in this.
In this area of focus.
Kevin Kellogg 51:50
Thanks.
Iman Novin 51:50
One thing that's really beautiful about this mix of units and affordability is that it gives it allows us to meet people where they're at. And you know, if you're at risk of homeless or experiencing homelessness, we have units for you. If you're you become employed and start to.
To stabilize and there's units in the missing middle in our in our mix and we also.
Have a commitment to looking at on the fourth phase.
Townhomes for first time home buyers, so if you've saved up and you're now ready to move into home ownership, so it really allows you know to, you know, serve folks wherever they are and it gives opportunities for upward mobility and and wealth generation and home ownership as well.
So I think that's a key tenant of our mix that that.
Is important.
That'll be maintained.
[REDACTED], 52:51
Great. [REDACTED], or [REDACTED],? Do you have any additional questions?
[REDACTED], 52:56
I do not thank you.
[REDACTED], 52:58
Nor do I.
[REDACTED], 53:00
Perfect.
I know one of our Members isn't here today, but if he has any questions after reviewing the presentation over the holiday weekend, I will send him off to you guys and hopefully we can get them answered.
But thank you very much.
I was glad we could do this again.
Iman Novin 53:18
Thank you so much for your time. Really appreciate the opportunity.
Opticos Design | California Poppy Parlor 53:22
Thanks Li everybody.
Kevin Kellogg 53:22
Thank you everyone.
[REDACTED], 53:24
Thank you everyone. Have a good evening.
[REDACTED], stopped transcription