THE ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AND GROWTH MANAGEMENT DEPARTMENT AND THE HOUSING FINANCE AND COMMUNITY REDEVELOPMENT DIVISION RECOMMEND APPROVAL OF THE ABOVE MOTION.
This item supports the Board’s Value of offering sustainable, compatible, innovative housing options for all income-levels, including integrated supportive housing and rapid-rehousing: Goal 1: Facilitate a regional approach to growth and redevelopment through coordination and collaboration at the federal, state and local levels; Goal 2: Strengthen stakeholder partnerships to increase the availability of affordable housing of all types (e.g. rental, purchase, supportive, etc.), countywide, in every community; and Goal 3: Develop, through effective community collaboration, neighborhoods and communities incorporating intermodal connectivity, while integrating energy efficiency community resilience, and other livability standards and initiatives.
On June 6, 2017, the Board of County Commissioners (Board) approved updates to the Broward Redevelopment Program (BRP) and Fiscal Year 2017-18 funding in the amount of $8.5 million. The BRP provides funding for eligible projects in defined redevelopment areas which have demonstrated blighting conditions, higher unemployment and lower property value growth than those of the municipality or the County. In addition to removal of blighting conditions, the BRP acknowledges economic development and job creation as public purposes for funding consideration.
As described in the application package (Exhibit 3), the funds are awarded as performance-based reimbursement grants and eligible applicants are municipalities, Community Redevelopment Agencies which do not have Tax Increment Financing, or the County in partnership with a municipality. Eligible projects are: 1) property acquisition for lot assemblage, 2) public improvements, 3) affordable housing (for production of new units only), 4) interior build-out for economic development (not to include furniture or equipment) and, 5) child care centers undergoing or seeking accreditation. The maximum funding amount for a property acquisition, affordable housing or public improvement project is $1.0 million per municipality/CRA. The maximum funding amount for child care accreditation is $150,000, and for an interior build-out project, is $15 per square foot not to exceed $150,000, or 50% of the interior build-out cost, whichever is less.
Since Board approval on June 6, 2017, the following significant events have taken place to implement the third round of funding for the BRP. On June 13, 2017, the Notice of Funding Availability was published. On June 22, 2017, the Housing Finance and Community Redevelopment Division staff conducted an Application Preparation Workshop, which was well attended by municipalities and several CRAs. Details of the application and revisions for Fiscal Year 2017-18 were discussed, as well as the process and deadlines for submittal, eligible projects, timeframes and other issues. On August 30, 2017, the Evaluation Committee (EC) of five members was appointed, representing the following County agencies: Environmental Protection and Growth Management Department, Housing Finance and Community Redevelopment Division, Office of Economic and Small Business Development, Public Works Department, and the Finance and Administrative Services Department. The Cone of Silence also went into effect on August 30, 2017.
Due to requests from applicants, and aftermath from Hurricane Irma, the application submittal deadline (initially August 2, 2017) was extended. On September 22, 2017, 11 applications were submitted by five municipalities and four CRAs. All applications were reviewed, and all but one was deemed to qualify for BRP funding under the application guidelines (Exhibit 3). Project staff enlisted technical experts within County agencies to review specific aspects of the applications, including estimated project costs, timeframes, property appraisals, and environmental audits. Comments by technical staff were subsequently distributed to the EC and applicants prior to presentations before the Evaluation Committee.
On January 10, 2018, the EC convened for the first meeting. Project staff distributed the applications and a project Summary Information Matrix. The EC determined dates for applicant presentations and discussed the order of presentations.
On January 22nd, 25th, and 29th the EC convened for the remaining ten presentations. Applicants were allotted 15 minutes to present their projects, followed by a question and answer period by the EC and County staff. County staff included the Housing Finance and Community Development Division, Environmental Licensing and Building Permitting Division, Highway Construction and Engineering Division, and the Real Property Section.
On February 5, 2018, the EC met to score the applications, discuss and prepare funding recommendations.
At the conclusion of the meeting, the EC recommended funding the following five projects, in order of ranking and funding amounts;
- City of Coconut Creek - Acquisition & Public Improvement: Hillsboro Corridor Project - acquisition of .81 acres which is part of a lot assemblage creating a 2.4 acre site with pedestrian and transit improvements including bus shelters, bicycle lanes and a wide ten foot multipurpose path and landscape enhancements. (W. Hillsboro Boulevard, from NW 39th Avenue to SR7); $1,000,000.
- Dania Beach CRA - Public Improvement; TRION Mixed-Use Project - a public park and fountain, roadway and streetscape improvements associated with an eight story, 300 unit market rate, mixed-use development (Federal Highway and Dania Beach Boulevard); $1,000,000.
- City of West Park - Acquisition: Broward Community Health Center – costs associated with transferring ownership of a parcel of land previously owned by FDOT, to a private party to develop (1965 South SR7); $452,000.
- City of Pompano Beach - Streetscape Public Improvement: Old Pompano Improvements - roadway improvements including; water, sewer and drainage improvements, signage, landscaping, irrigation and lighting enhancements (NE 2nd Avenue, NE 4th Street and NE 3rd Avenue, outside of NW CRA); $1,000,000
- Fort Lauderdale CRA - Streetscape Public Improvement: NE 4th Avenue Complete Streets - transportation and streetscape improvements, including a lane elimination, roadway resurfacing, bicycle lanes, ADA improvements, lighting, wide sidewalks, landscaping and an entryway design feature (NE 4th Avenue, from Sunrise Boulevard and NE 13th Street); $1,000,000.
Five projects failed to score the required 70 points to qualify for funding.
Exhibit 1 provides additional details regarding the scoring and funding recommendations. Exhibit 4 provides the scoring sheets of the EC members.
Subsequent to the EC recommendations, from February 15th to the 27th of 2017, four municipalities and/or CRAs submitted appeal letters to the Director of the Housing Finance and Community Redevelopment Division because their projects failed to score the required minimum 70 points to qualify for funding. Those projects were from; the City of West Park, the City of Miramar, the Lauderhill CRA, the City of Tamarac. After a review of their concerns, the Appeal Authority stated several reasons for concurring with the EC’s recommendation for the denial of funding, and each applicant was notified of the decision on March 5, 2018.
March 29, 2018, all applicants were notified that “due to unforeseen circumstances, the funding for the current BRP cycle is no longer available”, thus, no projects would be funded for that fiscal year. Applicants were also notified should additional funding become available, the projects which met the threshold for funding (minimum score of 70), would be considered at that time.
Subsequently, on December 4, 2018, the Board approved Agenda Item No. 32, a supplemental budget Resolution which included $4,452,000 for the BRP, which represents the five projects which were recommended by the EC for funding consideration. On December 5, 2018, County staff notified each applicant recommended for funding of the Board’s decision to consider approval of their projects.
As part of the funding award, the Applicants are required to execute an Interlocal Agreement (ILA) with Broward County as soon as possible subsequent to Board funding and approval. See Exhibit 2 for the Form Agreement. As appropriate, the parties to the ILA may include either the CITY, or the CRA, or BOTH the CITY and the CRA. The funding award is specific to the project and is available as a reimbursement grant, consistent with the terms, conditions, specified milestones and other provisions within the ILA, within three years from the date of execution of the ILA and subject to County staff review of the documentation submitted. |