2010 Legislation of the NEW CODE

Posted on June 24, 2010

Comments on the 2010 legislation of the Zoning Code Update in Denver provided to Denver City Council June 23, 2010

Penelope Zeller, NCPCA Zoning Representative

My name is Penelope Zeller.  I represent NCPCA – North City Park Civic Association.  Our neighborhood is Skyland, in District 8.

First order of business is to let Council know that NCPCA fully supports the INC position statement read earlier by Chair Nissen.

Now specifically regarding North City Park; realizing that there are a number of language amendments to deal with in the future, for the most part, NCPCA fully supports the efforts to date of CPD and others who have worked so hard to make the New Code a reality.

In our 2002 Neighborhood Needs Assessment, Skyland neighbors expressed a consistent desire to increase density and diversity while preserving the small town neighborhood feel.

No small feat – this meant that NCP should spread density throughout the community; impossible under the old Code.

We also identified an overwhelming desire of the residents to age in place.  We needed to include in our plan, somehow creating the atmosphere for an Inter-Generational Community.

Neighbors felt that the timing – and use – of the Zoning Code Update was a great opportunity to build a specific identity for the Skyland Neighborhood with an eye to ‘recycling’ and refurbishing.

Our housing stock is solid, most homes have at least another 50 economic years of life; so  encouraging alternatives to scraping and replacements became a top priority.

The old Code rendered the Community desires unattainable.  Using the New Code to establish proactive alternatives provided a foundation for North City Park to be the Architects of Change for several generations to follow.

To that end, members of the Skyland Community, in concert with staff members at CPD, most notably Caryn Wenzera, worked to use zoning as a foundation to begin developing a plan for a stable close-in neighborhood, attractive to all age ranges.

Using Zoning as a foundation for our future, we accomplished the following:

MX-3 along Colorado Blvd. (A brilliant suggestion by Ms. Wenzera; we can keep the curb cut-out which MS would not allow.) 

We backed the MX on Colorado Blvd. with MU-2.5, to Jackson St, then to TU-C over to Madison.

MS-2 and MS-3 along our bus line # 28 between York and Monroe is a good match for the surrounding housing stock and will likely draw business from Clayton, Whittier and Cole.

Finally, but not the least, our desire to spread density through the area by including the right to build carriage homes at the back of every qualifying lot in our residential inventory was a critical component in keeping our neighborhood stable and thriving.  Adding the ability to build ADU’s throughout Skyland provides all single family homeowner a more equal property right.  For that, we are most grateful.

Thanks to Peter Park and the entire CPD Staff, John Lucero, Michael Henry and especially Councilwoman Madison for tolerating my relentless 4-year quest to obtain the desires of our Skyland neighbors.  NCPCA is pleased with most of this New Code and the efforts of the City Staff. Thank you all.

Work on the PFP Continues

Yes, it has been quite a bit of time since I blogged about the Post Foreclosure Program. In a nutshell, here’s a one year update:

Denver At-Large City Councilman Doug Linkhart liked the PFP and supported a test launch in some Denver Neighobrhoods. Denver ran out of money and could not fund the effort. In addition, it seems that EVERYONE in the City offices are focused on the fisrt zoning code update since 1956. Like that’s all important….

Non-Profits ran out of money and began to lay off staff and even shut down so interest from that quarter waned too.

I ran out of funds for the project. So I went to work to avoid becoming a foreclosed household.

I Consult in business development / liquidation and one of the industries I serve is the Realty Trade. I continued to talk about the Post Foreclosure Program idea to anyone who would listen and lol - what do you think happened?!

A local Real Estate Investor hired me to train him how to be “that kind of landlord that the PFP talks about.” We are having a blast placing families in his rental houses and his social equity is building daily. This modest and quiet gentleman believes the future of his small business includes socially responsible investing and landlording.

By invitation, I provided a PFP presentation to Dr. Pamela Wridt’s CPD calss at Univ. Colorado, Denver. The premise was to stimulate conversation about how Zoning and Planning professionals can use their trade to potentially shield against future foreclosure and economic downturns in real property. One item that came up was implementing Zoning language that encouraged Accessory Dwelling Units on single family zoned lots. (I’d be interested in your ideas.)

So, the mountain is moving – just one pebble at a time. Gotta love that grass roots stuff.

Why Denver – and the U.S. – needs a POST foreclosure program

28 December 2008

 

In July of 2008, President Bush signed in the Housing Economic Recovery Act.  A few billion in dollars have been allocated and distributed to communities across the Nation.  Colorado received about $53M and of that, $6M was allocated to Denver. (More funds have been requested.)

 

In Denver, the $6 Million in allotted HERA Funds are greatly appreciated.  It appears that Denver will be able to buy and rehabilitate approximately 175 houses with this money in the coming months.  However, Denver is projected to experience about 13,000 NED filings in 2008 – at a minimum municipal cost of $7,000 per property. What are the Municipal Costs in in Adams, Arapahoe, Aurora, or your County?

 

Suppose a County could spend about $750,000 to save $14 Million in Municipal Costs in an 18 month window?  This represents using the PFP to activate 2,000 of these 12,000 foreclosures in Denver that we will see in 2008. By using the PFP, I believe monies could be applied much more effectively because we place the dollars – a tiny bit at a time – precisely where it can do the most good.

 

The 25 year PFP is a simple, inexpensive and powerful program designed to stand alone at a neighborhood level or be modified to work in conjunction with other Community Stabilization programs.  At the core, The PFP will:

• Service the foreclosed family in a fast, respectful manner assisting then to move, with their belongings, to a rental house in the same neighborhood, keeping the children in the same school.
• Stabilize the neighborhood by eliminating the down-time on empty houses.
• Utilize small investor and private funding to rebuild our neighborhoods from the ground up.
• Allow the family to stay in one home, as tenants, for the 3 – 5 years it takes to repair credit.
• Convert high rental neighborhoods to high owner occupant neighborhoods in 5 – 9 years.
• Goal:  Reduce (by at least 75%) municipal costs associated with foreclosures in 3 – 5 years.
• Build in economic protection to the homeowner in the low-middle income neighborhoods to avoid another foreclosure fiasco in the future.
• Engages any and all Community Members, Small Investors, Churches, Retailers, RNO’s, and local Government Offices, such as City Council.

 

The simple fact is that America cannot possibly throw enough money at the Real Estate failures to really make a positive impact in the shortest possible time frame, unless, among other considerations,  we rethink how we stabilize our tax base.

 

The old paradigm of Urban Renewal will not work at this time in our History.  Due to changing climate, our awareness of the environmental, and personal costs of the automobile, low to middle income families must remain in or near major employment centers with access to public transportation.  Further, with the lack of health care, coupled with less available funds in pensions and retirement protection to the working class, the very backbone of our Country needs this assistance.  When they are secure, America thrives.

 

I believe the Post Foreclosure Program can easily accomplish stabilizing America one Neighborhood at a time. 

 

Now is the time to take this idea and make if fruitful. I need help to finish the details of the Plan and activate the PFP on a County by County basis across the Nation.  Will you consider helping me launch this simple little idea?  This is my official call for volunteers.

Options to Foreclosure Fiasco

 

Welcome to my world!

 

I am launching this Blog to offer a forum for positive and proactive solutions to our current foreclosure problems in the United States.

 

Losing a home to foreclosure – no matter what the reason – is devastating.  Currently there are no effective programs in play to assist the family that has lost their home to foreclosure.  I predict that we will also see a second round of foreclosures continuing this downward spiral in many of the hardest hit communities across the nation.

 

 

Here are some basic facts -

•  70% (ish) of the families evicted in foreclosure are gainfully employed.
• These employed families do not qualify for Section 8 housing or other assistance programs.
• No local or state agency is set up to address the housing needs of these families
• They can afford a mortgage equivalent but not a double / triple reset, so they lose their house.
• Their credit is trash for the next 3 – 5 years
• Most have family pets
• They cannot get into apartment complexes - rules are: no pets, no smoking, no kids and most importantly, no bad credit.
• Houses are the logical place for these families
• They need 3 – 5 years to repair credit so cannot be transient.
• Get their furniture and pets moved with them and they are likely not to move each time the lease is up.
• Keep them in the same school district and they will really stay put – for the sake of their kids .  

At this time in history, most single family (house) investors / landlords are new to the Real Estate game. 

• Many new  real estate investors are buying houses with a buy / hold business plan for 3 – 5 years, with the intent to sell for profit at that time.
• Some are so inexperienced in property rehabilitation they are losing the home to foreclosure before the property can be rented or sold.
• The new investors are not as savvy about market conditions and are purchasing in neighborhoods that will (realistically) take more than a decade to recover in value if no program is in place to stabilize the community.
• The huge increase in investor activity in the hardest hit value neighborhoods are transforming these communities to tenant occupied rather than owner occupied.
• “Rental” communities usually take longer to increase in value and quality
• The landlord may not realize a profit - other than his monthly cash flow – when his plan dictates selling the property.

The result is a second wave of foreclosures and / or landlords who become embittered (the new slumlord) as they realize their dreams of profit and time were optimistic.

  

As you can see the potential for further destabilization of Communities could be a reality in the near future.

 

I have worked on developing a Post Foreclosure Program -  a whole-kife grass roots solution-  and hope to stimulate a movement across the Nation to take back the middle class American Dream of secure home ownership.

 

In a real sense, I have created a new product, one with potential to rehabilitate and create sustainability in communities without pushing out the low to middle income families to “gentrify” the neighborhood. (That’s Phase Three of the PFP). 

 

I believe rebuilding our neighborhoods and re-empowering the low to middle income families with secure home ownership can be accomplished in relatively short order at a grass roots level and up.  This translates to less cost for the Government and for the Banking Industries.

 

Feel free to add your two cents worth.

 

Best Wishes,

Penelope Zeller

Real Estate and Business Development

Denver