Wed, 02/01/2023 - 9:30pm

BELFAST — In a Feb. 1 news release, the City of Belfast outlined its housing priorities following a Jan. 31 joint work session of the Council and Planning Board.

The city’s goal is to increase the total number of occupied units in Belfast with a preference for market-rate long-term rentals located near or inside the bypass, the release said.

“The City of Belfast should consider allowing the expansion of existing homes, a pre-approval process for multi-family housing projects, and monitoring the number of short-term rental units,” the release said. “The City of Belfast should also consider providing incentives for both market-rate and subsidized rental unit development including City infrastructure investments and credit enhancement agreements.”

The City of Belfast can accomplish these goals with the formation of a City Housing Committee and the potential creation of a Municipal Land Trust in which the City partners with a nonprofit, it said.

Survey Results:

*Belfast City Council and Planning Board members ranked each category in order of priority, 1 being the most important, 5 being the least important.

A. City of Belfast Increased Housing Metric Goals

_3_ Total Number of Units

_1_ Total Number of Occupied Units

_4_ Total Number of Owned Homes

_2_ Total Number of Long-term Rentals

_4_ Long-term to Short-term Rental Ratio

B. Preferred Type of Increased Housing

_2_ Market-rate Rental Housing

_3_ Market-rate Home Ownership

_5_ Seasonal or Short-term Rental Housing

_1_ Long-term Rental Housing

_3_ Subsidized Housing

C. Preferred Location of Increased Housing within the City of Belfast

_3_ Downtown

_2_ Inside Bypass

_1_ Near Bypass

_4_ Outside Bypass

_5_ Eastside Belfast

D. City Policy Changes for Consideration to Increase Housing

_3_ Monitor Short Term Rentals

_5_ Lower Minimum Lot Size

_1_ Allow for the Expansion of Existing One-Family Homes

_2_ Pre-Approval Process for Multi-Family Housing Projects

_4_ Modify Parking Standards

E. City Provided Incentives Offered to Increase Housing Development

_2_ Credit Enhancement Agreements for Market-Rate Rental Units

_3_ Credit Enhancement Agreements for Subsidized Rental Units

_4_ Brownfields Cleanup of Sites Designated for Housing Development

_5_ City Purchases Site for Housing Development

_1_ City Commits to Infrastructure Investments for Housing Developments

F. City Structure to Support an Increase in Housing

_5_ Municipal Housing Authority

_4_ Partnered Municipal Housing Authority with a Non-Profit

_3_ Municipal Land Trust/ Land Bank

_2_ Partnered Municipal Land Trust / Land Bank with Non-Profit

_1_ City of Belfast Housing Committee

“The fact of the matter is, when we look at things, we also need to be thinking about the future of what housing looks like. We need to be looking at the future while we are looking at the present. PCHC is here, WCAP is here. Where they are built, how they are built, we have to plan for all of that. We all know that 70% of our households could not buy a new house here 2 years ago, let alone today. We need to be continuing to think about how to keep our mil rate down in these conversations.” — Mayor Eric Sanders

“I would encourage us to look more seriously at short term rentals, realize that we identified approximately 169 short term rentals in Belfast. If we could reduce that number by 25%, you could perhaps increase the number of long-term rental units by 40… Since long-term rentals are our highest priority, they need to be addressed more directly.” — Hugh Townsend, Planning Board Chair