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TO: Mayor Thomas J. Weisner
FROM: Daniel Barreiro, Chief Community Services Officer
DATE: May 18, 2016
SUBJECT:
A Resolution Authorizing Renewal of the Neighborhood Revitalization Strategy Area (NRSA) Strategy as identified in the City of Aurora's 2015-2019 Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Consolidated Plan for the 2016 CDBG Program Year and Establishing Efforts to Pursue an Amendment to the NRSA Strategy.
PURPOSE:
Staff requests approval to renew the City of Aurora’s 2015-2019 Community Development Block Grant Consolidated Plan's use of the 2011 Neighborhood Revitalization Strategy Area (NRSA) and to launch efforts to amend the City's NRSA Strategy.
BACKGROUND:
In 1999, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) approved the creation of the Neighborhood Revitalization Strategy Area (NRSA) for the City of Aurora, as an element of the City’s Consolidated Plan. The Neighborhood Revitalization Strategy Area (NRSA) was originally created to provide enhanced flexibility for economic development, housing, and public service activities using Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funding within the NRSA boundaries.
The reason for pursuing an amendment to the City's NRSA Strategy is for the City to make a determination as to its effectiveness. Additionally, the timeliness of updates to an NRSA Strategy generally result as per one of the following two reasons: 1) upon the expiration of a CDBG community's pre-determined timeframe or 2) simultaneous to the submission of a new Consolidated Plan. For the City of Aurora, an Amendment to the City's NRSA Strategy was undertaken in late 2009 with the intent to include the updated Strategy in the City's 2010-2014 Consolidated Plan. The amended NRSA was subsequently adopted and incorporated into the City's 2010-2014 Consolidated Plan on March 22, 2011, following the close of an extensive 16-month community consultation and outreach process. (Please see Attachment A, "NRSA Amendment 3-22-11".)
More recently, when the City's 2015-2019 Consolidated Plan was approved by the City Council on December 9, 2014 (with subsequent approval granted by HUD on June 18, 2015), this Plan's incorporation of the 2011 amended NRSA strategy was done so with the stipulation that conditions and strategies for the NRSA would be revisited on an annual basis. In fact, the City's 2015-2019 Consolidated Plan NRSA Strategy states the following:
(City of Aurora 2015 -2019 Consolidated Plan, p. 3)
Under the current proposal to pursue an Amendment, a determination as to the effectiveness of the City's NRSA goals and planned activities will be undertaken (see Attachment B, "NRSA Performance Measures"). Moreover, the NRSA geographical boundaries will be assessed. Currently, two census tract/block groups of the existing NRSA no longer qualify as Low-Moderate Income due to census tract data changes which impact the boundary line. (Please see Attachment D, "NRSA Map - 2010 Census Data-Update 2014" and Attachment E, "NRSA Map - 2010 Census Data".) Additionally, given the NRSA's Strategy benefits, City staff have received inquiries regarding the qualification of additional areas (per HUD, the NRSA must be a contiguous area) for inclusion in an amended/expanded boundary.
The City's 2nd Program Year of its 2015-2019 Consolidated Plan began on January 1, 2016. The Block Grant Working Committee reviewed the NRSA Strategy on May 4, 2016 and voted in favor of recommendation to the City Council that the existing Strategy remain the same under the City's 2nd CDBG Program Year, however, the Committee also recommended that given the passage of time since the NRSA's 2011 Amendment, an evaluation of current conditions and their impact to the existing NRSA Strategy would be timely.
As part of this process, City staff must seek HUD guidance as to the effectiveness of the NRSA. Under this assessment, economic conditions, opportunities, and challenges faced by the City's NRSA area will be evaluated. The assessment would evaluate post-2011 NRSA Amendment adoption activities such as the City’s downtown revitalization, affordable housing development, employment training and small business development, arts and culture development, infrastructure, and public human services efforts. This effort will address and determine the effectiveness of the NRSA strategy and the impact that current conditions may have upon the existing NRSA goals and objectives. HUD approval will be required for any proposed Amendment.
DISCUSSION:
On an annual basis and as per the City's 2015-2019 Consolidated Plan strategy, the City is required to re-evaluate the conditions and strategies for the NRSA and to submit an amended Strategy when the conditions warrant a change in strategies or amended service areas. (Please see Attachment C, "2015-2019 Con Plan NRSA Amendment Reference".) City Staff, together with the Block Grant Working Committee, are to assess whether current conditions as well as proposed future conditions may merit an amendment to the City's NRSA.
Any proposed changes require compliance with the City's Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Citizen Participation Plan and HUD CDBG/NRSA Regulations. Such public participation would include outreach to NRSA residents (both in existing and in any proposed areas of expansion), owners/operators of businesses, local financial institutions, non-profit organizations, and community groups.
IMPACT STATEMENT:
City staff resources will be required to facilitate and coordinate the NRSA Amendment public participation process. The impact administratively will be through city staff in the Mayor's Office, Neighborhood Redevelopment Division, Legal Department, and Finance Department.
Given the research and data collection as well as the intensive citizen participation and consultation process, it is anticipated that, similar to the 2011 Amendment process, a consultant will also need to be retained. The 2011 consultant fees totaled $9,500.00 and it is estimated that a proposed amendment consultant costs would be close to $10,000.00. Funding will be made available to cover the consultant fees through the Professional Fees/Consulting - Studies Account: 101-1330-463-32-61.
RECOMMENDATIONS:
Staff recommends approval of the Resolution Authorizing the Renewal of the Neighborhood Revitalization Strategy Area (NRSA) Strategy as identified in the City of Aurora's 2015-2019 Community Development Block Grant Consolidated Plan, and Establishing Efforts to Pursue an Amendment to the NRSA Strategy.
cc: Alderman Saville, Chairman
Alderman Donnell
Alderman Irvin
Alderman Hart-Burns, Alternate
CITY OF AURORA, ILLINOIS
RESOLUTION NO. _________
DATE OF PASSAGE ________________
title
A Resolution Authorizing the Renewal of the Neighborhood Revitalization Strategy Area (NRSA) Strategy as identified in the City of Aurora's 2015-2019 Community Development Block Grant Consolidated Plan for the 2016 CDBG Program Year and Establishing Efforts to Pursue an Amendment to the NRSA Strategy.
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WHEREAS, the City of Aurora has a population of more than 25,000 persons and is, therefore, a home rule unit under subsection (a) of Section 6 of Article VII of the Illinois Constitution of 1970; and
WHEREAS, subject to said Section, a home rule unit may exercise any power and perform any function pertaining to its government and affairs for the protection of the public health, safety, morals, and welfare; and
WHEREAS, the City of Aurora has initiated numerous community development activities through participation in the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) Community Development Block Grant Program (CDBG) and Home Investment Partnership Program (HOME); and
WHEREAS, the City Council adopted the 2015-2019 Consolidated Plan on December 14, 2014, with specific goals and objectives related to housing, public services, public facilities, economic development, and neighborhood revitalization; and
WHEREAS, in the course of administering the CDBG and HOME programs, the City may need to amend its Consolidated Plan; and
WHEREAS, through adoption of its 2015-2019 Consolidated Plan, the City approved the use of its 2011 Neighborhood Revitalization Area (NRSA) Amended Strategy throughout the duration of the 2015-2019 Consolidated Plan period; and
WHEREAS, the City, in its adoption of its 2015-2019 Consolidated Plan, identified three geographic priority areas for its CDBG/HOME funding investments which, in addition to a Citywide target, also include the City’s low to moderate income census tract/block groups as well as its NRSA;
WHEREAS, the City’s NRSA was created to allow certain HUD funds (most notably Section 108 funds), to expand economic development, housing, employment, commercial and residential rehabilitation, and other neighborhood revitalization opportunities; and
WHEREAS, the NRSA is located generally on the near east side of Aurora and includes the downtown central business district; and
WHEREAS, the revitalization of the NRSA’s neighborhoods and downtown area is an ongoing and comprehensive effort, encompassed by not only its CDBG formal strategy and plans, but also within the City’s downtown Master Plan which describes additional components (such as urban design and land use) of the revitalization effort of downtown Aurora that roughly encompasses the NRSA, and is easily accessible by all areas within the NRSA; and
WHEREAS, the City is required by HUD to periodically update its NRSA Strategy; and
WHEREAS, the City, in its adoption of its 2015-2019 Consolidated Plan, committed to review the conditions and strategies for the NRSA on an annual basis and to submit an amended Strategy when the conditions warrant a change in strategies or amended service areas; and
WHEREAS, the City's Block Grant Working Committee evaluated the NRSA Strategy at their monthly meeting conducted on May 4, 2016 and made a recommendation to not only renew the existing NRSA Strategy for the 2016 CDBG Program Year, but to also pursue a potential amendment to the NRSA Strategy due to changing conditions related to quality of life program initiatives, housing needs, economic development, and other neighborhood revitalization efforts since the NRSA's 2011 Amendment; and
WHEREAS, since the City’s 2011 adoption of its NRSA Strategy Amendment, the City has supported and been actively engaged in various projects and activities related to the development of affordable housing, small businesses, employment training, infrastructure investments, youth development, arts & culture, and public services within its NRSA; and
WHEREAS, the City continues to seek opportunities to facilitate and support housing in both the downtown business district and adjacent residential neighborhoods that encompass the NRSA, particularly through homeownership, reuse of existing structures and renovation of existing affordable housing; and
WHEREAS, the 2015-2019 Consolidated Plan anticipates a Citywide housing budget, with special attention targeted to the NRSA, of $1.4 million in upgrades for low to moderate income occupied homeowner housing, nearly $300,000 to increasing homeownership and over $2.1 million to rehabilitating (affordable) rental housing, primarily for income eligible persons, including persons with special needs, persons who are elderly, and/or are homeless; and
WHEREAS, since 2011, the City has actively supported affordable rental housing within the NRSA with the most recent activity taking place with the redevelopment of the Aurora St. Charles Hospital into senior housing ($500,000 HOME) as well as scattered-site rental housing ($524,321 HOME/NSP); and
WHEREAS, mixed-income development in the NRSA includes Aurora Housing Authority-led efforts to redevelop concentrations of low-income housing developments, increase mobility through tenant vouchers, and expand access to project-based vouchers; and
WHEREAS, in 2014, the City partnered with the Waubonsee Community College SBDC and Quad County African American Chamber of Commerce to enhance job training and job access in the NRSA and in 2015, the City again partnered with the Quad County African American Chamber of Commerce to develop small businesses within the NRSA; and
WHEREAS, since 2011, changing neighborhood demographic and real estate census data for the NRSA together with the City’s program initiatives to address economic development, housing, and public service quality of life needs for those residing within the NRSA may necessitate a second Amendment to further enhance the City’s ability to take advantage of the enhanced flexibility offered in using Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funding within the NRSA boundaries; and
WHEREAS, should changing conditions impact the City's existing NRSA Strategy, such changes shall be proposed and reviewed as required by the City's Citizen Participation Plan and in accordance with HUD's regulations; and
WHEREAS, extensive citizen participation was completed as part of the original 1999 NSRA and the 2011 Amendment, with additional participation also solicited during the 2015 update to the Consolidated Plan; and
WHEREAS, an extensive citizen participation process will be implemented for any future NRSA amendment efforts; and
WHEREAS, the City's funds to cover consultant fees for the NRSA Strategy Amendment will be paid from Professional Fees/Consulting - Studies Account Number: 101-1330-463-32-61; and
WHEREAS, any Amendment to the NRSA Strategy will require HUD and City Council Approval.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the City Council of the City of Aurora, Illinois, finds as facts all of the preamble recitals of this Resolution and hereby Authorizes the Renewal of the Neighborhood Revitalization Strategy Area (NRSA) Strategy as identified in the City of Aurora's 2015-2019 Community Development Block Grant Consolidated Plan for the 2016 CDBG Program Year and agrees to establish efforts to pursue an Amendment to the NRSA Strategy if warranted.