Riverfront Crossing might require affordable housing

IOWA CITY - With support from the city council, there's a possibility that much of the future residential development in Iowa City's Riverfront Crossings District will require the inclusion of affordable housing units.

The Iowa City Council on Tuesday directed city staff to come back to them with a formal ordinance after expressing strong support in preliminary regulations that would add requirements for affordable housing in many future Riverfront Crossings District development projects.

Doug Boothroy, director of neighborhood and development services, said the hope is such inclusionary housing requirements would help dictate future growth in the budding Riverfront Crossings district.

'We're creating a whole new neighborhood, we're bringing back a neighborhood that existed in 1968, with a higher density,” he said, adding that the move could be unprecedented. 'This would be the only inclusionary housing ordinance in the state of Iowa.”

The council already has made a voluntary commitment that it would make at least 10 percent of units affordable in any residential project seeking financial assistance.

Additional recommendations made to the council came out of a six-month effort by an ad-hoc work committee charged with exploring the possibility of requiring affordable housing in the Riverfront Crossings District in exchange for a rezoning to the relatively new Riverfront Crossings zoning designation. That designation allows for density bonuses and mixed use options.

The committee recommended that any inclusionary housing regulation for affordable housing - which would not exceed 60 percent of the area median income for renters - would contain a number of stipulations. (Median household income for 2009-2013 was roughly $53,000, according to census data for Johnson County.)

Those stipulations would include:

' Inclusionary housing be mandatory, rather than voluntary, when rezoning to the Riverfront Crossings District unless the developer qualifies for a hardship exemption to provide a fee-in-lieu contribution to the city. Fee-in-lieu dollars would recycle back into an affordable housing fund to support affordable housing in the district.

'Any time the city is giving dollars, providing financing to make up that gap, there is going to be a requirement,” Boothroy said.

' At least 15 percent of units be set aside as affordable, and remain that way for at least 20 years if tax increment financing is used, and 10 percent of units for 10 years if TIF is not involved.

' Projects that have 10 units or more would be subject to the provision. However, developments designed for and used by elderly and disabled residents would not be required to provide an affordable housing set-aside unless financial assistance is sought.

Recommendations likely could be adjusted before a final ordinance is drafted and returned to council, but council member Kingsley Botchway expressed his approval.

'Knowing that we're taking these steps is, I think, a very big step in the right direction,” he said.