This is the third committee on affordable housing that the city has created. This time, in response to developer requests to avoid a housing fee on new development, finding alternative ways to promote housing.

Jim Wood: “I’m trying to figure out what this organization is going to do that the land trust couldn’t do with folks in this community … We suffered through in Destin for a number of years with two airport committees … I don’t want to go back to that again.” If developers can build affordable housing, a committee shouldn’t be necessary to make that happen.

Sam Seevers: Technical question about the makeup of the committee.

Jim Bagby: We can’t do it with the Community Land Trust because it’s not an official body of the city, it’s an independent not-for-profit. But the Local Planning Agency is, and they should be the venue for working out any changes to the city’s housing-fee plan, with Land Trust members and developers in attendance.
(As trust members have pointed out, the city’s proposal favors developers providing housing units over paying a fee, but the fee is what most people fixate on).

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