2005 04 14 CC Bayview Annexation HearingBaytown City Council Bayview Annexation Hearing
April 14, 2005
Here are some questions and answers that may help you understand our
position on the Bayview annexation question,
1. What does the Baytown 2020 study done in 2000 say about the need for
apartments in Baytown?
Answer -It says we need "less quantity and more regulation of
apartments, mobile homes, and RV parks". (See attached page from the
Baytown Comprehensive Plan Update for 2000)
2. Is Bayview a more affordable apartment complex than the other apartments
in Baytown?
Average of 10
large existing
Apartments
467
592
762
Answer -No.
Number of bedrooms
1
2
3
Bayview rent($/mO)
619 $/mo
733
835
3. Is Bayview a free market project?
Answer- No. Bayview is a government subsidized project with tax
exempt bonds and over 5 million dollars in tax credits.
4. Is the Bayview project needed in Baytown?
Answer -No. The Baytown apartment business is in bad shape with a
vacancy rate of about 29%. The competition from the Bayview project will
make it harder for free market apartment projects to survive.
Answer: The Taft Circle apartment complex shut down a number of
years ago and being allowed rot in place. I suspect that this complex is a fire
hazard to the houses that are very close. A representative of the company
that owns Taft Circle told me she knows of no plans to do anything about the
complex. She agreed that the apartment business in Baytown is really bad.
See the Taft Circle photos:
(1) closed front gate -overgrown bushes and low brick wall that is
easy to climb over -roof deterioration in upper left
(2) back view of severely deteriorating roof on right building. Gutter
coming down on left building
(3) front view of ceilings falling down above walkways. windows
boarded up.
(4) door wide open with trash in front
6. What should be done at this meeting?
Answer: The council should table the motion to annex Bayview. Then
I would be happy to go to Austin and discuss my recent data with the Texas
Department of Housing and Community Affairs and appeal their earlier
decision to grant Bayview tax credits. The TDHCA apparently thinks this
project is needed and my data directly from the apartment managers show it
is not needed.
7. What is likely to happen if Bayview is completed?
Answer: In my view Bayview will have to reduce rents to compete in
a very spare environment. Of course this will reduce the profit anticipated by
the Bayview investors. Bayview will steal some renters from the other
Baytown apartments making it harder for them to maintain their properties or
forcing one or more to close.
8. If this project is such a bad idea, why is it being pursued?
Answer: Apparently the developers make a lot of money on these type
projects.
Land Use and Annexation B fl '( 7 ow JI.l -:l- 0'2..-6
: Chapter 4
~ .identifying guidelines to direct future land use in a manner that is coordinated with planned
~ infrastructure improvements and is economically viable and fiscally responsible; and,
~ .considering environmental constraints that can significantly affect development.
.-'c".'" -
: j
: Numerous issues related to land use and Baytown's pattern of growth were identified during the
~ plan development process through a community forum held in March 1999, a series of neighborhood
~ meetings attended by City staff and Comprehensive Plan Steering Committee members, leadership
: conferences conducted with a broad cross section of persons and organizations in the community, and from
~ the Steering Conunittee itself. These issues were instrumental in developing the goals, objectives, policies
: and actions in the Land Use element:..
: .More master-planned subdivisions vs. .Additional mid-range affordable housing
: scattered development
: .Continued parks and greenbelt development .Revitalization of older neighborhoods
: .Provision of adequate utilities to encourage .Additional bayfront and near-shore land use
: development in certain unused areas within
~ the City
: .Connected neighborhoods vs. isolated .Municipal golf course needed
: development
: .Architectural quality of commercial .Undersized parcels in older areas
: development
~ .Identify environmental constraints (flood- .Deed restriction enforcement
: prone areas, hurricane risk)
: .Balancing new commercial development with. More community sports parks
: redevelopment
: .Utilize undeveloped land south of 1-1 0 .Encourage tax base growth
~ .(commercial/industrial development)
: .Restrict manufactured homes in single-family. Multi-family housing for low-income and:
subdivisions elderly
: .Apartments too clustered .More commercial development to serve
~ established neighborhoods....
.
..
~ Findin2s
.
.
~ Completion of the inventory of land use in March 1999 generated the following findings:.
.
.
: .Baytown consists of approximately 20,915 acres, of which 13,775 acres are developed (excluding
~ rural development and vacant and undeveloped land). This leaves extensive development potential
: within Baytown.
~ .Maintenance and improvement of the existing infrastructure and roadway networks will be
: essential.
~ .The largest category of developed land is residential, which occupies approximately 5,052 acres.
.
.
.
.: Page 4-2 Bay town Comprehensive Plan Update
.2 c) C)O
Bayview and Rosement Apartments
(presented to the Baytown City CoWlcil on 1./27/05)
The Bayview and Rosemont apartment complexes are Bad for Baytown and
should not be annexed because:
1. The Baytown apartment business has lots of spare capacity and these new
projects are not needed.
+ Apartment managers or assistant managers at 10 nice, large apartment
complexes in Baytown including Baker Downs. Cedar Ridge, Creekside,
Cypress Bend, Logans Point, Meadows, Raintree, Sterling Bay, Trestles and
Woodcreek were interviewed to get current occupancy and rent data. The
rents at nine of these complexes are lower than the proposed Bayview and
Rosemont rents.
+ The above complexes have 2736 units and 792 vacancies. The occupancy
mte is 71 %. In other words, the vacancy rate is 29%. It is unlikely that this
situation will change in the near future because interest rates are staying low
and many apartment dwellers are moving into houses. We are currently
building about 1 house per day in Baytown.
+ The Houston Apartment occupancy rate in 2003 was 91 % (which was
considered a poor year) and is about 89% now. The Houston Chronicle on
1/11/05 said "the apartment industry has built tens of thousands of units in
the past couple of years flooding the market and shrinking rents. Apamnent
builders have a ,. confusing lack of discipline" ".
+ The Baytown apartment managers had several common concerns-
-The apartment business in Baytown is very bad now and has been
trending downward for at least the last three years.
-They are very concerned about the impact of the proposed projects on
their ability to survive.
-Lots of families do move during the year to get the best deal and this
wilt probably get worse with the added competition.
-The apartment business in Baytown is worse than Houston.
-More competition will make it harder for the current complexes to
maintain their properties.
-Baytown has way too many apartments.
-The rents at Rosemont and Bayview seem high, you can buy a house
for Jess than these proposed rents.
2. Over one third of the elementary school students in the Goose Creek
Consolidated Independent School District in the each of the last two years
changed schools during the school year. The primary reason for this shifting
is families chasing the latest apartment deals. For example there are signs on
the above apartments saying "one month free", "hot specials", "now
leasing",tl$49 deposit", "don't pass us by, stop in and say hi", and "move in
specials". Of course frequent moving is not good for the students or the
schools. It is anticipated that 80% of the residents at Bayview and Rosemont
will come from the existing Baytown apartment complexes.
3. Building more apartments is inconsistent with the direction the Baytown
Housing Authority (BRA) is going. The BRA is working with HUD to move
low income families out of apamnents and into their own homes. The BRA
program would pennit a family to apply their rent subsidy payments to home
ownership payments after the family enrolls in and graduates from the BRA
Family Self Sufficiency (PSS) program. In the FSS program the family sets
goals, gets schooling, gets a better job, passes a home ownership course,
passes a home maintenance course, and clears up their credit record so they
can qualify for a home loan. Experience with this type of program elsewhere
has shown that the family usually keeps improving and gets off welfare in
about 7 years.
4. The Bayview and Rosemont projects are not free market projects but are
really government subsidized apartment projects. They do plan to pay city
and school taxes, but they do not plan to pay county taxes. They plan to use
tax exempt bonds, and they plan to use tax credits. Bayview has asked for
over 5 million dollars in tax credits and Rosemont has asked for over 6
million dollars in tax credits. Of course the ultimate payer for the tax credits
is the taxpayer- you and me.
}
Recommendations:
1. Vate no on the annexation proposals for Bayview and Rosemont. These
projects are not needed and are bad for Baytown..
2. If you are not willing to vote no, then vote to ~ the annexation motions
Wltil the city can appeal the decision of the Texas Department of Housing and
Community Affairs (TDHCA) to approve tax credits. The Qualified Action
Plan that governs the actions of the illHCA says in 49.5(c) that the
to provide needed decent, safe, and sanitary housing at rental prices that
individuals or families of low and very low income or families of moderate
income can afford. The new data that was just developed in January of this
year clearly shows that these projects are not needed. I am sure that the
TDHCA did not have these new data when they approved the tax credits.
3. Write the Harris County taxing authority and ask that they not approve any
more tax breaks for tax credit apartment projects in Baytown because they
are not needed.
4. Write the Harris County Housing Finance Corporation and ask them to
publish a legal notice in the Baytown Sun for any public hearings scheduled
for tax credit projects in the City of Baytown or the city ET J .The Southeast
Texas Housing Finance Corporation does this now for projects when they are
the issuer of the tax exempt bonds. I first heard about Rosemont when a
friend of mine read about it in the Baytown Sun. I heard about Bayview
through the grapevine since the notice of public hearings on Bayview was
pubished in the Houston Chronicle.
1/27/05 WEH