Mayor pitches housing pact benefits
Mayor Steve Noble has reached out to a Stony Run apartments tenant union to pitch the benefits of a rental proposal between the city and developers.
In “An Open Letter to the Stony Run Tenants Union,” the mayor wrote of the importance of sealing the deal which would turn the Hurley Avenue complex into a workforce housing facility.
“We all know that our City has a housing emergency,” Noble wrote. “Urgent times call for swift action. When the facts showed that a vital housing resource faced a serious threat, I moved quickly to stabilize and protect quality housing for the next forty years.”
But the deal hit a roadblock on Tuesday when the Common Council narrowly voted to send the measure back to the Laws and Rules Committee for further review.
Council members voted 5-4 to send Resolution 58 back to the committee, a law that would allow the owners of Stony Run Apartments to enter into a regulatory agreement with Noble.
The resolution stipulates that the complex owned by Aker Cos. be reclassified as workforce housing and placed into a housing trust for a period of 40 years and that rent will be capped at 120% of the area median income, with current tenants enjoying grandfathered-in rights from the Emergency Tenant Protection Act, which include rent control.
“The proposed regulatory agreement safeguards ETPA rights for all current tenants, prevents high-income earners from displacing families at Stony Run, and requires the owners to make timely improvements,” Noble wrote in his letter. “This is not a perfect deal, but it’s a very good one.”
Noble went on to write that the
city recognizes “that Stony Run tenants have been through a lot with previous owners and managers.”
“I, personally, understand your concerns and feel confident that this agreement will improve the situation,” Noble wrote.
Noble said that he has directed Aker to provide the tenants union with a copy of the draft regulatory agreement.
“I have also demanded that the agreement be amended to include a ban on all Short-Term Rentals within the Stony Run complex,” Noble wrote.
Noble said he has reserved the Rondout Neighborhood Center on Monday, March 13, for 6 p.m. where he will meet with Stony Run tenants.
However, in a statement late Friday, the Organizing Committee of the 305 Hurley Avenue (Stony Run) Tenants Union said that the Monday meeting is too soon.
“At this time, we respectfully request once again, that we are given more time and that any future meeting to be scheduled is also respectfully coordinated with the Organizing Committee, so that we are given a fair the union said in a statement issued at 5:45 p.m. Friday.