City commissioners agreed with many of the recommended changes to the city’s policy for economic development incentives, but some raised concerns about provisions regarding affordable housing, as well as who can apply for incentives.

Incentives for residential developments would require a portion of units be set aside for affordable housing — price-controlled and income-eligible — but some commissioners were concerned that the provision didn’t require those units be permanently designated as such. Commissioners Matthew Herbert, Leslie Soden and Stuart Boley all voiced questions or concerns about allowing a temporary designation.

“If we have 15-year affordable housing, that just creates a problem for somebody 15 years down the road,” Boley said at the commission’s work session Tuesday. “It’s kicking the can down the road, so I think we need to figure out how to get incentives for permanent dispersed affordable housing in our community.”

Some of the proposed changes to the incentives policy require residential projects to provide affordable housing or make a contribution to the city’s affordable housing trust. Specifically, it’s recommended that projects be required to set aside 10 to 15 percent of units as affordable housing for at least 15 years.

The incentive process is just one of the ways the city plans to address the topic of affordable housing, and City Manager Tom Markus told commissioners that they need to be looking for as many opportunities as possible.

“At this point I don’t think you can pass up any opportunities to consider additional affordable housing in this community, whether it be for 10 years or 15 years,” Markus said. “And I think the thing that you want to keep in mind is that this is an issue across the country. We need to be looking at as many opportunities that are available to us to address this issue considering the resources that are available.”

Another recommendation that generated a lot of discussion was the idea of opening up incentives offered through the Neighborhood Revitalization Act to homeowners in “distressed areas.” The NRA is a state law that allows cities to rebate part of the new property taxes created by certain projects.

City staff told the commission that it is actually more common nationally for the NRA to be open to the public, often with NRA designations originating in the governing body or being proposed by individual property owners. In contrast, NRA proposals in Lawrence have often been made by developers and come before the commission on a project-by-project basis.

While agreeing that the NRA has been misused in the past, Soden said that she was concerned that opening up the NRA to the public could lead to gentrification of older neighborhoods. But Markus disagreed, saying such a use could actually enable people to stay in their homes longer.

“That may be the most significant asset that any of us have is our house,” Markus said. “…So to make sure that it meets all of the codes and requirements of the codes and they can stay there — through a grant process or something else — enhances their worth to the point where it enhances their current life and their future life as to the use of that property.”

Other provisions placed limits on some incentives. For example, when certain incentives are requested, it is proposed that a “but for” provision require a city analysis find that the incentives are required in order for the project to have enough funding to proceed. The developer applying for incentives would pay for the cost of that analysis.

The commission began discussing the city’s policy for economic development incentives in June 2015, and earlier this year referred the topic to three advisory boards and the county for their recommendations. City staff will use the commission’s feedback to edit the proposed policy. Once those edits have been made, the proposal will return to the commission for further discussion and ultimate approval.

In other business, the commission discussed Oread Neighborhood Design Guidelines as part of a rehearing process. To proceed with the adoption process for the guidelines, city staff will restart the public notice and hearing process for both the Historic Resources Commission and the Planning Commission. This entails hearings before both recommending bodies, not in a joint format as was conducted previously in March.