CLT Home for Sale - 400 Bunker Drive

One twin home unit (400 Bunker Drive) is currently available for sale by the owners through First Homes  This home is in the Maple Hills development, opposite the soccer fields at Maple Street and Jefferson Parkway.  

The home is sold as house only with a 99-year lease on the land (the Land Trust retains title to the land), and sale is restricted to families within certain incomes.

For further information, contact Chris Flood 507-287-7117 at First Homes.

Northfield Community Land Trust Takes New Direction

When the Land Trust was created in 2001, it was envisioned that the organization would grow to a point to where it would be able to hire part-time staff to assist the volunteer Board.  Seven years of growth with our land trust, and the experience of other land trusts throughout the state, have taught us that the economies of scale for a land trust to have even part-time staff is much larger than first envisioned.  In order to find a way to provide a higher level of service to the Cannon River Community Land Trust home owners, the Cannon River Community Land Trust Board of Directors has initiated a dialog with First Homes, a housing organization which is part of the Rochester Area Foundation.  First Homes is a non-profit organization that was created to build affordable housing in the Rochester Area and throughout Southeastern Minnesota.  The organization builds and manages different types of affordable housing including a community land trust.  The Board pursuing discussions with First Homes assume ownership of the land owned by the Cannon River Community Land Trust, and the leases that it maintains with each of the homeowners.  The following are the main items why the Board is considering this action:

 

1.  Full-time staff support in the First Homes organization

2.  The organization owning the property and managing the lease may change, but the terms of the lease would remain in effect

3.  The homes and property would continue in a community land trust program

4.  The availability of other housing resources to CLT homeowners

5.  This transfer of the property and the assignment of the lease from the Cannon River Community Land Trust can only occur with the consent of the CLT homeowners.  So in order to more fully explain the process and answer any questions you may have, an information meeting will be held shortly to answer questions.

CLT Continues to Sell Homes

The Cannon River Community Land Trust (CRCLT) has sold three of the twinhome units that it purchased from the Northfield Housing and Redevelopment Authority in February 2007.  In addition to the one remaining twinhome at 400 Bunker Drive, the CRCLT has repurchased a CLT single-family home at 1905 Wilcox Blvd. from the homeowners for resale in the Community Land Trust Program.  The homeowners decided to move and purchase a home in the private market.  This demonstrates that the Community Land Trust Program is working as designed by allowing persons or families to move into homeownership at an affordable price and build equity for later use in moving up in the housing market.

CLT Buying 3 Remaining Twinhomes in Maple Hills

The Cannon River Community Land Trust (CLT) has worked out a purchase agreement with the Northfield Housing and Redevelopment Authority (HRA) to purchase the last three remaining twinhomes in the Maple Hills development.  Previously the CLT had been purchasing the homes as it found buyers.  The goal in having the CLT purchase the remaining twinhomes is complete the development from the HRA’s perspective, which will allow the HRA to focus its full attention to other housing issues in Northfield.  The move allows the CLT to keep the homes in the land trust program while it continues to market them.

CLT Session at NAHRO Conference

I was honored to share the podium with Sheri Harris from the Central Minnesota Communty Land Trust at the Fall Conference of the Minnesota Chapter of the National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials at Breezy Point.  There were over a dozen attending the morning session as Sheri and I navigated through the powerpoint presentation and answered numerous questions.  I explainted the creation of teh CLT homes in Northfield and gave examples of our developments such as Maple Hills (Bunker Drive).  It appears that Land Trusts are gaining momentum in the providing long-term affordable housing.  Many of the participants queried both Sheri and I on the process to create a Land Trust.  It is exciting to see communties adpat the model to their particular needs.

CRCLT and Northfield HRA meet to discuss Maple Hills Development

Here are the minutes from our recent meeting with the HRA. This appeared earlier this week in the Northfield News.

On September 14, 2006, the Cannon River Community Land Trust Board (CRCLT) and the Northfield Housing and Redevelopment Authority (HRA) met to discuss the successes and challenges of the Maple Hills Development.

The Maple Hills Addition was developed through a collaborative effort of the Northfield Housing and Redevelopment Authority (HRA), Cannon River Community Land Trust, Three Rivers Community Action, Inc., Habitat for Humanity and the Northfield Community Action Center on approximately 10 acres of land owned by the Northfield Housing and Redevelopment Authority.

The group developed 39 units of housing, including 14 Community Land Trust (CLT) homes, 2 Habitat for Humanity homes, 16 market rate homes, and 7 affordable rental units. Significant local participation of over $700,000 was provided, including substantial funds from local employers, the City of Northfield, and the Northfield HRA.

The City of Northfield and the Northfield HRA provided funds for the land acquisition and infrastructure development costs through the use of tax abatement and HRA resources. It was agreed that the goals of the development have been achieved and the collaboration of all of the groups added financial and other significant resources to the effort.

However, the collaboration of the several groups did add complexity, which was at times difficult for potential homebuyers to navigate. The two Boards also discussed how the actual revenues and expenditures of the development matched against the previous projections.

Preliminary numbers provided to the HRA by staff indicated that there may be more costs than revenues; but it was determined that tax abatement revenue approved for the Maple Hills development had not yet been accounted for and could balance the revenues with the expenditures.

Land trust session at Minnnesota Housing Conference

Land trusts are relatively new in Minnesota and have been gaining popularity as a fiscally conservative lont-term solution for affordable housing.

One indication of the growing acceptance of land trusts is that I will be speaking (along with Sheri Harris, Executive Director of the Central Minnesota Community Land Trust in St. Cloud) at a session on land trusts entitled “Land Trusts revisited” at the Fall Conference of the Minnesota Chapter of National Association (NAHRO) at Breezy Point on September 27, 2006.

The NAHRO Fall Conference runs from September 25th through September 29th. A complete list of events can be found on their website.

Incorporators of the Cannon River Community Land Trust

In my previous weblog I mentioned that the Cannon River Community Land Trust (CLT)was formed in October of 2001.  However, the formal creation of the group was preceded by almost two years of work by dedicated members of the Northfield Community, who started this process by serving on a steering committee that was researching the issue.  Members of this steering committee included the following:

• Wendy Thorpe
• Donald Tarr
• Kris Vohs
• Thomas Neuville
• David Shumway 
• Kim Clausen
• Joel West

Upon the conclusion of the work by the steering committee, a number of the members from that group became incorporators of the Cannon River Community Land Trust.  These incorporators were:

• Wendy Thorpe
• Donald Tarr
• Kris Vohs
• Tomas Neuville
• Joel West

Thank you to all the members of the the steering committee and the incorporators of the Cannon River Community Land Trust for their dedication to affordable housing in Northfield.  I would also like to thank Michael Brown from Burlington Associates  for his assistance in guiding the steering committee and the incorporators through the policy and technical aspects of creating a land trust.

New Cannon River Community Land Trust Weblog

By way of introduction, I am Joel West, the President of the Cannon River Community Land Trust located in Northfield, MN.

The Land Trust was formed in October of 2001 as a non-profit to assist in the creation of long term affordable housing in Northfield and the surrounding area. The area of operation for the Land Trust is the boundary of the Northfield School District.

Since its creation in 2001 the Land Trust has created 16 affordable single-family and twinhomes and plans to have 19 homes in the program by the end of 2006. The Cannon River Community Land Trust (CLT) was able to accomplish this by partnering with the Northfield Housing and Redevelopment Authority (HRA) on its projects.

The CLT and HRA have partnered on four projects in the past five years. With this strong beginning, the CLT looks forward to its future projects in Northfield and this venue to keep the community informed.

Coming soon

Watch for blog posts from Joel West at the Cannon River Community Land Trust… real soon now.