At the June 6, 2022 City of Powder Springs Council meeting a second reading of an ordinance to amend the Unified Development Code (UDC) to create a workforce housing credit provision for multi-family developments in the city, as well as amending code relating to signage and rezoning application requirements. In the proposed ordinance , multifamily residential developments shall be provided a workforce housing credit in accordance with the following procedures below. Please contact Joseph Santoro at js@councilforqualitygrowth.org with any questions.
- Workforce credit shall apply to 3% of the total units, which shall be spread approximately pro rata across all unit types (# of bedrooms).
- Qualified Tenants must be employed by the City of Powder Springs, Cobb County or another municipality located within Cobb County, or must be employed by a medical facility located within the City of Powder Springs or Cobb County. Additionally, such Qualified Tenants shall have incomes that do not exceed 100% of the Area Median income (AMI) (as published annually by HUD).
- The workforce credit shall be equal to an amount of 20% of market rent. The Qualified Tenants initially shall pay 80% of the applicable market rent.
- Should the property be sold or transferred, the workforce credit program shall carry with the property to the subsequent owner.
- The Workforce Units will be made available on a continuous basis to all Households that meet the foregoing Tenant Qualifications on a first come, first served basis. The Workforce Units shall be the same construction and appearance (e.g., type and brand of appliances, materials used for countertops, flooring, etc.) to the “Market Rate Units,” shall not be in isolated areas in the Project and shall be interspersed among the Market Rate Units to the extent possible.
- The property owner (or its property management company) shall deliver calendar quarterly monitoring and compliance reports to the Issuer during the period. Such reports shall include a Compliance Certificate, Rent Roll and Resident Income Certification (collectively, the “Compliance Forms”). The Compliance Forms shall be delivered to the City of Powder Springs no later than twenty (20) days from the end of each calendar quarter.
- Qualified Tenants occupying the workforce credit units must reapply to meet the Tenant Qualifications on an annual basis. Should a Tenant who previously qualified and is inhabiting a workforce credit unit not qualify upon renewal, such Tenant shall have the right to either 1) Execute a market rent lease at lease renewal for the inhabited unit or an alternate market rate vacant unit within the development or 2) Vacate the inhabited workforce credit unit within three (3) months, while still paying the monthly discounted rent over the three (3) month period.
Furthermore, there is a proposed addition relating to rezoning requests, that a public information meeting shall be held after application submittal, and prior to the City Council Public Hearing. This requirement may be waived at the discretion of the Community Development Director. Other provisions changes are in Table 7-2 the maximum number and area of signs by use type by Zoning District that exclude wall, fence, and support structure from the total sign area and adds PUD-R Zoning District to the table. Click here to see the comparisons of the Cities in Cobb sign requirements.