Community Land Trust

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" rowspan="2" width=200 BGCOLOR="#99CC99" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="1278dfc3.jpg"> <div> <A HREF="id54.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Hamlet Study"><U><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c866330000.gif" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Hamlet Study</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id56.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Community Circles"><U><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c866330000.gif" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Community Circles</U></A></div> <div> <B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c866330000.gif" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Community Land Trust</B></div> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=82 BGCOLOR="#CCCC99" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="1288dfe1esnpes.jpg"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#336666" FACE="Arial" ><B>New Directions CBRI</B></FONT><B>     |     </B><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="New Directions CBRI"><U><B>home</B></U></A></div> <div> back to  <A HREF="id51.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="South Country"><U><B>South Country</B></U></A></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" height=398 colspan=2 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <B>Community Land Trust</B></div> <div> <U>Introduction</U></div> <bR> <div> A <I>community land trust</I> (CLT) is a non-profit organization created to hold land for the benefit of a community and individuals within the community. It is the non-profit equivalent of well managed and designed, commercial land arrangements such as Roosevelt Field.</div> <bR> <div> Most CLTs are especially concerned with providing and preserving affordable housing on their land. A CLT is, however, a very flexible vehicle that can accommodate a variety of land uses (within zoning regulations), a range of income groups and a diversity of building tenures and types, either scattered throughout a community or in one area. CLTs around the country (approximately 140) construct (or acquire, rehabilitate and resell) housing of many kinds<B>:</B> singe-family detached homes, duplexes, condos, co-ops, SROs, multi-unit apartment buildings, and mobile home parks. CLTs create facilities for neighborhood businesses, non-profit organizations, and social service agencies. CLTs provide sites for community gardens and vest-pocket parks. Land is the common ingredient linking them all. The CLT is the social thread, connecting them all.</div> <bR> <div> In the same way that the owners of Roosevelt Field manage and nurture their place, CLTs have developed a range of organizational features which afford them similar benefits. These include<B>:</B> not-for-profit, tax exempt status<B>;</B> dual ownership, land held by CLT, building owned by homeowner<B>;</B> land leased for 99 years, lease protects CLT and homeowner<B>;</B> public subsidies, if used, are not lost, so perpetual affordability is achieved<B>;</B> the ground lease is a manageable document, affording perpetual responsibility<B>;</B> the CLT operates within a community, such as a school district<B>;</B> it is controlled by residents under a tripartite board, 1/3 leaseholds, 1/3 community residents, 1/3 jointly appointed by the first two groups<B>;</B> the CLT can assume an open-ended development program of acquiring land for community improvement. It doesn't disappear.</div> <bR> <div> Communities have formed CLTs in order to preserve and manage their place<B>;</B> to offer a housing tenure ladder to all its residents, as young adults, young married couples, for those raising families and those staying put in retirement<B>;</B> to provide security to new homeowners and to the community by minimizing foreclosures<B>;</B> and to provide community improvement without displacement and to accommodate smart growth.</div> <bR> <div> The lack of affordable housing is a major educational issue for the South Country Central School District. There is an immediate need to locate new and highly qualified young teachers to replace a flood of retirees. In addition, too many of the district's students come from substandard housing without adequate heat and sanitary facilities. Young families are forced to leave the community to seek adequate housing and educational environment is diminished. Inadequate housing choices connect all these issues.</div> <bR> <div> <U>South Country Community Land Trust </U></div> <bR> <div> Discover South Country has provided an opportunity for interested South Country residents to learn about the CLT and its method of securing affordable housing. Superintendent Michael La Fever has met with the Executive Director of the Institute of Community Economics and discussed the applicability of Community Land Trusts in suburban school district communities. Citibank funded a visit from Burlington Associates, the technical assistance provider for the Institute of Community Economics, to present a Saturday workshop on CLTs. Several subsequent meetings were held on this topic with a score of interested citizens.</div> <bR> <div> In February 2003, New Directions' Bob Mulvey and Andy Collver visited Burlington Associates in White River Junction, Vermont, and then invited the Executive Director of the Institute of Community Economics (ICE) to visit with Superintendent Michael La Fever and Citibank V.P. Michelle DiBenedetto here on Long Island. Burlington Associates is the National Technical Assistance provider for ICE. New Directions was able to bring its connection with Burlington Associates to a new level by drafting and executing an agreement wherein New Directions and Burlington Associates will collaborate, with Citibank's help, to introduce CLTs to Long Island communities. In November, Bob Mulvey attended a four-day National Community Land Trust Conference in Syracuse, furthering New Directions' valuable association with this great community-building movement.</div> <bR> <div> By the end of 2004, South Country Community Land Trust became a reality thanks to the hard work of  Founding Committee members Warren Beaven, Lynn Brown, Terri Hall, Carolyn Holtz, Nancy Marr, Helen Martin, Joan McGay, Sibyl Mizzi, Bob Mulvey, Lee Snead, Fran Suk, Herman Washington, Tom Williams, and Karen Zahradka.   As of April 2006, tax exempt 501(c)(3) status is pending, and the trustees are working on completion of the land lease document, which will be of critical importance to future operations.</div> <bR> <div> For more details and updates, visit the <A HREF="http://www.southcountrylandtrust.org/"target="_blank" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.southcountrylandtrust.org/"ta"><U>South Country CLT</U></A> Web site.</div> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>