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HomeMy WebLinkAboutBayview Affordable Senior Housing (PA2002-246)CITY OF NEWPORT BEACH PLANNING COMMISSION STAFF REPORT Agenda Item No. 1 January 23, 2003 TO: PLANNING COMMISSION FROM: City Manager's Office Sharon Wood, Assistant City Manager 644 -3222, swood @city.newport- beach.ca.us SUBJECT: Review of Affordable Senior Housing Development at Lower Bayview Landing ISSUE: Development of an affordable senior housing project at Lower Bayview Landing. RECOMMENDATION: Review proposed housing project, and provide direction to the applicant and staff. DISCUSSION: Background: State planning law requires cities to adopt general plan housing elements that address regional needs for housing affordable to all income levels. One of the principal provisions of the Newport Beach Housing Element is that developers of market rate housing should allocate 20% of the annual production of units to lower income households. The number of affordable units is to be negotiated for each development project, taking into account proper planning, CEQA compliance, project characteristics, incentives and government financing. The Circulation Improvement and Open Space Agreement (CIOSA), approved in 1992, gave The Irvine Company entitlements to develop 861 market rate units. Because CIOSA is silent on a specific affordable housing requirement, the City has taken the position that the 20% requirement in the Housing Element should apply, resulting in the production of 172 affordable housing units. The Irvine Company does not believe this requirement applies to CIOSA, but has been willing to work with the City and potential Bayview Landing January 14, 2003 Page 2 affordable housing developers to provide an affordable senior housing project. As early as 1995, the City and The Irvine Company began discussing such a project on the Lower Bayview Landing site. The development agreement for' One Ford Road, approved in 1995, specified that Ford's affordable housing requirement was 15% of the 404 units entitled, or 61 affordable units. In lieu of constructing affordable housing units, the developer paid the City $5,000 for every market rate unit developed, for a total of $2,020,000, to facilitate affordable housing in Newport Beach. These funds were received in May 1997, and have been held in an account while the City has explored the best use of them. The affordable housing in -lieu fund was increased by $540,000 in 2000, when an in -lieu fee was paid by the developers of Sailhouse. Affordable Housing Task Force: The City Council created the Affordable Housing Task Force in 2000, charging it to identify, evaluate and implement one or more affordable housing projects to satisfy community needs and achieve regional housing goals. Current members are Mayor Bromberg and Mayor Pro Tern Ridgeway, with one vacancy formerly filled by Dennis O'Neil. The Task Force has been involved in the following activities: • Monitored progress on updating the General Plan Housing Element; • Wrote to The Irvine Company urging development of a senior housing project as the affordable housing component of its CIOSA developments; • Issued a request for proposals (RFP) for additional projects that could be assisted with the affordable housing in -lieu fund, reviewed the responses, and recommended that the City Council decline to pursue them; and • Most recently, worked with The Irvine Company, The Related Companies and staff to implement an affordable senior housing project at Lower Bayview Landing. Current Proposal: The Irvine Company responded to the Task Force's letter by beginning to discuss the possibility of a density bonus for an affordable housing project, and the City's goals in terms of rent limits and level of affordability. The Task Force provided clarity, and continued to urge The Irvine Company to pursue a project. In June 2001, The Irvine Company identified The Related Companies of California as the affordable housing developer. Related has designed a project with which staff and the Task Force are satisfied, and is ready to make the necessary applications to the Planning Commission and Coastal Commission for development approvals, and to the City Council for financial assistance. The project is summarized as follows: • 150, 1 bedroom and 2 bedroom units in three, 3 -story, parking, community room and swimming pool. • Available to households headed by persons 55 or older. • 100% of units affordable, 80 % to low- income households income households for a term of 55 years. If built today, be $36,300 and the rent limit would be $908. Bayview Landing January 14, 2003 Page 3 elevator buildings with and 20% to very low - the income limit would • Site provided by The Irvine Company as part of their contribution to affordable housing in connection with CIOSA development. Planning Approvals Required: Both the General Plan and the Local Coastal Program Land Use Plan designate the site as Retail and Service Commercial, and provide that the site may be developed with senior affordable housing if the Coastal Development Permit findings demonstrate that there are adequate visitor serving uses in the coastal zone. There are no dwelling units included in the Land Use Element summary table for Statistical Area K1, where the site is located, but 200 units of "miscellaneous residential" are included in the Citywide Growth Projections table. These 200 units were intended to allow for the development of affordable housing. Therefore, the project is consistent with the General Plan. The site is in Area 1 of the Bayview Landing Planned Community, a zoning designation that allows development of 120 units of senior housing with a use permit. Both State law and the City's Housing Element require a density bonus of 25% for affordable housing projects, so no additional discretionary action is required to allow the development of 150 units. The site is in the coastal zone, and a Coastal Development Permit from the Coastal Commission is required. Scheduling Issues: This project is planned to be financed with State tax- exempt bonds, tax credits, and a loan from the City's affordable housing in -lieu fund. SB 975, effective January 2003, requires that prevailing wages be paid for any project that is financed with public funds. The bill includes an exception for affordable housing projects that receive a tax credit allocation by December 2003. A project must have local discretionary approval and Coastal Commission approval, as required in this case, before an application for bond allocation may be filed. Related and staff are working as fast as we can to meet this deadline, and we are requesting that the Planning Commission also conduct their review as quickly as possible. The purpose of this study session is to present the project to the Commission and the community early in the process, so that any issues may be identified and resolved before the public hearing. .Bayview Landing January 14, 2003 Page 4 ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW: Staff has retained Civic Solutions to prepare environmental documentation to satisfy the CEQA requirements for both projects. It is expected that a Negative Declaration will be presented for the Planning Commission's consideration. PUBLIC NOTICE: Notices of this study session have been sent to the Villa Pointe, Island Lagoon (Sea Island) and Dover Shores homeowners associations, the Hyatt Newporter Hotel, the Newport Dunes Resort, and property owners in Villa Pointe and Sea Island who might be able to see the development from their property. Submitted by: Sharon Wood Assistant City Manager