Council's plan for high density apartment complexes would bring a massive population explosion if implemented.
And our city will lose its charm.
PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENTS SECTION: Attend two candidate Forums this week!
City Council Forum, sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce
Tuesday, September 27, 5:30-7:30 PM
Location: Mira Costa High School Auditorium
School Board Forum, sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce
Thursday, September 29, 5:30-7:30 PM
Location: Mira Costa High School Auditorium
Also don’t miss Coffee with School Board Candidates: Johnny U, Christy Barnes, and Mike Welsh- The Trifecta.
Weds, September 28, 9:00 - 10:00 AM
Location: 900 Club at 900 Manhattan Ave.
Council reveals plan to add more HighRose type projects to our city.
Understanding how the state overreach will change MB forever.
In recent years, the State legislature and the California Dept. of Housing passed some very intrusive legislation and regulations that mandate cities to allow real estate developers to ignore local zoning laws. Cities that comply with this overreach lose control over years of planning and careful development of zoning laws that best fit their city regarding housing density.
But there is a catch by the state. To bypass local zoning laws, the developer must devote a percentage of their apartments to low-income or affordable housing units. This is a win/lose scenario:
Developers get to build apartment complexes in affluent areas like MB that yield high rents from the majority of their apartments and only have to classify a small percentage of their units as low-income to get approval by the state to build. [Developer WINS]
The resulting POPULATION EXPLOSION in a small city like ours will put stress on our entire infrastructure, including traffic, parking, the capacity of schools, water and waste facilities, as well as public health and safety provided by the already overworked police and fire departments. And the charm of our city, with all of our little businesses and quaint neighborhoods, will have to be removed and replaced with rows of apartment corridors because our City is already built out. [Our City LOSES]
The HighRose project is a perfect example of the type of projects that will be built throughout our city including single-family neighborhoods. Just a few years ago, HighRose would have been rejected by our planning dept. because it does not pass our local zoning laws. Now, the developer can ignore our laws and has a legal right by the state, not the city, to build this apartment complex in our highly crowded neighborhood of El Porto at the corner of Highland and Rosecrans.
The sketch above is of the 4-story HighRose building with 79 apartments. The building has 2 levels of underground parking with 103 parking stalls. This brings too many people and too many cars to an already congested area. The developer was only required to allocate 6 out of the 79 units to “affordable housing” in order to bypass our zoning and planning laws.
The community is fiercely fighting back against the development of HighRose. The City Council, not so much. In fact, they are embracing state overreach.
Council hired a firm to identify other properties in MB for such developments.
Cities have 2 options: submit to the state’s overreach or take smart measures to retain the integrity of their zoning laws.
Those who say that there is nothing a city can do are incorrect. The law is on the side of the city as stated in our California Constitution XI, Sec 7: “A county or city may make and enforce within its limits all local, police, sanitary, and other ordinances and regulations not in conflict with general laws (federal laws).” The ability to enact ordinances and zoning laws to protect the health, safety, and welfare of citizens is a power constitutionally given to Cities, it is NOT derived from State Legislature.
Our Councilmembers show no desire to challenge the overreach of our legislature. The California legislature has mandated that city governments rezone and repurpose land in certain neighborhoods for denser housing, irrespective of local zoning and planning laws. And that is exactly what this Council has been doing for years and they are paying the firm DUDEK to do the work (how much did Council spend on this?)
City Council held a meeting last Friday and voted to accept the report by the firm, which researched our city for more properties where projects with affordable housing can be built. Council did not hold this meeting at their customary Tuesday night, 6:00 City Council meeting. They held it last Friday, on ZOOM, at 3:00 in the afternoon. It was open to the public, but of course, few could attend.
The firm’s report is 486 pages and “the document lays out how the city will facilitate the development of housing during the (2021-2029) time period,” stated Carrie Tai, MB Community Development Director during the meeting.
But the heart of the report is how the city will implement the state-assigned housing quota. The state has assigned cities with a quota of affordable housing units to be provided in their city. The quota for MB is 774 units which the state has further broken down by the following income levels:
161 units for extremely low-income
161 units for very low-income
165 units for low-income
155 units for moderate-income
132 units for above-moderate-income
(See Agenda item E, click on Resolution 22-0137, and go to page 9 [HERE].
So how many HighRose type projects need to be built to hit the quota? A lot!
For example, the HighRose project ONLY yields 6 “affordable” apartments, housing 21 people, but adds another 73 apartments at market price, which can house 224 people. That is a total POPULATION EXPLOSION of 245 people in that one neighborhood corner to provide 6 out of the 774 units toward the quota. And the building is monstrous. Even if the city requires a higher percentage of affordable housing units in a project, there is no escaping the population explosion or the change in our city landscape from this proposal.
The firm identified a large number of properties throughout the city that could be rezoned to build apartment complexes to meet the quota of 774 low-income units. Some of the targeted areas include:
84 units on Manhattan Beach Blvd., west of Sepulveda Blvd to the Strand.
26 units on Highland Ave. near downtown.
319 units near THE VILLAGE gated community by replacing (2) 5-story office bldgs. on Rosecrans and the old Fry’s building, and by repurposing the city-owned soccer field and parking lot adjacent to the County Club.
448 units along the Sepulveda corridor
Other areas include smaller properties in EL PORTO, many properties around DOWNTOWN, and on ARTESIA Blvd. near Mira Costa High School.
The firm scoured every area and property in the city to identify sites to rezone.
The first 3 maps below were included in the report and identify the following as noted on the map legend:
Sites identified with Existing Capacity (orange)
Consolidated Sites (combined parcels) (striped)
Pipeline Projects (projects already in the process like HighRose) (light green)
The following map shows potential sites to accommodate more low-income housing.
On Friday, Sept. 23, all 5 City Councilmembers voted to approve this latest draft of their plan. Residents have an opportunity to review this draft through the end of November.
Thank goodness the end of November comes after the upcoming election on Nov 8th. That gives residents time to ask candidates running for City Council what they plan to do at the end of November.
There are only 2 choices: either continue with the status quo and go forward with this plan of compliance with the state’s overreaching mandate or go back to our city’s original zoning laws. The Council members in place as of November 8th would not have to file a lawsuit to enforce our zoning laws. They can simply stand on their rights provided in the California Constitution to make and enforce their own laws and repeal the ordinance passed in 2013 (No. 13-0006) where Council agreed MB would follow state mandates.
There is a great opportunity to find out where City Council Candidates stand on this issue by attending the Forum on Tuesday night, Sept. 27th in the auditorium at Mira Costa High School from 5:30 to 7:30 pm.
~MBStrong
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