CITY COUNCIL – Project Verandas will be reconsidered
by Mark McDermott
The City Council will reconsider its rejection of Project Verandas at a special meeting on January 19.
City planning manager Tayln Mirzakhanian announced the meeting this week in an email to residents who have signed up for updates on Project Verandas, a 79-unit apartment building proposed on Rosecrans just above Highland Avenue. The project was rejected in a 3-2 vote by the Council in October. Mirzakhanian said the meeting was prompted by the warning the City received from the State of California.
“As many of you know, the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) issued to the City a Notice of Violation, stating that the City Council’s denial of the project in October ‘violated the Housing Accountability Act and the State Density Bonus Law,’” she wrote. “HCD’s Notice requires ‘corrective action,’ including ‘reconsideration’ of the project. Accordingly, the City is scheduling a Council meeting for January 19, 2023 at which time the Council will consider the project again.”
Project Verandas includes six units designated for low-income housing, which qualified it for a streamlined ministerial, non-discretionary approval process under state laws. The project was appealed by multiple residents first to the Planning Commission, which rejected the appeals earlier last year, and then to the City Council. The Council based its rejection of the project largely on environmental concerns related to the project’s proximity to the Chevron refinery.
That was, however, a different City Council. Councilmembers Amy Howorth and David Lesser were elected in November, replacing Hildy Stern, who voted to approve Project Verandas, and Suzanne Hadley, who voted against it.
The developer had filed a lawsuit against the City seeking $52 million in damages, while three non-profit housing advocates wrote to the City threatening to file suit if the project is not reconsidered and approved. City staff, at the direction of council, last fall studied previous legal challenges and found that no City has successfully challenged the state’s Density Bonus law in the courts.
But at Monday night’s council meeting, some residents implored the City to fight state laws.
“The housing crisis has caused the state to push a one size fits all approach, stripping away our tradition of single family zoning and discretionary review,” said resident Gail Fortis. “It’s understood that more housing is needed. But we are already a dense city and the state needs to be providing more infrastructure and funding to go along with its mandates. It makes zero sense to push more housing where the land costs are as high as they are here, and think that anything is actually going to be solved in terms of providing much needed affordable housing. Thank you, Mayor [Steve Napolitano] and Councilmember [Joe] Franklin for your no vote on October 18th. You knew there’d be considerable fallout and challenges ahead but considered the facts and voted accordingly. The majority vote of the council was no, so as our current body of city leaders are here, please move forward. Fight on the same page, and stand strong.”
But as Councilmember Richard Montgomery noted in October, what is at stake is not only potentially millions in legal fees, but the City’s control over its permitting process. HCD’s letter said that the matter would be referred to the state attorney general, who has the authority to strip cities of their local control over permitting.
The council on Monday unanimously passed a resolution that will enable it to rehear the Project Verandas proposal.
“A majority of Council voted to reconsider the Verandas decision and we’ve scheduled that hearing for a special meeting on January 19,” said Mayor Steve Napolitano. “We have a new council and a lot of litigation and/or threatened litigation since the original vote, so we’ll see if we keep the same result, modify it, or change it altogether, based on what we hear at the meeting.” ER