Fountain Valley to allow some developments to have 75 dwelling units per acre
As cities across the state grapple with how to satisfy their mandated Regional Housing Needs Assessment numbers, local communities are divided on how to best approach the issue.
The Fountain Valley City Council passed an ordinance Tuesday allowing for some development projects to include up to 75 dwelling units per acre, provided those projects meet certain conditions.
A project may be built up to 75 units per acre when the nearest property line of the perimeter of a mixed-use zone is separated by the 405 Freeway, or if it is at least 400 feet away from a single-family residential zone.
Council members landed on 75 units per acre after the General Plan Advisory Committee and the Planning Commission did not agree on whether to eliminate a variation that allowed for up to 100 residential units per acre under those specific circumstances.
The committee voted 7-1 to keep the 100-units-per-acre base zoning density, while the Planning Commission earlier this summer recommended its removal by a 3-2 vote.
In responding to critics of the ordinance, Councilman Glenn Grandis called attention to the city’s housing allocation numbers, including the requirement to plan for 2,093 low-income units.
“I feel your frustration, and we’re doing what we think is best for the city, and we’re not doing what we think is best for the developers,” Grandis said. “We’re doing what we think we have to do to motivate the developers to do affordable housing, and that’s the bottom line.”
The Fountain Valley City Council terminated its declaration of a local emergency related to COVID-19 and updated the municipal code with respect to family day-care homes on Tuesday night.
Fountain Valley has been tasked with adding 4,839 dwelling units. The city had appealed its sixth cycle (2021-2029) Regional Housing Needs Assessment number in October 2020.
Eleven opportunity sites have been identified by city staff to add housing. Only two of those — the former Boomer’s location and Warner Square — would meet the requirements to be built out to 75 units per acre.
Mayor Patrick Harper said he appreciated the reduction from 100 to 75 units per acre, but he said he felt the number should have been dropped down to 65. The council passed the ordinance by a 3-2 vote, with Mayor Pro Tem Kim Constantine and Harper dissenting.
“If we were to take this down to 65, we would still present a housing element that’s in compliance with what the state requires,” Harper said. “That’s the bottom line, to me. What the developers might or might not do changes from day to day.”
Council members Michael Vo, Ted Bui and Grandis voted for the ordinance. Vo said his vote was motivated by wanting to keep options available to the city, indicating that he felt it would be “irresponsible” not to do so.
“I was part of the [General Plan Advisory Committee], and we met over the years, and my vote was yes so that we can entertain each proposal, because every single housing unit that comes into the city will have to go through planning entirely,” Vo said. “The planning commissioners will study and issue recommendations, so that’s still a long process.
“But for the city to blankly say, ‘OK, we only do 65, we only do 100, or we only do 75,’ we basically limit ourselves. Why don’t we give them an open field, so that they can give us different proposals that we can entertain?”
All the latest on Orange County from Orange County.
Get our free TimesOC newsletter.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Daily Pilot.
