Site of senior housing project carefully chosen

Recently, in a letter to the editor, Robert Speed attacked the City

Council and staff relative to the current plan for our affordable

senior housing project, and it was disturbing to see inaccuracies and

the omission of some important information as well as a clear lack of

knowledge of the facts in Speed’s letter (“What’s going on at Lower

Bayview Landing?” Thursday).

First, the only “rush” on this project is to get it on an agenda

of the California Coastal Commission so that tax-exempt state

financing for the project can be approved in time for the project to

begin construction by this December.

The reason for this schedule is a new state law that requires the

payment of prevailing wages for any project that is using public

funds. Our senior housing project would be subject to that law

because the city has agreed to make a loan of $1 million from our

affordable housing in-lieu fund (money paid to the city by developers

of market-rate housing). Prevailing wages will increase the cost of

the project by about a million dollars, and the city has agreed to

increase our loan to pay half that increased cost.

Although the Legislature recognized that the law would impact the

feasibility of affordable housing development, which other state laws

require , and provided an exemption for affordable housing projects,

that’s good only for projects under construction by December 2003.

This is not a new or rushed project, though. The city and the

Irvine Co. have been working on it for a very long time. State

planning law requires that we have a “housing element” as part of our

general plan, and that it make provision for the development of

housing that is affordable to all income levels.

Newport Beach’s primary program to accomplish this goal requires

developers of market-rate housing to also develop affordable housing,

or to pay an “in-lieu” fee so that the city can assist affordable

housing projects.

As part of the city’s Circulation Improvement and Open Space

Agreement, the Irvine Co. was entitled to develop some 800 housing

units in areas like the Castaways and Harbor Cove. They did not

provide affordable units in these developments, but have been working

with the city since at least 1995 to develop a senior affordable

housing project.

In fact, some people may remember that an earlier City Council

considered putting the senior housing project at Newport Village, but

rejected that because of concerns from the environmental community,

as well as a desire for a passive park in Newport Center. As a

result, we have focused our efforts on Lower Bayview Landing for the

past two years.

Lower Bayview Landing is the lower portion of the vacant land at

Coast Highway, Jamboree Road and Back Bay Drive, and the city’s

general plan has long designated it for retail and service commercial

use, with the option of senior affordable housing.

The bluff portion, or Upper Bayview Landing, is designated for

recreational and environmental open space. This is another site that

the Irvine Co. is dedicating to the city for open space as part of

open space agreement, and it will have minimal grading and

improvements to serve the public as a view park.

The city did conduct environmental studies on this project, and

they were available for written comment during a 30-day public review

period, as well as at hearings before the Planning Commission and

City Council. We received testimony at both hearings from seniors in

our community who are experiencing a need for affordable housing,

concerned neighbors in Villa Point, members of our local

environmental community, and residents who support development of the

view park.

It is true that staff of the Coastal Commission is raising more

environmental issues than were raised in our local review and public

hearings, largely because the commission uses a much broader

definition of wetland than do other state and federal agencies.

We are working with the commission and its staff to resolve this

issue, as well as their concern with the grading proposed for the

housing project. The area to be graded has been significantly altered

for things like the former gas station and the original route of

Jamboree Road (which is the route we are proposing for the bicycle

trail). The proposed project limits grading to these disturbed areas,

minimizes grading where the natural bluff remains, provides

protection and replacement for coastal sage scrub, and includes a

water-quality basin to clean runoff from both park and housing sites.

The residents of the housing project will be 55 years of age and

older and of low income. Although many of the residents will be young

and active enough that they will be driving, experience with

low-income senior housing is that the residents tend to be older than

55 and less likely to “drive everywhere,” as Speed worries.

Experience with senior housing projects has also shown that

generally, the majority of the seniors in the housing project do not

drive at peak hours. So much for concerns of “congested streets.”

Data used to prepare our Community Development Block Grant

applications and our housing element show that Newport Beach has

several hundred senior households in need of housing assistance. More

than half of them are considered very low income, and more than 300

are paying more than half their income on housing.

After months of city staff working with the State Department of

Housing and Community Development, we received their certification of

our housing element just last week. This certification of compliance

with state law would not have been granted without the city’s strong

commitment to construction of the senior housing project at Lower

Bayview Landing. If we fail to complete this project, the city would

need to find another site to accommodate 150 housing units, or

certification would be in jeopardy and the city could be subject to a

lawsuit. (It’s happened before.)

Too often, seniors are either forgotten or must settle, at best,

for second best. We have never treated our senior population like

that and we are not going to start now.

In a community as fully developed as Newport Beach, where would we

find another site? Would we need to reconsider development of Newport

Village? Probably.

Two years ago, I worked very hard to be sure that Newport Village

became a park. It was very much an adversarial process and it was my

“baptism under fire” so to speak as a then new councilman, and to

this day, I am convinced the effort was worthwhile. However, so there

is no misconception, as much as I do want a park at that site, an

affordable senior housing project will, in my level of priorities,

exist there if for any reason Lower Bayview does not pan out for the

senior project.

It’s difficult in such a brief communication to explain the

complexities of this project, the competing state laws the city is

trying to follow, and the needs of our senior residents that we are

trying to meet. I hope I have conveyed the balancing act the city has

had to do with this project, and that our citizens will recognize

that due consideration was given to all issues, even if they may not

agree with the final outcome. For my sense, this is a very

responsible and most importantly, an exemplary project.

* STEVE BROMBERG is the mayor of Newport Beach.