Housing ahead of schedule

Barbara Diamond

Somewhere, the late Alice Graves is smiling.

Housing for low-income renters, for which Graves relentlessly

lobbied while chair of the city’s Human Affairs and Affordable

Housing Committee, may be available sooner than expected.

The affordable housing project on Glenneyre Street is well ahead

of the April 2004 completion date projected when the City Council

approved it in February.

“Now we think it may be ready by January or February,” said

William Witte, principal in the development firm of Related Companies

of California and a Laguna Beach resident.

No glitches in the project have been reported, city building

official John Gustafson said, which may account for the speedy

construction. Builders have not had to go back and redo anything, to

date.

“I don’t want to put words in his mouth, but Building Inspector

Chuck Hooten told me the contractor is doing a great job,” Gustafson

said.

When completed, the project will have 26 affordable housing units,

one manager’s apartment and 49 parking spaces, 22 of them earmarked

for the public. The developer will manage and maintain the property,

which was designed to reflect the city’s Craftsman-style

architecture.

More units per square foot of property and fewer private parking

spaces than the city norm were approved under special circumstances

permitted as incentives for the construction of low-cost housing.

The project is on the site of the old Ahimsa Building, formerly a

nursing home and more recently a haven for cats displaced when the

Bluebell Foundation was damaged.

It was purchased by the city about six years ago, mostly with

contributions from the developers of Treasure Island to the

Affordable Housing In-lieu Fund. Developers pay into the fund in

place of including affordable housing in their projects.

Related Companies of California, developer of numerous affordable

housing projects, was chosen by the council from bids submitted to

the city.

Residency will be restricted to renters with incomes designated as

“low” by the county, about $21,000 to $22,000 this year. Rents will

be based on the county’s income standards: figured in February to be

$529 a month for 23 of the units and $480 a month for the remaining

six units.

Affordable housing is mandated by the state. However, the cost of

building in coastal zone makes affordable housing projects a rarity,

City Manager Ken Frank said.

Witte said that if he wasn’t a Laguna Beach resident, his company

probably would have passed on the project.

“It is a small project, without a lot of profit for the owner,”

Witte said.

The developer will pay the city $1 per year for 55 years.

Funding for the Laguna Beach project has come from the city, the

county and the state.

The city will invest $665,163 in the project, which includes a

$192,163 loan from the county, but not the $675,000 the city paid for

the property or the $815,000 the city will pay for its parking

spaces.

All told, that comes to $2,155,163.

The city will make up the cost among the parking fund, which will

pay for the 22 public parking spaces, considered to be separate

project form the affordable housing; the Housing In-lieu, which will

loan the project $348,000 toward construction costs; the county’s

$192,163 pass-through; and the city insurance fund, which will pay

$125,000 for a policy premium to cap the costs of hazardous materials

insurance.