Droves of foes delay low-cost home call

Deirdre Newman

A torrent of opposition against a low-income housing project in the

College Park neighborhood confronted Planning Commission members

Monday.

As of press time, the Planning Commission hadn’t voted on the

project proposed by Habitat for Humanity behind Harbor Center, where

Home Depot is located.

The project calls for five single-story and three two-story homes,

each with two-car garages and individual driveways. It would need a

general-plan amendment changing the land-use designations from

commercial and high-density residential to low-density residential.

Opposition to the project from the nearby College Park

neighborhood started even before the commission considered it Monday.

Opponents believe the project is too dense, will exacerbate an

already overcrowded parking situation and reduce property values.

They also oppose opening a sound wall at Wake Forest Road to allow

access to the site.

Most of the opponents have lived in the College Park neighborhood

for decades and don’t want their quality of life disturbed more than

the Harbor Center’s affects already have.

“We have overflow parking from a lot of affordable housing on the

other side of Wilson Street,” College Park resident Royellen Duffield

said. “We can’t park in front of our own homes.”

The few who spoke in favor of the project did not live in the

College Park neighborhood but admired Habitat for Humanity’s

commitment to affordable housing.

Habitat for Humanity is a nonprofit Christian housing ministry

that builds and sells affordable houses and loans money for the

mortgages to low-income families. The main criterion to qualify for a

house -- which varies with family size -- is that families can earn

between only 25% to 50% of the Orange County median income.

Most of the site where the homes would be built has served as a

buffer between the shopping center and the College Park residential

community.

The project meets the city’s residential-development standards and

design guidelines. An acoustical engineer found that noise from Home

Depot wasn’t significant to the neighborhood. The engineer also found

that opening a portion of the 14-foot-high sound wall will not cause

significant noise.

* DEIRDRE NEWMAN covers government. She may be reached at (949)

574-4221 or by e-mail at deirdre.newman@latimes.com.