Yorba Linda residents have run another developer out of town.
In November 2007, Simpson Housing Solutions came to the Redevelopment Agency with a proposal for a 32-unit affordable housing apartment complex on the east side of Richfield Road and asked for up to $9.3 million in financial assistance for the project.
After listening to almost 20 residents in opposition to the proposal, the City Council voted 4-0 Tuesday – with Councilwoman Jan Horton excusing herself because she owns property near the site – to deny an exclusive negotiating agreement with Simpson.
Residents opposed said the proposal mirrored on a smaller scale the City Council’s actions two years earlier when the city worked with developers on a redevelopment project for the entire Town Center area. Residents said the apartment complex proposed this time around was too dense at 10 units an acre. The $9.3 million also rankled residents.
Should this developer have been given the right to build the 32 unit affordable housing? The answer was no from the 20 people who complained, and I agree with them. Not for the fact that they/we should provide low income housing but for the fact if the developer wants to build low income housing why should the city have to pony up $9.3 million.
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{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
I think it’s important to clarify a couple of things on this issue:
1) The City Council (acting as the Redevelopment Agency Board of Directors) also said “no” to this proposal.
2) It wasn’t the council’s or city staff’s idea to bring this proposal forward. This was entirely the developer’s doing.
3) It was the Redevelopment Agency that was being asked to help pay for the project, not the City. (I know it’s a subtle difference but let’s try to be accurate.) Under state law, all redevelopment agencies have a legal obligation to provide money for low-income housing projects, so get used to the idea that the Yorba Linda Agency WILL be spending money on low-income housing projects in town. The challenge will be finding appropriate places to put them.
Mr. Fields,
Nothing wrong with pointing out the difference and i don’t think it’s subtle.
Thanks for your input
I think it should also be noted that if we dont want our city spending so much money on any one project that maybe we should use the land already available (strawberry fields). If we allow them to build on a larger site that we’ve identified and allow them to build more units then maybe they will need need less money? Something for us all to think about.
The residents of Yorba Linda should be ashamed of themselves. This community has one of the WORST cases of NYMBISM that I have ever seen and they really need a wake up call. I hope a developer takes it upon himself to sue the city and force them to comply to federal and state mandated laws governing affordable housing requirements.