Measure Z defeat presents housing challenge
The Measure Z defeat in the November election presents this city’s elected leaders with quite a challenge: where to locate hundreds of state-mandated affordable housing units?
In a rare instance of harmony, the five feuding City Council members supported Z, with the non-profit group seeking the measure’s approval raising the only money spent in the campaign, for mailers, street signs and paid voter guide endorsements.
But voters, by a slim 197-vote margin, defeated Z, 13,344 to 13,147. The tally was the closest vote on any of the 14 measures submitted to voters in the city’s 43-year history.
A favorable Z vote, as explained in my Sept. 23 column, would have allowed council to rezone a 3.2-acre Savi Ranch parcel, once home to a Mitsubishi dealership, for up to 30 units per acre of affordably priced apartments with heights up to 45 feet.
Z was the city’s first-ever Measure B vote. B requires a public vote on certain density-level changes above 10 units per acre and heights above 35 feet and was approved by a 299-vote margin in June 2006 in the city’s single costliest campaign ($174,150) to date.
National Community Renaissance, which rebuilt143 affordable units at Arbor Villas and Villa Plumosa, both on Plumosa Drive, paid about $8,500 for election costs and, through Oct.16, spent $22,738 promoting a “yes” vote. The next expense report is due Jan. 31.
A new apartment community would have involved from 20-27 units per acre or 64-86 units, according to John Seymour, the developer’s acquisitions vice president. Priority would have been given to low- to moderate-income Yorba Linda families and seniors.
The Savi parcel was one of 13 the council identified for potential rezoning to 10, 20 and 30 units per acre on a 5-0 vote last year. Two are in Savi Ranch and 11 on the west-side.
One argument council members cited for a “yes” vote at Savi was “to keep work-force, affordable housing away from our low-density residential areas,” so favorable votes on increasing density in other areas in the city are even less likely to be achieved.
Certainly, council will have to make some affordable housing decisions before the 2012 election, when seats held by Nancy Rikel, Mark Schwing and Jim Winder will be on the ballot. Rikel and Schwing can run for re-election, but Winder is termed-out.
Affordable housing advocates, known to be keeping an eye on Yorba Linda, could seek court intervention on density issues, and they also could challenge Measure B’s legality.
While the Measure Z tally was the closest of any ballot measure since city incorporation in 1967, the Measure Y ethics ordinance won by the largest margin ever attained, 85.1 to 14.9 percent (22,415 to 3,937).
The next-highest “yes” margin was for Measure BB, which outlawed the use of eminent domain for economic development throughout the city, in November 2008. “Yes” votes won 79 to 21 percent (24,665 to 6,572).
In a rare instance of harmony, the five feuding City Council members supported Z, with the non-profit group seeking the measure’s approval raising the only money spent in the campaign, for mailers, street signs and paid voter guide endorsements.
But voters, by a slim 197-vote margin, defeated Z, 13,344 to 13,147. The tally was the closest vote on any of the 14 measures submitted to voters in the city’s 43-year history.
A favorable Z vote, as explained in my Sept. 23 column, would have allowed council to rezone a 3.2-acre Savi Ranch parcel, once home to a Mitsubishi dealership, for up to 30 units per acre of affordably priced apartments with heights up to 45 feet.
Z was the city’s first-ever Measure B vote. B requires a public vote on certain density-level changes above 10 units per acre and heights above 35 feet and was approved by a 299-vote margin in June 2006 in the city’s single costliest campaign ($174,150) to date.
National Community Renaissance, which rebuilt143 affordable units at Arbor Villas and Villa Plumosa, both on Plumosa Drive, paid about $8,500 for election costs and, through Oct.16, spent $22,738 promoting a “yes” vote. The next expense report is due Jan. 31.
A new apartment community would have involved from 20-27 units per acre or 64-86 units, according to John Seymour, the developer’s acquisitions vice president. Priority would have been given to low- to moderate-income Yorba Linda families and seniors.
The Savi parcel was one of 13 the council identified for potential rezoning to 10, 20 and 30 units per acre on a 5-0 vote last year. Two are in Savi Ranch and 11 on the west-side.
One argument council members cited for a “yes” vote at Savi was “to keep work-force, affordable housing away from our low-density residential areas,” so favorable votes on increasing density in other areas in the city are even less likely to be achieved.
Certainly, council will have to make some affordable housing decisions before the 2012 election, when seats held by Nancy Rikel, Mark Schwing and Jim Winder will be on the ballot. Rikel and Schwing can run for re-election, but Winder is termed-out.
Affordable housing advocates, known to be keeping an eye on Yorba Linda, could seek court intervention on density issues, and they also could challenge Measure B’s legality.
While the Measure Z tally was the closest of any ballot measure since city incorporation in 1967, the Measure Y ethics ordinance won by the largest margin ever attained, 85.1 to 14.9 percent (22,415 to 3,937).
The next-highest “yes” margin was for Measure BB, which outlawed the use of eminent domain for economic development throughout the city, in November 2008. “Yes” votes won 79 to 21 percent (24,665 to 6,572).
posted by Jim Drummond at 12:00 PM
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