Voters to weigh in on potential higher densities

Voters finally will get a chance to weigh in on zoning changes to allow densities up to 30 units per acre on properties identified by the City Council as potential sites for affordable housing, making next year’s municipal election one of the most significant in city history.

On the ballot will be “yes” or “no” decisions for rezoning on 11 of 14 properties council placed on a list for higher density, multi-family housing to meet a state mandate. A total of 859 units would be allowed on 36.16 acres, including 30 acres on the city’s west-side.

Three of the 14 sites, totaling 16.85 acres for 168 allowable units, won’t be on the ballot, since a public vote is only required to increase residential densities to more than 10 units per acre under Measure B.

Measure B is the city’s Right-to-Vote ordinance, approved by voters in June 2006 by a 299-vote margin out of 13,543 cast. State officials view Measure B as a “constraint” to meeting an allotment of 2,039 housing units for the 2008-20014 reporting period.

The 2,039 units include 460 very low income, 371 low income, 412 moderate income and 796 above moderate income. The numbers are “a planning target and not a building quota, so long as the city provides sufficient sites and does not impose constraints to development,” such as a negative Measure B vote, according to a city staff report.

Altogether, the 14 properties could be developed with 1,027 multi-family units: 641 units on six sites totaling 21.4 acres (at 30 units per acre), 141 units on two sites totaling 7.09 acres (20 units per acre) and 245 units on six sites totaling 24.52 acres (10 units per acre).

Specific sites were listed in my Sept 15 column, a May 26 Yorba Linda Star legal ad, flyers mailed to residents within 2,000 feet of a proposed site and on the city website.

Originally, the state required the city to eliminate the Measure B constraint by the June 8, 2012, primary election, but that deadline was extended to the Nov. 6 general election, due to ballot expense, estimated at up to $128,500 in June and a modest $8,500 in November.

The city will pay all election-related costs, including for the portion of the voter pamphlet listing the zone changes and “for” and “against” arguments, as well as “anticipated” costs that “would be earmarked for a Measure B education program,” stated a city staff report.

The only other Measure B election was November 2010’s Measure Z to approve 30 units per acre on the 3.2 acre former Mitsubishi Motors site at Savi Ranch, losing by 197 votes out of 26,491 cast, despite unanimous council support.

The last time voters approved a ballot measure dealing with densities was in 1972, when the low-density General Plan was put to a vote and passed by 415 votes out of 4,219 cast.

A “no” vote next year would put the city’s housing plan “out of compliance” with state law, resulting in “potential consequences,” including litigation from affordable housing advocates, court sanctions and loss of local land use authority, a city report noted.

Also on the ballot will be three council seats, with Nancy Rikel and Mark Schwing eligible to run and Jim Winder ineligible due to the city’s three-term limit. Vote to identify the 14 sites for higher densities was 3-2, Rikel and Schwing opposed.

Economic development, high school, signs

Here are some updates with added insights into topics from past columns:

--Many of my recent columns have focused on activities of the city Redevelopment Agency and plans to revitalize Town Center, key elements in efforts to enhance the municipal economy and increase the city’s share of sales and property tax revenues.

Now, council has added a regional aspect to encouraging economic development by joining with surrounding cities and other groups in a North Orange County Economic Development Partnership, an idea in the works for the past year but formalized Oct. 4.

The partnership will facilitate “planning, coordination and implementation of economic development projects” and “development of a strategic plan for economic development efforts of regional importance and common benefit,” according to a city staff report.

Included in the partnership are Brea, Buena Park, Fullerton, La Habra, Placentia and Yorba Linda. Also involved are the county, the county Workforce Investment Board, Fullerton’s Chamber of Commerce, Cal State Fullerton, Edison and the Gas Company.

Partnership parties agreed the accord “is not intended to be a contract, does not create any mutual obligations and the parties agree that there shall be no legal sanctions available for its enforcement or for any alleged breach.”

One of eight findings from focus group discussions with stakeholders conducted for the partnership by Cal State’s Social Science Research Center states: “Affordable housing for low-end wage-earners and young professionals [is] needed in North Orange County, both to keep workers close to home and to keep young people in the area.”

--My Oct. 6 column reported council’s decision to deny a request from Friends Christian High School to buy the city-owned, 32-acre Bastanchury Road site intended for a 1,200-student campus or to add an “option to purchase” to the lease signed in March 2003.

Now, the leader of a neighborhood group once opposed to using the land for a high school says it’s “time to move forward with alternative uses for the site and to assess a substantial lease termination fee…for wasting the last eight years of the public’s time.”

Ken Charlton of Yorba Linda Residents for Appropriate Land Use has urged council to require the school to “immediately” begin construction on promised joint-use facilities for completion within 12 months or adjust the lease payments to $2.5 million annually.

“Nearly nine years of waiting is enough, and the site could be put to various uses which could possibly include ball fields, cultural facilities, parks, etc. that could be enjoyed by everyone, not the few involved with this school project,” Charlton e-mailed the council.

Charlton agreed to conditions added to the school’s use permit in 2005 but now says, “It is obvious that the promises made by the school to build the joint-use facilities cannot be met, and it appears they are without adequate funds to move forward with the project,” a claim that’s been denied by school officials.

--Council’s August vote to approve a $1.6 million contract to renovate 16 Savi Ranch signs without funding from benefiting businesses has drawn some negative comments.

Now, at an Oct. 4 meeting, council rebuffed more signage without business funding.

Landscape, lighting fees on property tax bills

Property tax bills are arriving in mailboxes, giving residents a good look at some of the costs of local government on a per-home basis, but while the bills list bond and user fee outlays separately, city, school and other agency taxes are lumped into the “basic levy.”

Yorba Linda’s portion of the basic levy will bring in about $12.8 million this fiscal year, nearly 48 percent of $27 million in expected revenues, a number that doesn’t include the city Redevelopment Agency’s $21 million in additional project area property tax income.

City property taxes are assessed on close to 22,000 parcels, including 21,119 single-family residential, 60 multi-family, two mobile home and 404 commercial/industrial.

In addition to the $12.8 million slice of the basic levy, the city will collect $6 million more in “special assessment user fees” to pay expenses for 5,665 street lights, 63 signalized intersections, 14 arterial landscape areas and six local landscape zones.

Unfortunately, the $6 million in user fees to be collected this year won’t cover all costs for the lighting and landscaping that contribute to Yorba Linda’s upscale image, as the city expects to kick in an extra $778,640 from general fund reserves to cover expenses.

The biggest shortfall, $566,940, is expected in the arterial landscaping area, with most homeowners paying $49.60 this year. Other deficits include $123,357 for local street lighting, with most paying $16.95, and $29,834 for arterial lighting, with most paying $1.31.

One of three traffic signal zones, which includes nearly all residential parcels and for which most owners will pay $5.88, expects a $25,611 deficit, and one of six landscape zones, with 241 homes in the Arroyo Cajon Drive area, anticipates a $32,878 shortfall.

Most homeowners in five landscape zones, with 13,453 of the city’s 21,119 single-family parcels, will pay the following fees: $82.55, $176.90, $272.83, $302.70 and $310.68. The sixth zone has 62 commercial parcels in Savi Ranch, with owners paying a total $19,984.

The city created a lighting district in 1979 and five separate landscape districts 1980-88 before consolidating all into one district in 1994, with a single user fee tacked onto each year’s property tax bill. Previously, expenses were paid from the city’s general fund.

The user fees can increase each year, based on a consumer price increase calculation, but a vote of property owners, which can be conducted by mail, is needed to further boost the dollars collected. A 2008 vote to hike arterial landscape fees $44 lost by a 3-1 margin.

A FINAL NOTE: Yorba Lindans who worry about man’s contribution to global climate change might rest a bit easier, due to a report from a city-hired environmental consultant.

An analysis prior to adoption of the 2008-2014 Housing Element, which identified 14 properties for rezoning to higher densities to allow 1,027 multi-family units, noted “the proposed project would result in less than significant impacts to global climate change.”

Also stated in the report: “Adoption of the Housing Element would result in greenhouse gas emissions of approximately 5.0 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent per service population,” which is “less than the…threshold of 6.6 [tons] per service population.”

High school, housing numbers raise questions

Readers lately have asked about Friends Christian High School and for clarification on the number of low-cost housing units mandated for the city under state law. Here’s the latest, as gleaned from recent City Council documents, discussions and actions:

First, council voted in closed-door session to reject a Friends Christian request to amend the lease between the school and city for the 32-acre campus located on city-owned land on the north side of Bastanchury Road, between Eureka and Casa Loma avenues.

The request, from school official Dan Duffy prior to the closed-door meeting, was for council to “consider allowing FCHS to purchase the land or add an amendment to the current lease to allow an option to purchase,” according to Aug. 16 meeting minutes.

During a later public portion of the meeting, Councilman John Anderson said the request was due to three reasons, including “the cash flow drain of $210,000 per quarter with a 3 percent increase per year,” after a resident sought information on the closed-door item.

Other reasons: “FCHS has met with high net worth people who desire ownership of the property before they commit to multi-million dollar grants, gifts, loans” and “numerous discussions with underwriters who…indicated that without any collateral to secure the loan, an extended...lease would not be adequate during the difficult economic downturn.”

Anderson added, “FCHS indicated they intend to live up to the lease even if the city does not agree to their request,” which the city didn’t in a 4-0 closed-door vote (Jim Winder absent).

During public comment at the Sept. 20 meeting, Duffy said that more than $14 million has been invested in the project to date, including $3.2 million in lease payments to the city. (The lease was signed March 2003 and payments began July 2007.)

The school’s website lists a scheduled opening in September 2013 for an ultimate 1,200 students. “Parents and students need not be Christian to attend FCHS, but parents must agree to support the school’s Christian philosophy of education and allow their children to personally accept the Christian faith,” the website states.

Second, housing numbers can be confusing, especially when individuals quoting the figures don’t accurately state the number of units mandated in the various categories.

Under state law, the Southern California Association of Governments is responsible for determining a “fair share” of housing allotments in this area, according to a June report from Community Development Director Steve Harris and Housing and Redevelopment Manager Pam Stoker.

“SCAG allocated the region’s 699,398 housing unit growth needs to each city and county through a process called the Regional Housing Needs Assessment,” they noted. The total for Yorba Linda in 2008-2014 is 2,039 new units.

The 2,039 units are divided into four categories: 460 for very low income, 371 for low income, 412 for moderate income and 796 for above moderate income.

A key statement in the Harris-Stoker report: “As the RHNA represents a planning target and not a building quota, so long as the city provides sufficient sites and does not impose constraints to development, the city is not required to construct the 2,039 units and is not penalized for falling short of its RHNA goals.”