Council To Consider Major Change To Berrellesa Palms Project Wednesday

A controversial downtown housing development is scheduled to be discussed by the City Council Wednesday night, and the debate is sure to be lively from both the public and among the members of the council.

The Berrellesa Palms project is a 49 unit apartment complex at 310 Berrellesa Street, on what is now an unpopulated industrial site. It was approved by the Planning Commission in 2009, over the objections of opponents who said the project had more units than allowed by the Downtown Specific Plan, among other things. The City Council upheld the commission’s decision, and opponents took the matter to court, but the court ruled in favor of the city.

The project was originally intended for moderate to very low income seniors age 55 and over. However, the developer, Resources for Community Development, has had trouble obtaining financing for the project. According to a staff report from planner Cory Simon, several attempts by RCD to win federal HUD grants to finance the project have been unsuccessful.

However, RCD believes that there is a better chance to win a HUD grant if the tenant population is changed to very low-income seniors who require assisted living.

The change in tenant population has met with a mixed reaction from the city council.

“I’m not happy with the change,” said Mayor Rob Schroder. “That’s not a tenancy I want to see there. When we approved this project, I always had the dream of people coming in and living and shopping downtown, and that would attract businesses. Assisted living folks won’t be getting out much. I’m afraid this is not the location for this particular population.”

But he added that there may be nothing the city can do to prevent the change.

“There are state and federal housing laws,” he said.  “I don’t know how that interfaces with our conditions of approval.”

Councilman Mike Menesini said there should be no problem directing RCD to go back to the drawing board.

“They’re proposing a use contrary to what the city approved,” Menesini said. “We’re looking for a catalyst for economic improvement downtown, and to provide housing for those who would otherwise have a hard time finding it. If someone said ‘let me put up a building and make it apartments,’ and then wants to turn around and make it into a glue factory, you just can’t do that.”

But councilwoman Janet Kennedy believes the project should go forward exactly as it’s now being proposed.

“We approved an affordable senior housing project, and it’s still an affordable senior housing project,” she said. “It’s not up to the council to decide how someone finances a project. The seniors that were going to be there are ok, but these seniors are not? I work in fair housing, and I think we’d better be careful.”

Councilwoman Lara DeLaney, who opposed the original project, said she will listen to the new proposal, “but my gut instinct tells me ‘no.’”

Councilman Mark Ross said he will also listen to the proposal, but believes that no matter what is decided by the council, the matter will likely wind up in court again.

The council meets Wednesday at 7 p.m. in the City Hall Council Chambers, 525 Henrietta Street.