Item 19 - Cabrillo Crossing Density Bonus Agreement, 1814 & 1818 E. First Street

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Cabrillo Crossing Density Bonus Agreement, 1814 & 1818 East First Street August 16, 2022 Page 5 Law was adopted in 1979 and has since been amended at various times. Recent revisions allow affordable housing developers to request incentives/concessions and/or waivers for affordable or mixed -income developments, even if they do not require a numerical density bonus. Moreover, in early 2017, the law was amended to restrict the ability of local jurisdictions to require studies to "justify" the density bonus and requested incentives/waivers and places the onus on local jurisdictions to prove that the incentives/concessions or waivers are not financially warranted. Analysis of the Issues Section 41-1607 of the Santa Ana Municipal Code requires an application for a density bonus agreement containing "deviations" (incentives/concessions and/or waivers) to have been recommended by the Planning Commission and approved by the City Council. The following subsections analyze the applicant's request for both the Density Bonus Agreement application. The MEMU regulating plan requires that publicly -accessible open space be provided along main street -facing fagades. Because the project has frontage on only one street, meeting this requirement would result in the building being placed back significantly from First Street. Requiring this development standard would result in designating the first 1/4 of the site's depth as a front yard setback, resulting in the developer reducing the number of units or reducing the square footage for private or common open space area. Moreover, in order to maintain the current proposed unit count, the developer would be required to construct additional levels, resulting in a different type of construction (steel-frame/Type I versus wood/Type III), further increasing development costs. If the publicly accessible open space standard were applied as written, the result would be a significant loss of units and parking area. Placing the building back would also result in the development not contributing to an urban, walkable environment. The Applicant designed the community so that each unit contains ample onsite private open space as a tradeoff for placing the building closer to the street and by providing a commercial component along First Street that will activate the street frontage. When analyzed cumulatively, the requested concession could be avoided if the project were constructed using a different site plan and building type. If the project were designed with a multi -level parking and/or subterranean parking structure, or if the applicant used different building materials (non-combustible, Type 1) to construct a taller project, additional area on site would become available to provide the publicly -accessible open space. However, these changes would increase development costs, resulting in the affordable housing project becoming financially infeasible due to the significantly - increased financial implications of using Type I construction. Affordable Housing Opportunity and Creation Ordinance The proposed development is subject to the requirements of the City's Affordable Housing Opportunity and Creation Ordinance (AHOCO), which allows developments in the Metro