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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCORRESPONDENCE - 11AOrozco, Norma From: Yuriana Velasco <yvelasco@live.com> Sent: Tuesday, December 15, 2020 9:36 AM To: eComment Subject: Item 11A Good morning, I am asking City Council members to please put a hold on item 11A, the Northgate Housing Development, until an in - person community meeting can happen. At the in person meeting (attended last year on this topic, the community communicated a need for more affordable housing. As someone who lives and works in Santa Ana, I see the need for affordable housing for current residents. Listen to the community and meet their needs. Sincerely, Yuriana December 15, 2020 Mayor Sarmiento and City Council City of Santa Ana 20 Civic Center Plaza Santa Ana, CA 92701 LA—nNO RE: 11A OPPOSITION: 4th and Mortimer (Northgate) Mixed — Use Development AHE`F CH Dear Mayor and City Councilmembers: LJ Latino Health Access (LHA) works with community residents to support physical, emotional, 450 West Fourth Street and social wellbeing. Our goal is to facilitate opportunities for residents to take ownership of Suite 130 their wellbeing, including by participating civically in decisions that affect their health like the Santa Ana, CA 92701 development of projects that will directly impact them. We urge you today to stop the Ph: 714-542-7792 process of the development on 41h and Mortimer (Northgate) and listen to the community's Fax: 714-542-4853 feedback. We at LHA have partnered with Northgate Gonzalez in a variety of projects to latinohealthaccess.org bring resources to our community, and are extremely grateful fortheir partnership and dedication. In this instance, we would like to see the developers listen to and incorporate the community's input into the project in a meaningful way before moving forward. Community Input The last in person community meeting for this development was the Sunshine Ordinance Meeting held on August 29, 2018; there was a large community presence with nearly 100 Santa Ana residents in attendance. The majority of the residents in attendance were of the Lacy neighborhood and live a walking distance from the proposed project site. Atthis meeting there was overwhelming community opposition to the proposed project as presented. Residents expressed that the proposed development was inconsistent with the needs of the neighborhood. The large residential development would replace their fresh food source, Northgate Gonzalez Market, with new residential units with rents that are out of reach for the neighborhood's working class community. Residents expressed their community's needs for housing that would be affordable to families with extremely -low and very -low incomes. The proposed development must include affordable housing on site. Santa Ana Community Needs The City of Santa Ana is a renter majority city and despite the City's progress towards meeting its Regional Housing Needs Assessment (RHNA) allocation for very low and low income housing there continues to be a great need for housing that is affordable to its residents. The current pandemic has increased the economic and housing pressures on low- income families in Santa Ana. As incomes are decreasing and jobs are being lost, many low income families are struggling to remain housed. This is especially true forthe majority of Santa Ana's low-income households that are suffering with the impacts of housing cost and economic uncertainty. While the city has seen increased production of affordable housing it has not been enough to address the past deficits and growing needs for affordable housing based on the population's housing needs and incomes of residents in Santa Ana. As an example, according to the City's local data, 80 percent of Santa Ana renters are moderate, low and very low-income renters. Yet the most significant increase of housing has been in the above moderate housing category. The City's above moderate allocation is 90 units for the current RHNA planning period. To date, the City has approved 2,409 above moderate income units. PREVENTION EDUCATION ACTION This means that the City has exceeded its above moderate income RHNA allocation by 2,677 percent, per the City's RHNA Annual Progress Report submitted to the CA Department of Housing and Community Development. With above moderate average rents of $2000 — $4000 in these developments, none of these above market rent units are affordable to most of Santa Ana's working families. Since 80% of renters in Santa Ana fall into the moderate, low and very low income category and 84 percent of residents hold low-income occupations that pay less than $53,500 peryear, the majority of these new rental housing units are not available to address the housing needs of most working families in Santa Ana. Santa Ana's households are predominantly families comprising 81%of households. These households are also rent burdened and live in overcrowded conditions. Proposed Project The proposed Northgate Gonzalez Real Estate project fails to help address the housing needs for lower income families that live in the surrounding Lacy neighborhood community, one of the neighborhoods with a high population of lower income families. This development needs to provide affordable housing to help address existing housing needs and mitigate the gentrification and displacement that its project will create. The Northgate Gonzalez Real Estate team cannot claim that this development will serve the Santa Ana residents without including housing that will be affordable to families with extremely -low and very -low incomes. Latino Health Access is in strong opposition to this project as proposed and we urge you to reject this project until on -site affordable housing is included. The proposed project needs to articulate how the developer and its partners will help address the critical affordable housing needs of residents in the Lacy neighborhood and in the City of Santa Ana. Sincerely, Nancy Mejia, MPH, MSW Chief Program Officer PREVENTION EDUCATION ACTION Orozco, Norma From: David Carbajal <davidcarbajaltorres@gmail.com> Sent: Tuesday, December 15, 2020 1:38 PM To: eComment Subject: NO ON AGENDA ITEM 11A Good Afternoon, My name is David Carbajal, life-long resident of Santa Ana and I am writing this email to the city council to adamantly oppose the Northgate development. At a time of immense financial hardship for Santa Ana residents, I urge you to reconsider the approval of the Northgate development. In 2018, over 100 people crowded the public meeting Northgate had with the community and it was very evident that the consensus was that this development DOES NOT MEET THE NEEDS OF OUR COMMUNITY. In the midst of a pandemic, approving a luxury development is irresponsible of the city council. If this national catastrophe has taught us anything is that housing is important to our health, do not continue burdening Santa Ana with developments the people of Santa Ana cannot afford to live in. Only one community meeting has been had regarding this development. Do the right thing. Do not move forward with this development until the appropriate community input has been considered Regards, David December 15. 2020 Mayor Sarmiento and City Councilmembers City of Santa Ana 20 Civic Center Plaza P.O. Bo 1988, M31 Santa Ana,CA 92701 RE: 11A OPPOSITION: 4th and Mortimer (Northgate) Mixed — Use Development Dear City Councilmembers: Vecindario Lacy en Accion (VeLA) is a group of residents from the Lacy neighborhood that have united to advocate for their community. The group includes: mothers, fathers, students, individuals with special abilities and community leaders that share the vision of improving the quality of life in their neighborhood and the city of Santa Ana. All with the purpose of creating more opportunities for families to succeed. We request that you oppose the 4th and Mortimer (Northgate) Mixed - Use Development project. This project threatens our ability to stay housed in our neighborhood. Communityput The last in person community meeting for this development was the Sunshine Ordinance Meeting held on August 29, 2018; there was a large community presence with nearly 100 Santa Ana residents in attendance. The majority of the residents in attendance were of the Lacy neighborhood and live a walking distance from the proposed project site. At this meeting there was overwhelming community opposition to the proposed project as presented. Residents expressed that the proposed development was inconsistent with the needs of the neighborhood. The large residential development would replace their fresh food source, Northgate Gonzalez Market, with new residential units with rents that are out of reach for the neighborhood's working class community. Residents expressed their community's needs for housing that would be affordable to families with extremely -low and very -low incomes. The proposed development must include affordable housing on site. Santa Ana Community Needs The City of Santa Ana is a renter majority city and despite the City's progress towards meeting its Regional Housing Needs Assessment (RHNA) allocation for very low and low income housing there continues to be a great need for housing that is affordable to its residents. The current pandemic has increased the economic and housing pressures on low-income families in Santa Ana. As incomes are decreasing and jobs are being lost, many low income families are struggling to remain housed. This is especially true for the majority of Santa Ana's low-income households that are suffering with the impacts of housing cost and economic uncertainty. While the city has seen increased production of affordable housing it has not been enough to address the past deficits and growing needs for affordable housing based on the population's housing needs and incomes of residents in Santa Ana. As an example, according to the City's local data, 80 percent of Santa Ana renters are moderate, low and very low-income renters. Yet the most significant increase of housing has been in the above moderate housing category. The City's above moderate allocation is 90 units for the current RHNA planning period. To date, the City has approved 2,409 above moderate income units. This means that the City has exceeded its above moderate income RHNA allocation by 2,677 percent, per the City's RHNA Annual Progress Report submitted to the CA Department of Housing and Community Development. With above moderate average rents of $2000 - $4000 in these developments, none of these above market rent units are affordable to most of Santa Ana's working families. Since 80% of renters in Santa Ana fall into the moderate, low and very low income category and 84 percent of residents hold low-income occupations that pay less than $53,500 per year, the majority of these new rental housing units are not available to address the housing needs of most working families in Santa Ana. Santa Ana's households are predominantly families comprising 81% of households. These households are also rent burdened and live in overcrowded conditions. Proposed Project The proposed Northgate Gonzalez Real Estate project fails to help address the housing needs for lower income families that live in the surrounding Lacy neighborhood community, one of the neighborhoods with a high population of lower income families. This development needs to provide affordable housing to help address existing housing needs and mitigate the gentrification and displacement that its project will create. The Northgate Gonzalez Real Estate team cannot claim that this development will serve the Santa Ana residents without including housing that will be affordable to families with extremely -low and very -low incomes. Vecindario Lacy en Accion is in strong opposition to this project as proposed and we urge you to reject this project until on -site affordable housing is included. The proposed project needs to articulate how the developer and its partners will help address the critical affordable housing needs of residents in the Lacy neighborhood and in the City of Santa Ana. Sincerely, Vecindario Lacy en Accion (VeLA) Orozco, Norma From: maricela7720 <maricela7720@gmail.com> Sent: Tuesday, December 15, 2020 3:55 PM To: eComment Subject: PROYECTO NORTHGATE Buenas tardes!!!! Mi nombre es Maricela Castro y soy Residente de Santa Ana vivo en el distrito 2 , Mi comentario es en oposicion al punto 11A . Este projecto no es Io que necesita nuestra cuidad Santa Ana necesita vivienda asequible y no de lujo. Y este proyecto no atiende las necesidades de la comunidad. Ademas el proyecto solo va contribuir al desplazamiento de nuestra comunidad que hemos visto en los ultimos anos , Les pedimos No aprueben este proyecto hasta que se incluya la vivienda asequible en el lugar. Pedimos ayude a resolver las necesidades criticas de vivienda asequible de los residentes en el vecindario de lacy y en la cuidad de santa Ana. SINCERAMENTE : Maricela Castro Sent from my T-Mobile 4G LTE Device 1 Orozco, Norma From: Wanda Martinez <martinez.irlanda92@gmail.com> Sent: Tuesday, December 15, 2020 4:02 PM To: eComment Subject: SA City Council 12/15/2020 Meeting Comments Good afternoon, My name is Irlanda Martinez and I am a resident of Ward 3. I am submitting my comments on several items for today's meeting below: • Item 55A: o I fully support the approval of the loan agreement with Legacy Square. However, I think that this project is a testimony to the importance of the Housing Opportunity Ordinance and how effective it is in generating funds for affordable housing. With that said, I would like to encourage the council to eventually revisit the decrease that was approved for the HOO. Our families need affordable housing and the HOO was a very effective way to generate funds to support that. • Item 65A: o I think that this report is a great way to start the conversation, but I would like to encourage the council to take police oversight very seriously. It is clear - based on the results of this study - that residents do not feel safe or satisfied with the police in our community and, given that an obscene amount of money goes to the police department, it would be negligent not to take this matter very seriously. Council needs to take the actions of the police very seriously and has to fully support the explicit accountability of our police officers. • Item IIA: o I would like to express my disapproval for this project, as it has been opposed by the community multiple times already. This proposed project fails to address the housing needs for extremely low and low income families in the community it would be built. The City has already approved multiple luxury apartment buildings and needs to shift its focus towards affordable housing - especially in this community. Thank you for your time. I look forward to attending tonight's meeting. Irlanda Martinez B.A. Economics, Labor Studies minor University of California, Santa Barbara 2015 December 15, 2020 www.kennedycommis ion.org 17701 Cowan Ave., Suite 200 Honorable Mayor Vicente Sarmiento City of Santa Ana Councilmembers 20 Civic Center Plaza Santa Ana, CA 92701 RE: Agenda Item 11A ADOPT ORDINANCE NO. NS-XXXX - AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL APPROVING AMENDMENT APPLICATION NO. 2020-04 MODIFYING THE SUB -ZONING DESIGNATION OF THE PROPERTIES LOCATED AT 501, 507, 509, 515, AND 519 EAST FOURTH STREET AND THOSE AT 502, 506, 510, 514, 520 EAST FIFTH STREET FROM SPECIFIC DEVELOPMENT NO. 94, URBAN NEIGHBORHOOD 2 (UN-2) SUB -ZONE, TO THE URBAN CENTER (UC) SUB -ZONE Dear Mayor and City Council Members: The Kennedy Commission (the Commission) is a broad based coalition of residents and community organizations that advocates for the production of homes affordable for families earning less than $27,000 annually in Orange County. Formed in 2001, the Commission has been successful in partnering and working with Orange County jurisdictions to create effective housing and land -use policies that has led to the new construction of homes affordable to lower income working families. The Commission writes this letter to provide context on the community's and its opposition to the 4"' and Mortimer Mixed — Use Development (Item I IA). Community Input The last in person community meeting for this development was the Sunshine Ordinance Meeting held on August 29, 2018; there was a large community presence with over 50 residents in attendance. The majority of the residents in attendance were of the Lacy neighborhood and live a walking distance from the proposed project site. At this meeting there was overwhelming community opposition to the proposed project as presented. Residents expressed that the proposed development was inconsistent with the needs of the neighborhood. The large residential development would replace their fresh food source, Northgate Gonzalez Market, with new residential with rents that are out of reach for the neighborhood's working class community. Santa Ana Community Needs Zhe City of Santa Ana is a renter majority city and despite the City's progress towards meeting its Regional Housing Needs Assessment (RIINA) allocation for very low and low income housing there continues to be a great need for housing that is affordable to its residents. The current pandemic has increased the economic and housing pressures on low-income families in Santa Ana. As incomes are decreasing and jobs are being lost, many low income families are struggling to remain housed. This is especially true for the majority of Santa Ana's low-income households that are suffering with the impacts of housing cost and economic uncertainty. While the city has seen increased production of affordable housing it has not been enough to address the past deficits and growing needs for affordable housing based on the population's housing needs and incomes of residents in Santa Ana. As an example, according to the City's Irvine. CA 92614 local data, 80 percent of Santa Ana renters are moderate, low and very low-income renters., Yet the most significant increase of housing has been in the above moderate housing category. The City's above moderate allocation is 90 units for the current RHNA planning period. To date, the City has approved 2,409 above moderate income units. This means that the City has exceeded its's above moderate income RHNA allocation by 2,677 percent, per the City's RHNA Annual Progress Report submitted to the CA Department of Housing and Community Development.2 With above moderate average rents of $2000 - $4000 in these developments, none of these above market rent units are affordable to most of Santa Ana's working families'. Since 80% of renters in Santa Ana fall into the moderate, low and very low income category and 84 percent of residents hold low-income occupations that pay less than $53,500 per year, the majority of these new rental housing units are not available to address the housing needs of most working families in Santa Ana. 4 Santa Ana's households are predominantly families comprising 8 1 % of households'. These households are also rent burdened and live in overcrowded conditions6. Proposed Project The proposed Northgate Gonzalez Real Estate fails to help address the housing needs for lower income families that live in the surrounding Lacy neighborhood community, one of the neighborhoods with a high population of lower income families. This development is requesting incentives and concessions beyond what the owner is allowed to build under its current general plan zoning. If approve this development needs to provide affordable housing to help address existing housing needs and mitigate the gentrification and displacement that its project will create. The proposed project is requesting incentives, concessions and zoning amendments that make it subject to the City of Santa Ana Housing Opportunities Ordinance and State Density Bonus Law. The proposed project needs to articulate how the developer and its partners will help address the critical affordable housing needs of residents in the Lacy neighborhood and in the City of Santa Ana. The Commission looks forward to partnering with the City and Northgate Gonzalez Real Estate to increase affordable home opportunities for lower income households in the City. Please keep us informed of any updates and meetings regarding strategies to increase affordable homes for lower income households in the City. If you have any questions, please free to contact me at (949) 250-0909 or cesarc@kennedycommission.org. ' City of Santa Ana General Plan Housing Element 2014-2021, p. 14, January 2014. City of Santa Ana Housing Element Progress Report 2019, April 2020 ' Rent survey of recent market rate developments - The Marke, Essex Skyline and Broadstone Arden 4 City of Santa Ana General Plan Housing Element 2014-2021, p. 12 and 14, January 2014. s (City of Santa Ana General Plan Housing Element 2014 — 2021 page 11) e (City of Santa Ana General Plan Housing Element 2014 — 2021 page 20) Page 2 of 3 Sincerely, Cesar Covarrubias Executive Director Page 3 of 3