BusHsgDev Highlights 2011 0414 - Laserfiche WebLink

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• The City Council approved needed "clean-up" amendments to the Zoning Code on March 21, 2011. The amendments include implementation of the State- mandated SB2 Fair Share Zoning Law, related to homeless shelters, and making needed adjustments to the 2007 adoption of the Downtown Area (DA) use and parking regulations. SB2 requires that every city and county identify zones, in their Housing Elements and Zoning Codes, where emergency homeless shelters are allowed without a conditional use permit or other discretionary permit. Also, several minor edits were necessary after the adoption of the TOD Strategy and the related DA Zoning Districts in 2007. These minor Zoning modifications include allowance of new uses downtown such as "Animal Grooming" and "Animal Sales," making "Cafes" an outright permitted use instead of the existing use permit requirement, and minimizing or removing restrictive "Office, Business and Professional" use requirements. • The owner /operator of the Bal Theatre submitted a planning application in February to modify his existing use permit. The applicant is seeking approval primarily for additional entertainment uses beyond the existing use permit as well as revisions to current hours of operation. Staff is currently reviewing the application and preparing to present the proposal to the Board of Zoning Adjustments in early May 2011 for a work session and then a public hearing in the following month. • Construction of Phase I for Kaiser Permanente Medical Center is still underway. Building of the basement slab and walls of the hospital continues, with completion expected in April. Work on the utility installation, both on site and in the street, has also begun. - •' ^Y {r' .Y n C Si.'1. R 't.IfA 7i y a hl:. ifti Y . Housing andCDBG ° ..' • The City Council and Redevelopment Agency approved a $50,000 Housing Set -Aside loan to the nonprofit developer Eden Housing Inc. and extended the affordability period of the existing City regulatory agreement from 2015 to 2030. The $50,000 loan helped Eden Housing assume ownership of the Las Palmas Apartment, a 91 unit complex for primarily low and very low income renters located at 15370 Tropic Court. Las Palmas had been previously owned by the nonprofit Citizens Housing Corporation, which purchased and rehabilitated the building in the late 1990s and is preparing to dissolve. Citizens Housing has been transferring its affordable housing inventory to reputable nonprofit developers such as Eden Housing. • Parkside Commons Apartments, a 300 unit complex, located at 900 143rd Avenue ended its affordable housing regulatory agreement with the City upon payoff of its multifamily mortgage revenue bond in March 2011. The property owner did not express to the City any desire to continue or voluntarily extend the affordability restrictions. The bond was originally issued in the mid -1980s and affordability restrictions were then placed on a minimum of 60 units targeting primarily low income renters. • Redevelopment Agency staff served on a panel at the Annual California Redevelopment Association Conference in San Jose on March 30. The panel was titled "Penance with a Purpose: Responding to the California Senate Report on the Use of Housing Funds." 4 l