Vote NO on Ballot MEASURE U – the Housing Element Update
Building Low income/affordable housing in the City of Encinitas, is an illusion. It is a shell game perpetrated by Building Industry Developers! Not just here in Encinitas, but throughout our entire State.
This demand for building additional housing, under the guise of creating much needed affordable housing is a product of State Legislators, with a little help from the BIA lobbyists, coming up with numerical demands in order to satisfy the need for affordable units. For example, the only way we are told that we can possibly supply low income housing is to build a minimum of 30 units/acre....30 units!!! A minimum of 3 stories which is being proposed at 33 feet; 37 feet for a peaked roof; allowing up to 42 feet for appendences, air conditioning units; antennas, etc., on roof tops! Current height under Prop A, is 30 feet.
So let’s look at what we are being asked to build in Encinitas: We are currently charged with building 1,140 low income/affordable units. The City Council has allotted additional units as a “buffer” to accommodate builders so that they can be assured of a profit. The City Council claims that a minimum of 15% of low income/affordable housing must be built on every development project in the City under this special Housing Element Overlay Zone. This overlay zone currently applies to 15 sites in our city. So what does this 15% mean exactly? And are these projects really going to produce 15% affordable units?
Well, what it means is, only 15% of the 1,140 low income/affordable housing units of all of these 30 unit/acre, 3 story plus units will actually be built. That will produce 171 affordable structures. The rest of this huge demand is a gift to developers who get to burden this City with high-density housing that is taller than that ever allowed under Prop A and our General Plan! If, these dimensions of 30 units/acre and 3 stories were created to support the development of low and affordable units – then why are 85% of the units that will be sold at market rate, which in Encinitas is $1 million plus, being allowed to build at this level? Why is the City allowing this exploitation of our communities? Because building at this level in order to accommodate low income/affordable housing is a fraud!
The designation of 30 units per acre came about because Encinitas is classified by the State as a “Metropolitan” area – because of our proximity to San Diego and the assumption that most of our residents work there.By any definition, we are a Suburb – and we should have that classification. The difference – the Overlay classification for a Suburb is 16 to 20 units/acre! At least somewhat tolerable, and does not require 33 to 37 feet in height! In fact, the State Housing development only requires 30’ in height! These proposed changes to our Housing Element also involve substantial changes to our Land Use Element under our General Plan – our City’sMaster Plan – our Constitution.
There’s more: Lots of Escape Mechanisms that allow developers to not build even the 15% affordable housing...at least not on their projects, for example, Alternative Sites and In Lieu Fees, affordable housing credits from another developer, and more. See Municipal Code, Chapter 30, sec. 30.41.080.
Got Traffic? If you think traffic is bad now? Traffic congestion will increase by thousands of car trips/day. Residential traffic is computed at 10 cars/day per household. Do the math, 1,600 units = 16,000 car trips/day. And if the number of units is realistically more like 2,000 units with density bonus of 35% = 20,000 car trips/day. I think we should ask ourselves, “Where’s the Infrastructure to support this?” Roads, new schools, public transportation?
This was not a Transparent Site selection process. Last minute removal of site L-7 - 9 acres owned by us, the taxpayers, was removed by Council members Kranz, Muir, and Mosca – which meant scrambling by the Cityto finding and assigning subpar housing site replacements, creating chaos among the communities.
Most of all, if you vote Yes on Measure U – our Right to Vote in future housing cycles is in jeopardy – the City is deliberately vague in their language on Right to Vote protections! Prop.A – the Right to Vote proposition requires a vote if density and/or height of any structure (not just buildings) would exceed zoning and the City Code. Height is restricted to 30 feet. Prop A also determines how height is measured – from the
lowest of the finished or natural grade. This means a developer may pad up, but cannot begin measuring height from the top of the pad, assuming it is higher than natural grade.
This Housing Element requirement is an Unfunded Mandate from the State, and we will be on a perpetual treadmill to build, build, build. Think your community has escaped high density? San Diego County is beingtold we need to build 171,000 houses in the next Housing Element Update cycle in 2021.
There is nothing to be gained here. VOTE NO on Measure U.
Sheila S. Cameron
former Mayor of Encinitas
www.VoteNOonU.com
