Proposed affordable housing project in Lodi draws opposition
Prominent winery owner and philanthropist John Kautz thought he had come up with a housing project that Lodi would welcome with open arms to combat homelessness, but residents this week said his proposal was not fit for their neighborhood.
Kautz has proposed a three-story, 24-unit affordable housing development on the corner of Central Avenue and Tokay Street that he said would give those living on Lodi’s streets a chance to turn their lives around.
The project, proposed to be sited on a vacant lot at 820 S. Central Ave., was presented to the city’s Site Planning and Architectural Review Commission at its Wednesday meeting.
The building would contain eight one-bedroom apartments on each floor, and each unit would have a kitchen, living and dining space and a bathroom. Kautz has also proposed 16 parking spaces on the site, of which 12 would be covered by a carport located at the rear of the building.
However, about a dozen residents who live in the immediate area claimed the project would not benefit Lodi, but rather attract more homelessness, more traffic and more crime.
In an email to the city’s community development department and read by administrative assistant Kari Chadwick during the meeting, Juan Ochoa said the project would be a disaster.
“Traffic on the corner of Tokay and Central is already bad,” he said. “With the addition of 24 apartments, it will be worse. With such a small place and lots of people, the amount of crime and violence will be a problem. I’m not against this project, but I am against the size. I believe Central and Tokay deserve better than this. I believe the citizens of Lodi should be respected. I don’t believe this type of unit would be approved in the west side of town.”
Ochoa said 24 units on the property was unacceptable, and that reducing the footprint to eight units would be a better fit for the area.
Imran Khan, a neighbor and business owner in the area, agreed in an email sent to the city.
“As resident, don't want this project to go forward as this neighbor
hood is getting progressively worse by the day,” he wrote. “I understand the need for housing, but this 'affordable' housing is not going to help our neighborhood in any way. The area is extremely crowded, and this project will not do anything to help this area but attract more people.”
Commission members supported Kautz’s initiative to provide affordable housing in the neighborhood, but said its design was not consistent with the surrounding area.
The building would have taupe stucco walls and asphalt shingle roof tiles in a neighborhood consisting of mostly brick and wood structures, commissioners said. In addition, the commission said many of the roof tops in the area are flat, opposed to the project’s elevated and pitched top.
There are also few buildings in the neighborhood that are more than one-story tall.
Commissioner Lisa Craig said she remembered a small market occupying the corner several decades ago, and any replacement structure built there would be an anchor that would set the tone of the neighborhood.
“The design of this building ... I am challenged by,” she said. “I think the height, in terms of smallscale mixed use character is inconsistent with the neighborhood. This looks more like a hotel than a residential structure, and I think more work on the articulation to make it more consistent with the neighborhood is necessary.”
Kautz said the corner has been plagued with homelessness and drug use, and his project would give 24 individuals or couples who need housing a chance to get their lives back on track.
And while the project would be larger than other structures in the immediate area, he said it could set a precedence and potentially attract developers who might want to construct similar buildings.
“If we keep changing the design too much, then the costs get to where this project just doesn’t make sense,” he said. “So if it doesn’t make sense, then it goes right back to where it was. You’re going to have an empty lot with a chain link fence around it, and you’re going to have kids going in here, and needles and drugs and everything else. Somebody needs to step up and do something nice. That’s what I’m trying to do here.”
Commission vice chair Peter Rosado said the project falls under the city’s development code as infill, and quoted the code, stating infill should incorporate traditional characteristics of existing houses in the neighborhood.
Those characteristics include windows, door spacing, building materials and style, among other aesthetics, he said, adding the proposed building would stick out like a sore thumb.
“The role of the design review board is not to make judgments based on budgets,” he said. “We are here to make judgments based on design aesthetics and whether it fits in the neighborhood. We certainly like what you’re doing for low income, but it doesn’t mean that demographic is subject to a lesser value of design.”
Kautz disagreed with Rosado’s assessment, stating the design would enhance the neighborhood, not bring it down.
Chair Mitch Slater said given the amount of written comment provided to the city opposing the project, it didn’t seem as though enough community outreach was conducted.
“Typically what we like to see is that the applicant reaches out to the community to let them know the project is going to happen some time in advance so this doesn’t happen to us,” Slater said. “I feel like this is going to be delayed anyway, so that’s probably a good thing to do. There seems to be a lot of significant concern in that community and that outreach didn’t happen.”
Community development director John Della Monica said the surrounding neighborhood was notified of the project per city of Lodi guidelines. He said the notification is what prompted the amount of feedback presented during the meeting.
The commission unanimously voted to bring the item back to a future meeting, once Kautz conducts more outreach and tweaks the exterior design of the building.
If the commission approves the project, it will be presented to the city’s planning commission.