329 APARTMENTS OK’D FOR AVIARA PARKWAY PROPERTY

Carlsbad project will include 81 units for low-income residents

Carlsbad has approved a complex with 329 rental apartments, including 81 units for low-income residents to help meet the state’s affordable housing goals on a 9.2acre lot bisected by Aviara Parkway.

Most of the apartments designated as affordable will be reserved for residents whose income does not exceed 90 percent of the area’s median income, which for San Diego County is $92,700. Seven apartments will be designated for “very low-income residents,” who earn no more than 30 percent of the area’s median income.

Carlsbad planning commissioners unanimously approved the four-story project at their Dec. 16 meeting. Several commissioners said the location just south of Palomar Airport Road will be a good fit with nearby land uses.

“There are a lot of great things about this project,” said Commissioner Linda Geldner. “It’s a good location close to the freeway ... a good site for the height ... and the units are wrapped around the

parking to give it a more urban look.”

The complex might be better with more parking and better pedestrian access, but overall “the good outweighs the bad,” Geldner said.

The largest part of the complex will be built west of Aviara Parkway on property that for many years was a wholesale flower distributor and produce-packaging operation. A large, refrigerated warehouse that’s been there since the 1960s will be demolished.

“It’s old and inefficient,” said Jimmy Ukegawa, who’s owned the property for 30 years. Ukegawa and his family also operate the Carlsbad Strawberry Company and the U-pick strawberry fields at Cannon Road and Interstate 5.

The Aviara Parkway property was initially a cut flower distribution center for about 30 years, then a fresh produce shipping warehouse. For about a decade, it was home to Carlsbad’s Floral Wholesale Center, which has since moved to a location closer to Mcclellan-palomar Airport.

Now the old packing house is occupied by several different produce-related ventures.

Ukegawa said he plans to build a new and more energy-efficient warehouse at a location yet to be decided. Some of the businesses on Aviara Parkway may move temporarily to the stand at the Cannon Road strawberry fields.

The old packing house property is a good location for apartments, he said.

“It’s very hidden,” he said. “So many people drive past every day and really don’t know what’s here.”

The property is bisected by Aviara Parkway because the road was built after he bought the land, Ukegawa said.

The developer, Keven Doherty of Summerhill Apartment Communities,

said his company worked with Carlsbad city staffers and residents for four years to perfect the plan.

“We were able to develop a project that protects the important biological resources in Encinas Creek, increases workforce housing on an infill site near transit and employment, and helps the city to meet its (statemandated housing) numbers,” he said.

The name Aviara Apartments is only a placeholder until the project is approved and a better name can be chosen, Doherty said.

The western part of the complex will have 259 apartments, including 12 of the affordable units in one building and an incorporated parking garage with 405 spaces and an additional 23 spaces outside at ground level.

Amenities at the western building will include an outdoor recreation area, a pool, courtyards, an indoor fitness facility, a multipurpose room and a Wi-fi cafe.

The eastern part, which is now vacant land, would have 69 affordable apartments, one apartment for the manager, and 105 parking spaces.