Affordable housing complex gets OK

PALMDALE — The Planning Commission gave the go-ahead for a 101-unit affordable housing apartment complex in which nearly a third of the units will be set aside for low-income tenants.

The Juniper Grove Apartments are proposed for a 4.75-acre site on the southeast corner of Avenue R and Division Street and are being developed by the same company behind the Courson Arts Colony.

The complex will consist of three, three-story buildings, connected by walkways between the upper levels, as well as amenities such as offices, a conference room, library, fitness room, playground and fenced dog run, according to the staff report.

“I’m really excited about the project, I think its something that’s really needed in our community,” Commissioner V. Jesse Smith said.

The Commission unanimously approved the development site plan and density bonus agreement at its Dec. 12 meeting.

Because 30% of the units will be set aside for tenants who qualify as low- or very low-income, state law allows for more units to be built on the site than would usually be allowed, as well as other concessions to requirements for open space, parking and other standards, Contract Planner Perry Banner said.

“This is something that this Planning

Commission has not seen for a while,” he said, with the last one seen about three or four years ago.

Banner said the allowance for concessions will help close the financial gap that occurs when you’re doing affordable housing.

The state law is a sliding scale, with more additional units allowed for more affordable units included. For this project, the scale allows for a density bonus of 35%, he said.

In the case of parking spaces, the density bonus allows for 153 total spaces, with some of those being tandem parking.

Commissioner Dean Henderson had concerns that the parking would be adequate to serve tenants’ needs and that a lack of parking could lead to disputes.

Because the state’s density bonus law supersedes the city’s standards, “We don’t have any discretion on the number of spaces,” Planning Manager Rob Bruce said.

The city’s Housing Division assisted in creating the density bonus agreement and officials said they are not aware of any parking disputes at similar housing developments.

The definition of low- and very low-income for the project is set annually and is based on the median income for a family of four in Los Angeles County. For this project, low-income is set at $83,500 and very low-income is $52,200, Banner said.