Council approves housing proposal
PALMDALE — The City Council on Tuesday gave the go-ahead for an apartment development with nearly one-third of the units set aside for low-income housing.
The Council unanimously approved a density bonus for the project, which allows for more apartments than normally would be permitted thanks to the inclusion of housing 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.
It will have a mixture of apartments, including 49 one-bedroom, 27 two-bedroom and 25 three-bedroom units.
Because 30% of the 101 units will be set aside for tenants who qualify as lowor very low-income, state law allows for more units to be built on the site than would usually be allowed, Planning Manager Rob Bruce said.
The density bonus agreement includes three other concessions to the normal development requirements: the distance between apartments and parking is increased from 150 feet to 360 feet, the common area open space is reduced from 30% of the total area to 16.7% and the required patio balconies may be shrunk from 150 square feet to 90 square feet.
The allowance for concessions in the density bonus agreement will help close the financial gap that occurs when developing 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%.
Councilmember Austin Bishop wanted assurances that the concessions did not diminish a good quality of living for tenants.
“This is a good project; it’s well-designed,” Bruce said, with a number of amenities throughout the complex for different activities.
“We need to be proactive in assisting housing developments like this as much as possible,” Bishop said.
Although she voted to approve the density bonus for the project, Councilmember Laura Bettencourt cautioned about drawbacks to some of the concessions that also must be weighed when such projects are considered.
For example, the increased distance between parking and the units increases the opportunity for vehicles to be burglarized or stolen.
“I always want us to put that in the back of our minds when we’re approving these projects,” she said. “Public safety should always, always be at the top of our thoughts.”
The complex is gated, with parking spaces outside the gate intended for visitor parking, Bruce said. It also has a security plan as part of the permitting process.
Similarly, Bettencourt was concerned about reducing open space within the complex just because it also serves low-income families.
“I do have some social justice issues with that,” she said.