El Centro identifies five areas of opportunity for housing
EL CENTRO — City officials have identified five areas of opportunity for future housing development.
On Monday, the El Centro City Council and Planning Commission convened to discuss these five sites during a community workshop via Zoom.
They decided these five sites will be considered for the city’s Housing Element for the years 2021 to 2029.
A follow-up workshop will be held in March, and a third will be held in May. The city expects to have a final Housing Element plan that it can potentially adopt by October.
The city must update its Housing Element every eight years (the last update was for 2013 to 2021).
Vacant and underutilized properties in the city were considered when selecting these five sites:
▪ Opportunity area 1: Adams Avenue, from Wilson Street to 12th Street. The 1200 block of Adams has a cluster of small homes and the area appears to be underdeveloped. Officials believe 25 new dwelling units per acre can be built here, or up to 32 dwelling units per acre for senior citizens.
▪ Opportunity area 2: A large dirt lot in the area of Cypress Drive and Wake Avenue, just south of Interstate 8. This area has already been approved for a subdivision by the city, but it remains undeveloped.
▪ Opportunity area 3: About 40 acres of mostly bare ground, from Valleyview Avenue to McCabe Road, which is in the southwest portion of the city. It was proposed that this can be developed for mixed use, combining new homes and new commercial space.
▪ Opportunity area 4: The southeast corner of La Brucherie and Treshill Road. It was proposed this vacant property can also be designated for mixed use, with some commercial space and some new homes.
▪ Opportunity area 5: East Danenberg Drive, south of Imperial Valley Mall and north in the area of Best Buy and the Hampton Inn. Discussion centered on developing residential space that would provide easy walking access to the mall and surrounding businesses.