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Nearly 300 new homes are slated to come to Brea near the 57 freeway and Imperial Highway as city officials push to hit state-mandated new housing numbers.
Under the state’s mandated housing goals, the city currently has to zone for 2,365 new homes by the end of the decade. Of that, officials need to zone for 1,062 units for low-income to extremely low-income households. The remaining 1,303 units are slated for moderate or above income.
In Orange County, a four-person household making less than $126,250 annually is considered low income, according to thresholds set by the state Department of Community and Housing Development.
One of Brea’s newly approved developments only has six units designated for extremely low-income families – a four-person household making $47,350 or less annually.
It comes as officials throughout Orange County have been struggling to meet the state-mandated housing goals.
[Read: How Are Orange County’s Cities Doing At Building Affordable Housing?]
Brea City Council members approved two separate developments on 4-0 votes at Tuesday’s meeting.
People for Housing OC Co-Founder Elizabeth Hansburg said that she thinks by building rental housing communities, such as the Brea Plaza Living development, Brea could attract young professionals and other vital laborers to stay in the city.
“if we don’t build more diverse housing types then we are going to hold on to the homeowners we have and the new people who come here are going to be very wealthy,” Hansburg said. “They are going to be able to buy homes and we are going to miss out on all the jobs that make our community function.”
While a majority of public speakers supported the new units coming to Brea, some residents expressed their approval while also voicing concerns about a lack of affordable units in the proposals.
“I see a lot of need for housing, my only disappointment for this development is there is not more affordable housing,” Brea resident Susan Pearlson said.
In total, only 6 units in both projects will be designated as affordable housing, all of which will be at the Brea Plaza Living site.
Though concerns still remain with parking and how construction may affect neighbors, the Brea Plaza Living and Village at Greenbriar developments both saw a large amount of support during public comment.
Echoing the sentiments of many city officials throughout OC, Councilmember Cecillia Hupp said that she shares the frustrations of some residents regarding state housing requirements.
“The state is forcing their mandates on all cities in California. We’re not your problem, the state is your problem,” she said. “You need to be paying close attention to what they’re doing in Sacramento, because a few elite Sacramento people are forcing regulations.”
Hupp, who voted in favor of both developments, then went on to state that she does support more diverse housing developments. However, she also raised concerns about further legislation from Sacramento trickling down to the local level.
Councilmember Steven Vargas recused himself from voting on both developments due to his personal residence being too close to the proposed sites.
The Brea Plaza Living project proposes building a total of 120 units in a four-story apartment building on top of a two-story parking garage.
The development, slated to be constructed by Orange-based Architects of Orange, will reach a height of 64 feet, four feet above the current building standards.
The project is currently planned to have 148 parking spaces, 96 spaces short of current zoning standards.
At a March 11 Planning Commission meeting, the parking gap was set to be mitigated by allocating 789 parking spaces in the Brea Plaza shopping center, however, this is also short of the 1,019 spaces a project of its size would require per current regulations.
The Village at Greenbriar, which will be developed by Lennar Homes, Inc., was the second project city council members approved on Tuesday.
In total, the project will bring nearly 180 single-family units to the city. As it stands, it is planned to have a total of 397 parking spaces available, 51 spaces short of current requirements.
Public comments were similarly supportive, though many residents raised concerns about parking.
“I think the project is under-parked and the existing Glenbrook neighborhood should not be made to bear the burden of the overflow parking in their neighborhood,” Brea resident Beverly Perry said.
Following public comments on the project, Assistant City Manager Jason Killebrew said similar housing projects often have too much parking.
“Having worked in a variety of different communities and cities throughout Southern California, sometimes parking a project to the maximum code doesn’t mean that it makes it the best project,” Killebrew said.
He added that council members should also aim to balance the concerns of current and future homeowners in the area, as some solutions to the parking problem such as building a parking structure may not fit into the community well.
Furthermore, Killebrew added that should the council deem it necessary, eliminating green space to expand the parking options is one way to mitigate concerns of a shortage.
“I do think we have to the maximum extent that we possibly can, provisions in place to evaluate parking as the life of this project evolves.”
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