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San Juan Capistrano is the latest Orange County city to grapple with state housing mandates and building enough homes to help curb California’s housing crisis.
Last week, city officials approved a five-story apartment building near city hall and the city’s historic downtown region.
Echoing concerns by officials in other Orange County cities, some San Juan Capistrano City Council members expressed worries over the size of the building, but the proposed building does not exceed the city’s height limit and state law prevents officials from adjusting it.
“Don’t get me wrong, I support housing, but I don’t support five-story buildings,” Councilmember Howard Hart said at the Jan. 21 meeting.
Officials also expressed concerns that their hands were effectively tied by state housing law, limiting just how much they could influence the final design of the project.
State Law vs. Local Concerns
Despite San Juan Capistrano City Council members saying they hoped the project would be smaller, their hands are largely tied.
Under state regulations, the property owner — Winebright Capistrano — could have increased the building scale and removed all parking without say from the city.
Since the development is within a half-mile of the San Juan Capistrano train station, state law says the developer isn’t required to add any parking at all.
“They could’ve gone up to eight stories and 446 units by state mandate and zero parking spaces,” Councilmember Hart said. “I’m glad they didn’t. I wish they had gone for fewer, but quite honestly, don’t hate the player, hate the game.”
Councilmember John Taylor said he hoped the building would only be four stories, but the city still needs more housing.
“I know it’s taller, it’s change — people don’t like change in San Juan,” he said. “I know that after being here for 40 years, but I think it’s going to serve a great need in this community.”
The project was initially approved by planning commissioners who spent hours during their November meeting working with the developer to make some design changes to something commissioners said better fits the community.
The developer also worked with the city’s design review committee on some visual changes to the building — even though the developer could have denied these requests under state law.
“This is a project that doesn’t scream, ‘I don’t care about the community,’” Planning Commissioner Tami Wilhem said during the Nov. 13 meeting. “This is a project that says, ‘I do. I am trying to do something that’s beautiful and nice.’”
However, Wilhelm said she “hated” the idea of putting a five-story building on Camino Capistrano and encouraged frustrated residents to voice their concerns to their state representatives.
“When you show up at these meetings, I just want you to know, while we hear you and empathize with you, we do have rules that we have to follow,” she said. “So the people that you want to be yelling at, the people that ought to get this giant package of your letters, most of them are in Sacramento.”
The Downtown Development & Resident Concerns
The development is expected to feature 278 units, a five-story parking garage and a retail ground level featuring stores and restaurants.
Of the units, 32 are expected to be affordable and reserved for low-income tenants.
Affordable housing limits are based on the state’s Department of Housing and Community Development income limit numbers. For Orange County, the median income for a family of four is $129,000. To be considered low-income, a family of four must have a combined annual income under $126,250.
The building site is located in the San Juan Plaza between the existing Trader Joe’s and Vons and down the street from Mission San Juan Capistrano. It’s also expected to feature approximately 400 parking spaces in a central parking garage, exterior courtyards and a rooftop deck.
According to state housing mandates, San Juan Capistrano must plan for 1,054 new housing units by 2029. This number is passed down by the state and includes housing units for different income levels.
Although city council members and planning commissioners said they didn’t want to put a 60-foot building in the center of town, they pointed out that the decision was mostly out of their control due to mandates from the state to build more housing.
During the meeting last Tuesday, city council members emphasized that this project’s size is a result of the state and can’t be easily changed by city officials.
They pointed to the Housing Crisis Act of 2019, which empowers developers to largely ignore local zoning codes in order to build their projects, as long as they contain enough affordable housing.
[Read: Will Builder’s Remedy Create Housing Without Local Approval in Orange County?]
The law also outlines review standards, explaining that cities can’t enforce changes solely based on design. Local officials can only reduce a project’s size — or deny it outright — if there is evidence that the development will create a significant health or safety risk.
That means officials can’t reduce a development’s size just because they think it won’t match the surrounding community.
Meanwhile, residents raised concerns over traffic, parking and height.
They said the building doesn’t fit the city’s small-town feel and will only worsen the congestion issues on Camino Capistrano and nearby grocery store parking lots.
Dozens of residents showed up to planning commission and city council meetings to voice their concerns — they also sent letters to officials highlighting their worries.
“San Juan was a quaint, nice town way back when,” one speaker said during the Jan. 21 council meeting. “But you’re tearing it apart for whatever reason.”
Planning Commissioner Stan Braden, an architect, said the project is quality and keeps improving as the developer continues to work in tandem with the city.
“I love San Juan,” Braden said. “I’m an advocate for preserving the downtown, but we’re going to have to grow up because of state rules and other things that we don’t control.”
Angelina Hicks is a Voice of OC Tracy Wood Reporting Fellow. Contact her at ahicks@voiceofoc.org or on Twitter @angelinahicks13.
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