THE COAST NEWS
NOV. 30, 2012
A7
City moves forward with plans to create more housing By Bianca Kaplanek
DEL MAR — City Council recently opted to possibly reclassify portions of the central and north commercial zones in an effort to meet statemandated housing requirements. After reviewing and prioritizing four alternatives at the Nov. 19 meeting, council members directed staff to look at modifying some or all of the central commercial zone development standards from the current one dwelling unit per parcel to 20 units. This change would also likely include incr easing the floor area ratio to allo w more density. Council also asked staff to analyze rezoning one or mor e properties throughout the city to a new classification that would allow residential development at 20 units per acre. The immediate focus,however, would be on tw o properties in the north commer cial zone because a prospective buyer has expressed interest in creating such a zoning change for a potential development. In October, City Council received a briefing on housing law, state Housing and Community Development requirements and the r egional housing needs assessment set by the San Diego Association of Governments. Since then staff has been
preparing a draft housing element for the 2013-20 cycle in an effort to gain state certification. “We face some challenges because HCD and state la w have certain r equirements for components of a housing element,� Planning Manager Adam Birnbaum said. One of those k ey components is an in ventory of sites that could feasibl y accommodate future residential development for a wide range of income levels, including low income. Cities must also prove there aren’t any undue constraints to de velop that housing, such as fees, required discretionary approvals, low floor area ratios and Measur e B, which limits commercial developments larger than 25,000 square feet until a specific plan is approved. “You can put the plans on paper but you also need to demonstrate the fact that they can be implemented,� Birnbaum said. “The HCD looks carefully at those components to ensure that you’re not just putting down a paper plan, but something that can actually result in housing within the community for a range of income levels.� For HCD that means assigning land-use designations with higher densities because that creates greater potential
for affordable housing. For small cities such as Del Mar,the minimum density le vel is 20 units per acre. Larger cities are generally required to ha ve areas that accommodate 30 units. Del Mar cannot curr ently accommodate development of 20 units per acr e anywhere in the city,so to meet the HCD criteria, an area must be redesignated to allow that density. The city planned to accommodate increased density as part of the village specific plan to revitalize the downtown area but that proposal failed in the Nov. 6 election. “We just got off of this whole issue and now we’re getting back in the sad dle again and it’s going to be a c hallenge,� Councilman Terry Sinnott said. “The hope was if the VSP passed this issue would be gone,� Councilman Mark Filanc said. “We still have this issue before us and we have to address it. “We need to move forward with it and get our selves on track with getting certification,� he added. “This isn’t a final determination but rather an identification of areas where we should pursue — and this will lik ely involve public w orkshops — ideas of assigning a designation that’s going to meet our obligation under state la w and help
us achieve certification of our housing element,� Birnbaum said. The city has until August 2013 to achieve a certified housing element. But the document will likely go bac k and f orth with HCD in that timeframe, Birnbaum said. “In our prior comm unity conversations there was support for low-income housing, particularly for seniors in town that didn’t want to try to maintain a single-family home,� Councilman Don Mosier said. “We do ha ve a sur prisingly large fraction of our comm unity who fits in the lo w-income range. “I think we also found out there’s a resistance to any form of change and this is going to take a major outreach effort to explain the need to compl y with state law,� he said.“I’d like to think that this is an inclusive community and that we like to take care of our r esidents who are in need.� “We have to get o ver the not-in-my-backyard problem,� Mayor Carl Hilliard said. Staff is including possible housing at the Del Mar Fairgrounds, but that will require a longer process. Birnbaum said there are doubts it will r eceive approval before the certification deadline. Areas zoned for public
Del Mar decides to allow bingo permanently By Bianca Kaplanek
DEL MAR — Although it has yet to fulfill a goal to specifically benefit Del Mar charities, bingo will continue after council members amended an ordinance at the Nov. 19 meeting to permanently allow the game at certain locations in the city. “When we adopted this ordinance it w as intended to benefit nonprofit charities, including those in Del Mar ,� Councilman Don Mosier said. “I have yet to see evidence that any nonprofit in Del Mar has benefited from bingo. “ State law allows charitable bingo to provide alternative funding for nonprofit organizations. Del Mar established a law in 2010 to permit bingo f or a two-year trial period at the Del Mar Fairgrounds and in public facility zones such as Powerhouse Community Center, the library and City Hall. At the Oct.22 meeting,the consent calendar included an item to make the game permanent but Mosier said he wanted to see financial r eports before doing so. According to a staff report presented at the No vember meeting, six permits have been approved but onl y three nonprofits have been oper ating games. Two reported an a verage attendance of a bout 70 people per session and revenue of $7,000 and $25,000. The Del Sol Lions Club, the only nonprofit that w ould directly benefit Del Mar, hasn’t participated for “internal, organization reasons,� according to a letter submitted in response to a city r equest for financial information. “We expected bingo to be significantly more popular than it has been, � said Becky
Bartling, deputy general manager of the f airgrounds, which approached the city tw o years ago to host the games. “We were hoping it would be a windf all for all kinds of charities,� she said. “Essentially we are sort of holding our own.It’s been kind of up and down.� She said man y nonprofit groups seem to be taking a “wait and see attitude� to determine if the games will be successful because they rely on a heavy commitment from volunteers. Mosier acknowledged there is potential for future success. “It just seems sort of almost premature to make this a permanent or dinance,� he said. “Two years hasn’t been adequate to pr ove that this is going to be a marked success. “I sort of have mixed feel-
“Let it die a natural ings,â€? Mosier added. “I don’t want to take away the opportu- death,â€? Mosier said after the nity and yet we’re getting vote. results that aren’t very promising.â€? Councilman Mark Filanc agreed with his colleague but said there isn’t a do wnside to allowing bingo permanently as there have been no negati ve impacts on the community. “I have yet to hear an y traffic issues, noise issues ‌ fights, or law enforcement or slapping the bingo card on people’s heads,â€? Filanc said. “If it Consider a life-changing fails because of a lac k of intereducation for your est in the long run,I guess nothmiddle or high schooler: ing ventured, nothing gained. So I don’t see any reason not to www.pacificridge.org make this permanent.â€? 760-579-4901 Filanc said if participation doesn’t increase the city could 3DFLÂżF 5LGJH 6FKRRO DGPLWV VWXGHQWV RI DQ\ UDFH FRORU DQG QDWLRQDO RU HWKQLF RULJLQ rescind the or dinance in the future. Council voted 4-0, with COLLEGE PREPARATORY CO-EDUCATION Lee Haydu absent, to make the )25 *5$'(6 ‡ &$5/6%$' &$ game permanent.
facilities, such as the library or City Hall, were also presented for possible development standard modifications but council members said the y doubted that would receive public approval. If more housing units ar e needed, a third alternative
would be to modify allo wable uses in other areas of the north commercial zone. The draft housing element is posted on the city w ebsite at celmar.ca.us and will be reviewed by the Planning Commission beginning at 6 p.m. on Dec. 5.