Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutRDA Minutes 1994-09-21 Chairman Joseph A. Fernekes M I N U T E S Boardmembers: Jack Drago Redevelopment Agency John R. Penna Roberta Cerri Teglia Municipal Services"Building Robert Yee Community Room September 21, 1994 AGENDA ACTION TAKEN ADJOURNED REGULAR MEETING ADJOURNED REGULAR MEETING CALL TO ORDER: (Cassette No. 1) 7:35 p.m. Chairman Fernekes presiding. ROLL CALL: Boardmembers present: Drago, Penna, Yee and Fernekes. Boardmembers absent: Teglia. Clerk Battaya explained that Boardmember Teglia .~'qO~ was in Italy on business. 1. Study session to discuss the McLellan property. Interim Director of Economic & Community Devel- opment Beyer explained: Council adopted the El Camino Corridor Redevelopment Plan and a General ' Plan Amendment in July of 1993; the Amendment provided a two tier approach to the designation of the McLellan Nursery property; it provided that the existing General Plan designations will remain in effect until the City has an irrevocable agreement with BART/SamTrans that the subway configuration will be built and until BART/SamTrans has funding commitments to build the project; in the interim, all property owners will have full development rights under the existing General Plan and zoning designations; as applied to the McLellan Nursery, an unincorporated area within the City's Sphere of Influence, the General Plan provides that the McLellan Nursery should be annexed to the City and designated medium density residential (15 du/net acre) along the El Camino Real frontage and low density residential (8 du/net acre) in the rear - with a small portion designated open space; when the con- ditions have been met, the General Plan provides the McLellan Nursery should be annexed to the City and the site designated for a transit oriented density of 25 dwelling units to the acre; the Redevelopment Plan contemplates the development of 733 dwelling ~ units on the site. He stated that the main objective of the El Camino Corridor Redevelopment Area was to finance the 9/21/94 Page 1 AGENDA ACTION TAKEN '-. 1. Study session - Continued. cost differential between constructing tfi~ BART Extension in an open trench versus the cost of a subway. He stated that the estimated cost, since the Redevelopment District was established, has been increased from $23 million to over $40 mil- lion. He stated that Steve Solomon will present the con- cept of Greystone Homes and he will talk about the redevelopment implications, as we understand them, in relationship to the current General Plan and the change if the BART Extension goes forward. Chief Planner Solomon stated that Greystone Homes is also here and is interested in presenting an infor- mal presentation. He proceeded to explain the current prezoning: the front is R-2, duplex zoning; the rear portion would allow single family homes, with about 8 units per acre; staff's estimate is about 244 units overall; Greystone's plan is 63 single family homes, at 9 units per acre, 105 triplex units, at 15 units per acre, and 162 tenplex units, at 18 units per acre, for a total of 330 units; the El Camino Corridor Area addresses the site and describes the concept of re- duced density towards the rear and an increased density towards El Camino; the General Plan re- quires netting out the streets, which results in the difference between the Greystone plan and the City's in the number of units. Interim Director of Economic & Community Devel- opment Beyer discussed the redevelopment implica- tions: the Redevelopment Plan is based on the development of higher density projects with a suffi- cient number of dwelling units to generate enough tax increment to fund a portion of the costs of undergrounding BART through the Project area; staff did a preliminary analysis comparing tax incre- ment generation of the proposed development with that projected in the Redevelopment Plan and found the proposal would generate about one-half of the tax increment, which would be generated by the 733 dwelling units projected in the Plan; the McLellan property was projected to be developed at 155 units per year for five years, commencing in 1995-96; the revenues generated as opposed to the Greystone Homes project; there were 30 acres total; a major purpose of the El Camino Corridor Rede- velopment Plan is to generate enough to pay a 9/21/94 Page 2 AGENDA ACTION TAKEN · 1. Study session - Continued. local share for the undergrounding; etc. He stated that, based on a meeting with the Mayor, Acting City Manager and BART General Manager Richard White last week, the General Manager indi- cated that no local funding for the BART Extension is being considered at this time. He projected that the funding package for the project should be in place before the end of the year and we will not be required to come up with a local share to put the system underground. Discussion followed: BART is still short, perhaps $3 million in the funding, so, this option is still viable; the Agency was in a catch 22 position on this - if you want to protect the redevelopment, you support the project with the increment, however, the way the General Plan Amendment was adopted, the property owner has rights to move forward to devel- opment and the City has to review the plans; staff needed a general consensus on whether they can work with this group or other groups until we know where Bart is coming from; there is one other policy issue that relates to housing and redevelopment housing; under the law any housing built in a rede- velopment area has to provide 15% of the units for low housing; a policy or program has to be dis- cussed in the future and implemented as units devel- op; this is true of all housing developed in a redevel- opment area by the Agency or by private parties; an ordinance could be adopted requiring either that 15% of the units in each project be provided as low income or it could be dealt with on a project wide basis; how low cost housing figures are developed - where they are not more than 30% of a person's income; Boardmember Penna wanted information on other cities that are providing low income housing; Boardmember Drago felt this was premature until the BART funding is settled, because that determines what we will allow; the staff report says the builder can build right now, regardless of this City's de- sires; this land is in our Sphere of Influence and in a redevelopment area; the Greystone Homes project will generate about 46% of the tax increment over the life of the redevelopment project; the McLellan family has indicated they are not interested in annex- ation unless they have the densities they want; should wait 30 to 90 days before making any deci- sions; the Greystone Homes project is 330 units, which is what is currently allowed by the General Plan; etc. 9/21/94 Page 3 AGENDA ACTION TAKEN 301 1. Study session - Continued. Mr. Tom Lodatto, Searsville Land Company, stated two years ago his father was hired by the McLellan family to determine what was the best use for the property, because it was prudent to relocate the business and sell the parcel. So, he had met with Steve Solomon and the rest of the planning staff to determine what the City would think is best suited for the parcel and the zoning if the BART station goes in. He stated he had tried to dovetail that to what he perceived of the market and what was eco- nomical for the parcel. In the course of that, they met with a home builder and the sentiment was that any project of this size cannot be more dense than 15 units to the acre or it would not be financeable and the sales would be so slow that you would be looking at a build out of ten years. So, regardless of whether or not we are entitled to that, they would not come in with a density other than what is pre- sented tonight. He spoke highly of Greystone Homes, felt they enhance the community they are working in and have the financial wherewithal to build out the entire site at one time, within 18 months or so rather than a higher density build out that would take forever to sell. He stated that something they had requested, which was also important to the City, was that the access to the site be from El Camino only, in order not to disrupt the community, and so that the single family homes would have a sufficient buffer, without visual adverse affects. Mr. Jeff Shroeder, Greystone Homes, stated that the market had changed over the last five years and their goal is to definitely minimize the length of any particular project time in order that after two years they are gone and they will not be competing with owners reselling their homes in this same project area. He stated that 18 units to the acre would be town homes and proceeded to speak at length on price build outs, what the staff report assumes on price increases per year and that there is no agree- ment for Iow and moderate income housing. He would propose to create a community of different type housing and address a larger range of the mar- ket. He stated there were three product types, so that the product would sell out more quickly, and 9/21/94 Page 4 '1 £ ] [ ! ' ! AGENDA ACTION TAKEN . 302 1__. Study session - Continued. the City would get more revenues from the redevel- opment - more than portrayed in the staff report. The largest product is 60 units and we would hope to price them at $200,000 and get out within two years. The other would sell out prior to that and the City would have revenue coming in. He described the housing: the triplexes at 18 units to the acre would be 1,000 to 1,400 sq. ft., with two bedrooms; they would be two stories, with at grade parking, with two car garages; they are all town houses, except for one unit; the others are triplexes with a unit over the garage; each has a two car garage, which is attractive, sells well and gives everyone an end unit; etc. Discussion followed: in today's market single fami- ly homes are the ones primarily selling, due to the drop in interest rates, which are going back up; whether a BART station would help sales; etc. Mr. Frank Lodatto stated he had been a long time Director of the McLellan Company but was not a Director at the present time. He stated the McLellan family has held the property for 40 years, has not wanted to develop it but he felt taxes are making them do this. He felt it would be bad for the City to hold them up and he hoped the City did not make the mistake of assuming that the higher the density the more valuable. In the old days that was true, but today they found the high density they con- ceived is not even feasible - so, you are looking at this project or no project. He believes the project in the Redevelopment Plan is unfeasible and, if the City held them to it, they . .. would have nothing. The City should take this pro- ject into consideration, because they have a fine planner and builder. Mr. Lodocca stated he had been involved in higher density - his firm was the land planners in the Gold- en Triangle in San Jose, on the light rail. The land was rezoned by the City, from industrial, to bring housing near transportation. He stated the builder has been struggling for over four years on the pro- ,-- ject, because of market conditions, and may end up going to public financing. He stated that it is diffi- cult now to get anything over 200 units financed. Discussion followed: there would be 330 overall 9/21/94 Page 5 AGENDA ACTION TAKEN - 303 1. Study session - Continued. units; they had not submitted anything to the Coun- ty, because they were trying to learn the City's intent; if the City is agreeable, they would annex the property concurrently with the application to the City; they wanted to get the Agency's direction tonight as to the development of this property. Boardmember Drago stated the City's entire pro- posal is based on the numbers for financing of the undergrounding of BART and, if the numbers fail to materialize, he would rather have less density. Discussion followed: Vice Chairman Yee wondered if the idea of annexation is to be concurrent with the Plan; whether there is a sewer available to this site; they would have to be connected to the sewer trunk lines; in theory, the builder could develop with the County if they don't need the sewer; a general plan amendment would be required, because it is tied to the agreement with BART; the redevelopment plan is in place and the increment has started to come in; if the zoning is not kicking in, then we are not going to get the money projected; if we do not approve this plan we will get less; the City was going to have something like this or zero; it was the developer's 330 unit plan vs. the 733 unit plan; ten years from now the increment may not be the same; it was important to kick in the tax increment by generating more property tax; sewer capacity for the build out; the Agency had thrown in a higher density to pay for the BART undergrounding; the Nursery should be annexed before this is approved so we know they are within our City limits, be- cause, for all we know, BART could always go to a subway; Boardmember Drago wanted to wait 90 days for the EIR from BART before taking action; etc. M/S Penna/Yee - To adjourn the meeting. Carried by unanimous voice vote. ADJOURNMENT: Time of adjournment was 8:43 p.m. 9/21/94 Page 6 AGENDA ACTION TAKEN 304 RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED, APPROVED. Barbara A. Battaya, Clerk ~/ Josep'6 A. F~rnekes, Ehair~ Redevelopment Agency Redevelopment City of South San Francisco City cfi South San Francisco The entries of this Agency meeting show the action taken by the Redevelopment Agency to dispose of an item. Oral communications, arguments and comments are recorded on tape. The tape and documents related to the items are on file in the Office of the City Clerk and are available for inspection, review and copying. 9/21/94 Page 7