CITY HALL — The First African Methodist Episcopal Church will have to wait on funding for a senior housing project now three years in the making after City Council members pulled the item from the consent calendar at its meeting Tuesday night.
The action, if approved, would have allowed a state agency to float a maximum of $9 million in bonds to help pay for the construction of 49 units of affordable senior housing.
Those bonds would act as tax exempt financing, which would help hold down the cost of the project, which in turn would make it possible to charge less in rent, said Jim Kemper, housing administrator for City Hall.
“It makes a big difference to the developer,” Kemper added.
Allowing the bond issue to go forward would not put any direct financial obligation on City Hall. However, Santa Monica is the gap financier, meaning that whatever money for the project that isn’t raised through the bond and other loans will come from City Hall.
It’s part of Santa Monica’s stated commitment to create more affordable housing, Kemper said.
“This is a great deal,” Kemper said. “And it’s only money that’s supposed to be put into affordable housing. We’re not deciding between spending it on housing and spending it on parks.”
Although residents of the Pico-Euclid neighborhood spoke at the meeting regarding the project, they focused on problems with the plans, including the designation of all three buildings as “senior group housing” in the staff report.
Objections centered on a communal kitchen, which people felt needed to include a staff member to prepare meals for seniors, and concerns that the designation was simply a way to allow the developer to skirt density rules.
“It’s premature to promote this,” said resident Wendy Lamm, continuing to state that it was unclear exactly what kind of housing was being proposed — senior group housing or senior apartments.
Each have different requirements under zoning codes, and allow varying degrees of density.
The lack of clarity troubled council members, who couldn’t get direct answers from staff on whether or not Santa Monica’s municipal code required that a person be on hand to cook communal meals to qualify a residence as “senior group housing.”
Council member Bobby Shriver asked if the kitchen needed to be capable of producing meals, or if a “kitchen will be there to produce the meals for them,” indicating a presumption that a staff person would be cooking for seniors.
“My understanding is that it’s a full kitchen that’s being proposed,” said Director of Housing and Economic Development Andy Agle.
The council chose to wait to approve financing until this and other issues brought up by the residents had been answered.
Both the Architectural Review Board and the Planning Commission have approved the project, and many of the issues had been brought up in the past, Agle said Thursday.
“Based on the initial review, the plans are compliant,” Agle said. “It would not receive building permits unless the final plans are compliant.”
Without building permits, no funding could be used anyway, Agle noted.
Staff will come back with more information to present to council at a future meeting.
ashley@www.smdp.com
