La Mesa developer wants out of affordable housing deal after receiving incentives
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Exterior of the Cantera project on High Street in La Mesa. Photo: Andrew Keatts/Axios
The developer of a La Mesa townhouse project is asking city officials to let it out of a commitment to make some of its units affordable, despite having accepted financial incentives in exchange for that pledge.
Why it matters: The decision could set a precedent for a program meant to make it cheaper and easier to build housing projects in exchange for restricting rents on some of the units in those projects.
Catch up quick: In 2019, the La Mesa City Council granted Cantera, a 32-unit townhome project at the site of a former rock quarry, a series of waivers through its affordable homes bonus program.
- The city waived its usual requirements for parking spaces and trash bins to make it easier to configure the project.
- The developer, in exchange, agreed to reserve four of the 32 units for residents earning less than 120% of the area's median income.
State of play: The developer is now asking the city's planning commission to maintain those waived development requirements, but cancel its obligation to provide affordable units.
- Earlier this month, the planning commission deadlocked 2-2 on the request, but rescheduled the hearing for Wednesday when a tiebreaking vote would be in attendance.
Context: A city staff report on the request says COVID, civil unrest in 2020 and the housing market prolonged construction and increased the developer's costs.
- "With the project delays, the project carrying costs diminished the financial return necessary to meet loan obligations," the staff report reads.
- The project is fully built, and most of the units have already been sold.
The intrigue: La Mesa planning commissioner Jonathan Frankel said at the last hearing he's concerned with setting a precedent that a developer can receive the benefit of the affordable homes bonus program, then later ask to be relieved of their end of the deal.
- "City staff may have decided … that we're OK not receiving those [units]," he said. "My judgment as a member of the public is, that would be unfortunate."
The other side: Kristine Alessio — a former La Mesa City Council member and VP of NTC Development, the project's developer — said the project should have received the broad waiver of restrictions when it was proposed, without needing the bonus program in the first place.
- "Should this have happened eight years ago? In my opinion, yes," she said at the last hearing.
- Alessio said she was uninvolved in the project when it received the incentives because she was on the council at the time. She did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday morning.