Title
North Housing Study Session - 300 - 501 Mosley Avenue - Applicants: Habitat for Humanity and Alameda Housing Authority. The Planning Board will hold a study session on two separate residential development proposals for a total of up to 648 units on approximately 14-acres at the North Housing site. The site is generally located between Singleton Avenue, Mosley Avenue and west of Bette Street. The site is located within the R-4-PD-MF, Neighborhood Residential Planned Development District with Multifamily Overlay. No action will be taken by the Planning Board at the study session
Body
To: Honorable President and Members of the Planning Board
From: Allen Tai, City Planner
BACKGROUND
The North Housing site, located at Singleton Avenue and Mosely Avenue west of Bette Street, was originally developed by the federal government in 1969 for Navy personnel housing and related services. In 2005, the Coast Guard vacated the site and the Navy declared the property to be surplus in 2007.
Between 2009 and 2018, the City Council took various actions that facilitated the Navy’s sale and transfer of the land to civilian use. Those actions resulted in the site’s current R-4-PD-MF zoning. The site is also identified as a Housing Opportunity Site in the General Plan Housing Element to meet the City’s Regional Housing Needs Allocation.
Today, the roughly 28-acre land is divided into three sites. Carmel Partners, a private entity, is refurbishing the Navy buildings for 146 market-rate rental housing units on the western portion of the site. The remaining 14-acre portion east of Bette Street consists of the approximately 12-acre Alameda Housing Authority (AHA) site and the 2 acre Habitat site. (Exhibit 1).
The purpose of this study session is to provide the Planning Board and community an opportunity to review and comment on the two development proposals. Both proposals qualify for streamlined, ministerial review under State law.
DISCUSSION
Development under the R-4-PD-MF Zoning
The current zoning for both properties is R-4-PD-MF, Neighborhood Residential Planned Development District with a Multi-family (MF) Overlay. The MF overlay set forth in Alameda Municipal Code (AMC) Section 30-4.23 allows multi-family, transitional and supportive housing uses by-right. Most notable about the MF overlay is that density bonuses of up to 60% are automatically applied to affordable housing development that meet certain affordability criteria in AMC § 30-4.23.k.3. The MF development standards are intended to facilitate affordable housing. The MF overlay permits building height of up to five stories and 60 feet, parking ratios of one space per unit and onsite open space of 75-square-feet per unit (AMC § 30-4.23.k.3). The subject sites are located adjacent to the 8-acre Estuary Park and within two blocks of the 4 acre public park currently under construction at the Alameda Landing Waterfront and within a short walk of the Main Street Ferry Terminal and two blocks from the AC Transit Line 96 into Downtown Oakland.
Under the PD zoning overlay, the Planning Board may approve custom lot coverage and building setback standards necessary to carry out a development project to accommodate the number of units permissible under the zoning and any density bonus granted.
Alameda Housing Authority Development Plan and Tentative Map proposal
On February 24, 2020, AHA submitted an application for a Development Plan and Tentative Map for development of up to 580 units on their 12-acre site. The Development Plan and Tentative Map establish the street network for the AHA site, which is generally defined by the Mosley and Singleton road extensions to the north and south and a new north-south connector street between Mosley and Singleton which would primarily function as an interior road for the AHA development. The configuration of the AHA site follows a logical grid-like pattern. (Exhibit 2).
The Development Plan provides for a phased development of the site. The site plan creates blocks A through D. The first phase will consist of up to 90 units of permanent supportive housing on Block A. Block A is the northwest block adjacent to the Estuary Park and the eastern edge of the recently completed rehabilitated townhomes owned by Carmel. Construction on the first phase is planned to begin in 2021. The remainder of the site will be developed block by block in three additional phases to accommodate a range of lower income households and supportive services. AHA anticipates build out to occur over the next ten years. Each phase will require Design Review approval for final building architectural designs and landscape details, and each phase will be subject to objective planning and design review standards in effect at the time each Design Review application is submitted.
The Development Plan proposes that the buildings to be oriented to face Bette, Mosley, and Singleton and screen from view the interior surface parking. The Plan limits buildings to three-stories along Bette Street (with a 10’ building setback) to reflect the scale of the existing homes facing the other side of Bette. Five story buildings are allowed away from Bette Street.
Habitat for Humanity Development Proposal
On March 2, 2020, Habitat submitted a preliminary review application for their 2-acre site at the corner of Mosley and Bette (Exhibit 3). The proposed project is a 68-unit development consisting of 1-bedroom, 2-bedroom, and 3 bedroom flats, and 3-bedroom townhomes. The residential buildings will be three stories of wood frame construction arranged around an interior surface parking lot and open space. The buildings are placed close to the street in order to match existing neighborhood character established by homes across Bette Street. Vehicle access to the site is provided via a driveway off Mosley, and the driveway enters to a T-shape surface parking area. Along the south of the site is planned emergency vehicle access (EVA) and east-west pedestrian paseo connecting Bette Street to a planned north-south interior street on the AHA property to the east.
The preliminary application submitted by Habitat consists of a Development Plan, Vesting Tentative Map (condominium map), and Design Review components. Once a formal development applications are submitted and approved, Habitat would build the project in a single phase.
Streamlined Review Process under State Law
Under SB 35 (Government Code Section 65913.4), cities are required to review qualifying housing development projects using a ministerial, “by-right” review process. Review and decisions on such development projects must be based on objective standards published before submission of the development application. The objective standards must be prescriptive and quantifiable, meaning they cannot be subjective or structured to exercise discretion, require no personal or subjective judgment and must be verifiable by reference to an external and uniform source available prior to submittal.
Both the Habitat and AHA development projects are designed to qualify for streamlined review under SB 35. Under SB 35, any design review or public oversight of the development project, including Development Plan approvals, may be conducted by the Planning Board or City Council, as appropriate under local requirements. However, that design review or decision making on other entitlements must be objective and strictly focused on assessing compliance with criteria required for streamlined projects, as well as any objective design standards that have been adopted. These two projects are subject to objective zoning standards in Chapter 30 of the AMC (Zoning Ordinance requirements), and the Objective Design Review Standards adopted by the Planning Board on February 10, 2020, and objective subdivision standards.
These projects are also housing development projects that are governed by the Housing Accountability Act, Government Code Section 65589.5 (HAA). Under the HAA, the City may not deny or reduce the density of a project, such as the proposed projects, that complies with objective general plan, zoning, and subdivision standards unless the project presents a “specific, adverse impact” to public health and safety that can’t be mitigated in any other way.
The following table provides a list of the major and most significant objective standards for the review of the project. The table does not list every minor standard included in the AMC that must be met. Staff will complete that review with the final review of the project and prior to completion of final draft condition of approval for Planning Board final action.
|
Objective Standard |
Requirement |
|
Residential Density |
30 dwelling units per acre (du/ac); with up to 35% to 60% density bonus |
|
Affordable Housing |
15% of total units |
|
Building Height |
3 stories, 35 feet to up to 5 stories, 60 feet |
|
Off-Street Parking |
No more than 1 space per affordable unit |
|
Transit Passes |
1 transit pass per unit |
|
Secure Bicycle Spaces |
2 spaces per unit |
|
Open Space |
75 square feet per unit |
|
Universal Design Unit |
30% of total units |
|
Universal Design: Visitability |
100% of units |
|
Bird Safe Building Ordinance |
Requirements depend on building architecture |
|
Dark Skies Ordinance |
Requirements depend on exterior lighting design |
|
Building Architecture |
Per Objective Design Review Standards adopted February 10, 2020 |
|
Subdivision Regulations |
Various street design and engineering standards |
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW
This study session is not a “project” under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). Pursuant to SB 35 (Government Code Section 65913.4), a project that satisfies all objective planning standards of Government Code Section 65913.4(a) is subject to the streamlined, ministerial approval process provided in Government Code Section 65913.4(b) and (c). Therefore, pursuant to Government Code Section 65913.4 and Public Resources Code Section 21080(b)(1), such projects are Statutorily Exempt from CEQA as a ministerial project.
RECOMMENDATION
Hold a study session and review and discuss the two development proposals at the North Housing site.
Reviewed By,
Andrew Thomas
Planning, Building and Transportation Director
Exhibits:
1. North Housing Site Plan
2. Alameda Housing Authority Plans
3. Habitat for Humanity Plans