SAN DIEGO — An apartment building project with 3 of 18 units considered affordable housing got fast tracked by the City under its infill development initiative called The Complete Communities Housing Solutions. Neighbors around the Logan Heights project worry about the impacts the new building will have on them.
But they say no one in the City, nor the developer, seem to care.
The 4-story, 18-unit apartment building is going up on the corner of Ocean View Boulevard and 28th street in Logan Heights. Three of those units are designated affordable housing. Crews just started breaking ground. Neighbors say they had no idea anything was happening on the lot where a duplex used to be, until a construction crew showed up last month.
Erica Ranasinghe says when she found out the building just a few yards from her house was going to be 4-stories, she immediately thought of her new 30,000 dollar solar system.
“We invested in it to try to save money on energy costs," she says. "The shadow from that building will completely block out the sun and our solar becomes obsolete and we're stuck with a $30,000 solar loan that is affectively useless.”
Ransasinghe is also concerned about what a major construction project will do to the ground and how it will affect the foundation of her house that was built in 1902.
“Anything that happens to our foundation that is manmade damage, so construction, will mean that our home insurance is invalid. We contacted our insurance company," she says. "First you need to have a foundation survey before they do any kid of construction project first.”
Ransasinghe says she had to hire an attorney because she can’t get any answers from the City or the developer about what kind of project is happening.
“I understand our city needs more housing and more affordable housing," Ransasinghe says. "There is a way to do that that doesn’t impact the community members that are currently living here.”
She and other neighbors CBS 8 spoke with say they’ve reached out to the developer through email and phone calls, but got no response. CBS 8 reached out to the developer Alexander Alemany who says this is his second Complete Communities Housing Solutions project.
He has one in Bankers Hill not yet under construction. He said one incentive for builders to do infill projects is the density bonus program.
“This is private development. It's not subject to tax credit financing or grants. Complete privately financed. These density bonus programs, how they work is they provide other types of incentives. Whether it's height limits, setbacks, building more units, those types of incentives. However, these are not free incentives. It’s in exchange for providing affordable housing units. If you provide affordable housing units, a certain percentage, you're able to take advantage of this density bonus program, build a larger project. They'll give you some incentives, leeway, in setbacks and height limits.”
That’s where neighbors like Alex Wolfe are having a problem.
“I am restricted by 20 feet," Wolfe says. "I'm restricted by the setback rules. I'm very interested to see if they are, which I know they're not for the height which this is a 60 foot tower. Are they meeting the setbacks? We don’t know. The zoning, you can’t overlook the zoning. There’s zoning for this part of the community for a reason.”
In this part of Logan Heights, the city waives parking requirements so the developer doesn’t have to provide on-site parking, hoping to encourage public transit.
“With 18 units you know there’s going to be people who live in there who do not have cars," Wolfe says. "Where will they park? I don’t know, maybe they’ll use the school parking lot.”
Ranasinghe has a different issue.
“My issue is that he has rammed through this affordable housing project, taken advantage of laws that Todd Gloria has passed with none of the robust community consultation that Todd Gloria says affordable housing projects are going to be subjected to," she says.
In fact, neighbors say while they were trying to do their own research to find out about the project, they discovered Alemany’s wife worked for Mayor Gloria.
When CBS 8 asked Alemany if his wife works for the mayor, he said yes.
"She’s uh... she's his campaign manager," Alemany said.
CBS 8 asked if his wife worked with Mayor Gloria in the past.
"She has." he said. "In his administration.’"
Alemany says he can’t make everyone happy.
He’s helping the city address its housing crisis and he’s done everything he’s legally required to do.
“The City is trying to encourage housing," Alemany said. "So really what the neighbors should do is speak to the city. Not just with development services. Speak to their local council member. Speak to the mayor. And get involved to address their concerns because those are the policy makers. They’re the ones that set the agenda for what the City should and should not do. I'm just implementing the policy that the city has already adopted.”
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