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February 5, 2019 <br />Honorable Mayor and Council Persons: <br />Deborah Hicks— DeBach <br /> <br /> <br />Ten years ago, my husband and I were looking for a neighborhood in which to purchase a home. I told <br />him about Park Santiago and that is where we looked for the next several years. In 2010, we were lucky <br />enough to find a house we could afford. Its diversity and overall neighborly atmosphere were exactly <br />what we had been looking for. The beautiful entrance to our neighborhood is enhanced by the historic <br />palm trees that line Edgewood Road, and the aesthetically pleasing office building surrounded by <br />mature trees and landscaping were also contributing factors to our choice. <br />I have grown up in Orange County and used to drive to Santa Ana to shop at Fashion Square. I spent <br />loads of time downtown browsing the thrift stores and finding many treasures. Downtown then <br />converted to a walkable area. Formerly quaint neighborhoods were overwhelmed with multifamily <br />apartments placed willy-nilly and many of these same apartments are now akin to slums. The once <br />quaint neighborhoods now suffer with crime, gangs and homeless people. <br />Throughout it all, the Park Santiago neighborhood remained constant and thriving, like its neighbor <br />Floral Park. There is pride of ownership here. We look out for each other. <br />The proposed project at 2525 N. Main Street threatens this. We knew when we purchased our home <br />that the neighborhood zoning and general plan supported what was here. Now residents are being <br />asked to support a general plan change, and a zoning change to allow a behemoth of an apartment <br />complex being marketed as housing for the "professionals" who want to live in Santa Ana, when within <br />0.5 miles of this proposed project, 3500 newly approved units are in the pipeline. <br />The term low-income housing continues to come up at all meetings. This project is not affordable. <br />The City of Santa Ana is doing the lion's share in the county of addressing this housing need. Santa Ana's <br />Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA) is 405 units for the planning period of 2014 through 2021. <br />Today the total remaining RHNA is 167 units. The data provided by the developer says their in lieu fee of <br />$6,071, 190 will produce 100 new low-income units. Your planning staff knows this is not possible and <br />you as city leaders know that too. One could expect at best, 12 to 14 units if the land costs were not <br />included. <br />The new Veteran's village is a project of 75 units being built on a 1.5 -acre parking lot at 3312 W. 11` <br />Street. It is not backing up to a residential neighborhood and the density there is 50 units per acre. Cost <br />is $29.7 million dollars, which works out to $396,000 per door or unit. I do not think an in lieu fee of <br />$6,000,000 would be even a drop in the bucket towards 100 units of affordable housing. <br />There are affordable projects built in the City that have only a density of 29.8 units per acre. I am citing <br />the Triada at the Station District site, which is 2.48 acres with a total of 74 units, which is 29.8 units per <br />acre. This project is located within the Lacy neighborhood at 616 N. Lacy Street and built at a lower <br />density. It is also aesthetically pleasing and blends nicely into the surrounding neighborhood. One need <br />