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Escamilla and Garcia: The Dismantling of Santa Ana's Housing Opportu... about:reader?url=https://voiceofoe.org/2020/09/escamilla-and-garcia-the... <br />pandemic, the proposed fee reduction should be applied as a <br />temporary administrative measure. This option is already within <br />the powers of the City Council to direct and approve without <br />changing the rest of the ordinance. <br />2. Follow best practices by ordering a full study of the market impacts <br />and reasonable fee target. The City has already retained the <br />services of Keyser Marston Associates (KMA) for this in their July <br />2nd, 2019 review of the HOO. <br />3. Apply the HOO to all new residential development. <br />4. Provide exemptions based on desired factors such as sustainable <br />building practices, innovative construction methods, cooperative <br />ownership models, `missing middle' building types, and other <br />public benefit thresholds. <br />5. Tackle the financing issue head on by working towards the <br />creation of a public bank to help fund high quality local standards. <br />This would have the added benefit of making the actual financial <br />estimates of developers more transparent to policy makers. <br />We agree that Santa Ana shouldn't shoulder the responsibility for <br />the regional housing crisis, but the City should remember that it is <br />beholden to the well-being of its residents, not the policy failures of <br />neighboring cities. As members of the current Council can attest, <br />the most significant barrier to development in Santa Ana is political <br />opposition. Dismantling the HOO only adds to the number of <br />politically organized residents who will oppose all new <br />development. <br />Manny Escamilla is a local historian, urban planner, and lifelong <br />Santa Ana resident. He's a graduate from SAC, UC Berkeley, and <br />UCLA. Manny worked with the City of Santa Ana for 14 years prior <br />7 of 8 9/l/2020, 4:18 PM <br />