2014-006 - Santa Ana General Plan Housing Element and Public Safety Element Updates

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HOUSING RESOURCES In September 2013, the City updated its 2008 field survey of underutilized land with the potential for redevelopment. (Note that this survey does not apply to vacant land.) The survey addressed four site characteristics: • Building maintenance, including the condition of structural elements, roof materials, doors, and windows. • Building aesthetics, including the types of materials, architectural style, and placement of structures on the lot. • Site landscaping, including the condition of plants, amount or absence of landscaping, and presence of automatic irrigation. • Parking lot, including the condition and type of impermeable surface, amount of parking provided, and presence/condition of walls or fences. The survey ranked each characteristic on a four -point scale: no deterioration (four points); minor deterioration (three points), moderate deterioration (two points), substantial deterioration (one point), and dilapidated conditions (zero points). The values assigned for the four characteristics were then summed and averaged to create a score. In general, sites with an average score of less than 3.0 are considered to be in need of moderate or substantial rehabilitation. The redevelopment potential of each site, however, is influenced by other factors, such as the age of the structure, proximity to other sites in need of rehabilitation, and the I/L ratio. In particular, the age of the structure is an important indicator. Structures built 30 or more years ago are more likely to need significant rehabilitation or structural repairs (e.g., seismic retrofitting). These needs can increase the costs of maintaining and upgrading a site to the point where it can be more profitable to sell and/or redevelop the site. The following analysis demonstrates how the City can accommodate its RHNA in the Metro East area, Transit Zoning Code, districts, and transit corridors like the Harbor Mixed Use Transit Corridor. The information is presented for each area as follows: • A brief introduction of the area and map of identified parcels • A table listing key attributes for each parcel, such as size, potential units, existing use, improvement -to- land -value ratio, and general plan and zoning • A discussion of the adequacy of sites to support residential development • An analysis of the capacity of the identified sites to accommodate housing for lower, moderate, and above moderate income households • A description of environmental or infrastructure constraints to the development of housing on the identified sites • A description of the various incentives designed to facilitate housing production JA& CITY OF SANTA ANA GENERAL PLAN HOUSING ELEMENT C -5