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Building Industry Association of Southern California, Inc <br />ORANGE COUNTY CHAPTER <br />February 2, 2016 <br />Mayor Miguel Pulido & Honorable Councilmembers <br />City of Santa Ana <br />22 Civic Center Plaza <br />Santa Ana, CA 92701 <br />Re: ITEM 75.A., CITY COUNCIL AGENDA FOR FEBRUARY 2ND, 2016 <br />Dear Mayor Pulido and Honorable Councilmembers: <br />The Building Industry Association of Southern California, Orange County Chapter <br />(BIA/OC) is a non-profit trade association of over 1,100 member companies employing <br />over 100,000 people affiliated with the home building industry. The Orange County <br />Chapter represents the largest member base within BIA Southern California. Our <br />mission is to champion housing as the foundation of vibrant and sustainable <br />communities. <br />Statewide, Orange County is ranked 2^B only to the Bay area for the highest housing <br />prices. This is largely due to 1) lack of adequate housing stock, 2) a jobs to housing <br />imbalance, and 3) lack of available land coupled with excessive regulation on the <br />housing industry. Policies that support the production of housing allow for <br />fundamental economic principles of supply and demand to occur. Furthermore, the City <br />of Santa Ana's Economic Development website identifies population density as 12,440 <br />people per square mile, much higher than Costa Mesa, at 7,024 or, the city of Los <br />Angeles, at 8,282 per square mile. In short, the City has a timely need for more housing <br />for all income levels. <br />The Santa Ana Planning Commission has formally recommended approval of the <br />Heritage Mixed Use Development and specifically recommended to the City Council <br />that the in -lieu affordable housing fees from that project be dedicated to the proposed <br />First Street Apartments. AMCAL Multi -Housing, Inc. intends to develop the First Street <br />Apartments and the project is ideally suited to benefit the City. The 69 apartment <br />homes will be 100% affordable to Santa Ana families earning between 30% and 60% of <br />median income and will include 3 and 4 bedroom floorplans. Furthermore, this project <br />is centrally located on First Street not far from the I-5 Freeway and Grand Avenue, an <br />area that will benefit greatly from new capital investment and revitalization. <br />AMCAL is a reputable developer in our region and maintains a very high level of <br />credibility for effectively executing affordable housing in Orange County. They have <br />recently celebrated tremendous public private partnerships in Irvine with Alegre <br />Apartments and in Huntington Beach with Oceana Apartments. We strongly encourage <br />11 <br />A <br />BIR <br />PRESIDENT <br />JIM YATES <br />RANCHO MISSION VIEJO <br />VICE PRESIDENT <br />PHIL BODEM <br />TAYLOR MORRISON <br />TREASURER <br />MIKE GARTLAN <br />KBHOME <br />SECRETARY <br />RICK WOOD <br />TRI POINTE HOMES <br />IMMEDIATE PAST PRESIDENT <br />JOAN MARCUS-COLVIN <br />THE NEW HOME COMPANY <br />TRADE CONTRACTOR V P. <br />ALAN BOUDREAU <br />BOUDREAU PIPELINE CORPORATION <br />ASSOCIATE VICE PRESIDENT <br />MARK HIMMELSTEIN <br />NEWMEYER & DILLION. LLP <br />MEMBER�AT.LARGE <br />LAURA ARCHULETA <br />JAMBOREE HOUSING <br />MEMBER -AT -LARGE <br />SCOTT STARKEY <br />STARKEY COMMUNICATIONS <br />CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER <br />MICHAEL BALSAMO <br />