| Fox Hills Neighborhood Association |
| CITY PLAN: MIXED USE HIGH DENSITY FOR THE FOX HILLS COMMUNITY (HIGH DENSITY= 100 UNITS/ACRE) The State of California requires all cities to prepare a General Plan, which establishes the framework for how a city will grow and develop over the next 20 plus years. The General Plan is mandated to address specific elements, which are housing, land use, transportation, open space, safety, noise, conservation, and environmental justice. To address the state wide housing shortage, California mandates certain requirements for the Housing Element of the General Plan. Cities must plan for and permit a certain number of housing units within an 8 year cycle (2021-2029). Culver City’s requirement is 3,341 units, as determined by the Regional Housing Needs Assessment (RHNA). Troy Evangelho, Advanced Planning Manager, is working with a consultant team to develop the General Plan for Culver City. Troy spoke with the FHNA board to help explain the process based on the decisions the city is making. The Housing Element of the General Plan has statutory requirements to meet certain timelines, and so it was adopted by City Council in August 2022 and certified by the state in October 2022. The remaining sections of the draft General Plan are under development with an anticipated public release in summer 2023 and consideration for adopting in winter 2023. Although the Housing Element was adopted, the land use changes do not go into effect until the General Plan is adopted.As Mr. Evangelho stated: “The Mixed Use High land use designation came out of the General Plan engagement process. Various land use alternatives were presented to the General Plan Advisory Committee (GPAC). After a number of meetings the GPAC developed a preferred land use alternative. This preferred land use alternative was then presented and approved by the Planning Commission and City Council. “ All areas in Culver City are included in this plan. Potential development included in the plan is located on main commercial corridors such as Washington Blvd., Jefferson Blvd and shopping centers, such as sites presently housing Best Buy and Bed, Bath and Beyond. Also included, per state law, are single family parcels, where there can be a potential to build 4 units, depending on the square footage. HOW COULD THIS PLAN IMPACT FOX HILLS? Because of the GPAC decision and subsequent approval of the Planning Commission and City Council, there is the POTENTIAL of having approximately 2000 units built on the office sites located on the Fox Hills Park side of our community, so that the bulk of the city’s required 3341 units could possibly be built in Fox Hills. One of the GPAC members, a Fox Hills resident, voiced the view that the amount of the city’s housing requirement should be distributed in an equitable way throughout the city so as to avoid overburdening one area. Despite this input, the committee decided to designate Fox Hills as mixed use high density (100 units/acre), specifically on the residential side of Fox Hills. On the north side of Slauson, the designation is for lower density because they have smaller parcels (mostly under 2 acres with one at @5 acres) and developers prefer larger parcels. This area presently has no housing and less traffic, etc. than the residential side. Presently we have 2600 units within 26 complexes, making it the highest density housing area in Culver City. HOW MANY UNITS SPECIFICALLY CAN BE BUILT? EXAMPLE: The Fox Hills Plaza location (the old Marshall’s site) is approximately 7 acres, so approximately 700 units can be built. State Density Bonuses, if affordable housing is built, would allow more units above that amount. *** As of March 14, 2023, as per the Current Planning Manager, the owner of the Plaza has not submitted a proposal to the city. As some of you may recall, there was a big push back from the Fox Hills community in 2017 when 700 units were proposed for this site. SO FAR: A developer has applied to the city to build a Mixed Use development of 330 rental units that includes a density bonus at 5700 Hannum Avenue with 34 units as low income and the rest at market value prices. Presently this site is an office complex at the intersection of Hannum and Buckingham Parkway. SPECIAL STUDY PROPOSED BY MR. ENVANGELHO FOR THE FOX HILLS AREA: As a priority, he recommended a study because of this potential high density development. Such areas to address would be how to create streets that are shorter and easier to get around, open spaces and public amenities. Much of what FHNA discussed with Mr.Evangelho is embedded in the Housing Element, which is the portion of the General Plan that was submitted to the state for its approval. It can be found on the city’s website at www.culvercity.org. NEXT STEP ANTICIPATED FOR SUMMER, 2023: Public release of the 20 Year Draft of the General Plan [email protected] www.fhnacc.org “Like” us on Facebook! |