Highrose/Verandas Project to Come Before Manhattan Beach City Council
Aug 15, 2022 08:03PM ● By Jeanne Fratello
The hotly contested Highrose/Verandas project proposed for El Porto will come before the Manhattan Beach City Council on Tuesday night.
The Verandas project (formerly referred to as the Highrose project)
is a new 96,217 square-foot, four-story multifamily residential
structure, containing 79 rental dwelling units, six of which will be set
aside for “very low income” households.
Despite vocal opposition to the project by some residents, the project has moved through various stages of approval, with city officials saying that their hands are tied due to state laws regarding this kind of housing development.
Most recently, in June, Manhattan Beach's Planning Commission voted unanimously to uphold the Community Development Director's approval of the 79-unit Highrose/Verandas project, turning down four appeals from members of the community.
At the time, Planning Commission members acknowledged frustration with not being able to amend the project, but said that since it met all legal requirements that they were tasked with reviewing, they had to accept the proposal.
"The only thing we could do here is potentially set the city up for
significant litigation by deciding not to follow the law, which is just
painful, expensive, and a waste of everybody’s time and money because
this issue has been litigated a number of times and has been upheld
repeatedly," said Manhattan Beach Planning Commissioner Jim Dillavou at the time. "We can try to puff our chests out and say, 'We’re Manhattan
Beach and we’re different, and we’re not going to follow the rules
because we don’t have to,' but after two years of fighting that, I think
we’d lose one way or the other."
At Tuesday night's meeting, the City Council will be tasked with reviewing five new appeals filed by residents.
The appeals were filed by Donald McPherson, Robert Schendel, George Bordokas, Mark Burton, and Andrew Ryan. The appeals cite various points of contention including environmental issues, disputes about how the height waiver was calculated, and concerns about the project's impact on the community and local businesses.
However, a presentation prepared by city staff in advance of the meeting outlines reasons for rejecting each of the five appeals. The staff presentation recommends affirming the Planning Commission's decision to approve the project.
Verandas Project Uses Density Bonus Laws
The project has drawn criticism
from El Porto and North Manhattan neighbors for its size, as well as
the implications for parking and traffic on the surrounding area.
Public comments on the project that were received between June 9 and August 10 - almost entirely in opposition - can be found here.
Furthermore, the developer argues that the project will generate less traffic than any alternative projects, such as an office/commercial or mixed-use retail building.
The project is proposed on two contiguous lots, 401 Rosecrans Avenue
and 3770 Highland Avenue, which are proposed to be merged into a single
43,549 square-foot parcel to accommodate the project.
The project proposes demolition of a former banquet facility (Verandas) and multi-use commercial building (Tradewinds Village) and subsequent construction of a 96,217 square-foot multi-family residential building with 79 rental dwelling units.
The project proposes demolition of a former banquet facility (Verandas) and multi-use commercial building (Tradewinds Village) and subsequent construction of a 96,217 square-foot multi-family residential building with 79 rental dwelling units.
The 79 dwelling units would include:
- 21 studio apartments,
- 11 one-bedroom apartments,
- 40 two-bedroom apartments, and
- 7 three-bedroom apartments.
The apartments range in size from 512 square
feet to 1,727 square feet, comparable to standard rental units
throughout Manhattan Beach. Six of the 79 dwelling units will be set aside for
“very low income” households. The remaining 73 dwelling units will be
market-rate dwelling units.
View of the proposed Project Verandas from Rosecrans, via the developerFor fiscal year 2021, “very low
income” is defined as $59,100 for a family of four, or $41,400 for an
individual, within the greater Los Angeles area.
The project proposes two floors of subterranean parking, containing a
total of 127 automobile parking spaces, seven motorcycle parking
spaces, and 27 bicycle parking spaces.
The developer is utilizing State Density Bonus Laws, which allow developers to exceed the maximum density requirements as specified in a city’s zoning code if certain criteria are met, like setting aside a certain percentage of the total units in the project aside for very low-income occupants. In addition, State Density Bonus laws allow developers to request waivers from development standards, like setback and height requirements.
- maximum buildable floor area,
- maximum number of stories,
- maximum height, and
- setback for portions of the structure with walls greater than 24 feet in height.
If no State Density Bonus laws were used, a
total of 51 units would be allowed on the site, and a the maximum
buildable floor area would be a total of 74,033 square feet. However,
the project exceeds the minimum required number of automobile parking
spaces under the State Density Bonus laws, which would be 103
parking spaces.
Notices about the project were mailed on January 6 to property owners and residents within 100 feet of the perimeter of the subject parcel.
SB 35 Requires City to Add More Units
The
State of California has been changing laws over the past several years
to encourage the building of more housing, including increasing density
within areas that are already developed.
Many people are familiar with the most recent changes, contained in SB 9 and SB 10, the first of which effectively ended single-family zoning to encourage lot splits, duplexes and other development within areas that now feature only single-family homes. (A good explainer of SB 9 and the other laws leading up to it is in this analysis on MB Confidential: "The End of SFR Zoning in Manhattan Beach.")
According to the city, the Verandas project is not an SB 9 project, which deals with individual residential lots. (SB 10 does not apply either; it allows jurisdictions in urbanized areas to adopt voluntary zoning ordinances that permit up to ten residential units on a single parcel within certain areas.)
Many people are familiar with the most recent changes, contained in SB 9 and SB 10, the first of which effectively ended single-family zoning to encourage lot splits, duplexes and other development within areas that now feature only single-family homes. (A good explainer of SB 9 and the other laws leading up to it is in this analysis on MB Confidential: "The End of SFR Zoning in Manhattan Beach.")
According to the city, the Verandas project is not an SB 9 project, which deals with individual residential lots. (SB 10 does not apply either; it allows jurisdictions in urbanized areas to adopt voluntary zoning ordinances that permit up to ten residential units on a single parcel within certain areas.)
A
regular multi-year planning process known as the Regional Housing
Needs Assessment makes suggestions for cities and regions as to how many
new housing units are needed. In 2017, a new law (SB 35) threatened
cities that don't meet their targets by allowing for more housing,
including affordable housing, with a forced-approval process down the
road for new development.
The latest
Regional Housing Needs Assessment process declared that Manhattan Beach
must make way to add 774 total units by 2029. The City Council has reluctantly approved an outline proposing how it would meet that requirement.
City
officials confirmed to MB News that that
the affordable units proposed as a part of the Verandas project, if
constructed, would get credited toward Manhattan Beach's state-mandated,
lower-income housing requirements.
