The Santa Clarita Planning Commission recommended approval for 106 apartments and a small retail space in Newhall despite concerns the plan didn’t offer enough for its future residents.
The project also again included a “developer donation” as a condition to allow the plans to skirt the area’s intended commercial zoning element.
The Newhall Avenue Mixed Use Project calls for a 70-unit apartment building; 36 two-story for-rent townhome apartment units across seven buildings; and a single-story, 4,000-square-foot commercial building on an approximately 9.7-acre hillside property at 23755 Newhall Ave.
The commission agreed to the plan on a 3-0 vote with a few recommendations and two members not taking part in the discussion. Pam Verner was absent from the meeting, and Commissioner Tim Burkhart recused himself because he received a donation from the developer during his recent City Council campaign.
Glenn Adamick, the project’s representative, lamented the rugged terrain behind the in-fill portion of the project along Newhall Avenue made it difficult to meet the zoning requirement for 50,000 square feet of commercial space, a point the commission acknowledged.
The Burbank-based developer, Community Multihousing Inc., doubled down on its stance at the second hearing, mentioning a consultant’s report that states the area could only justify 5,000 square feet of commercial without significant grading.
“As far as overcrowded, you know, the state of California needs housing,” Adamick said, in response to project concerns during public comment. He said he was a local landlord who sees units rent out in days, receiving “100 emails” when he lists a property on Zillow.
The project is now taking the place of a defunct business and adding homes, which is also important, said Planning Commissioner Nathan Keith, who supported the project. He suggested there might be a need to look at the city’s zoning in some areas to make sure it matches the terrain.
“Basically, we’re using the minor-use permit process to go ahead and reduce the square footage, and then, like I said, the community benefit that we thought related to that was ‘the whole Hart Park donation,’” Adamick said, referring to $325,000 that Assistant City Attorney Karl Berger called both an “in-lieu fee” and a “donation” Tuesday.
Keith said there were fees the developer was not paying, intended to support roads and other infrastructure needs, with the reduced commercial square footage. Planning staff shared figures Tuesday indicating that amount almost equaled to the developer’s suggested donation.
Commissioners briefly debated whether they should attach the money to the long-planned second parking structure for nearby downtown Newhall, a project for which the city is planning to request bids later this year.
When the commission discussed the potential for “gently persuading” Adamick to split his donation between William S. Hart Park and the parking structure, he told the commission the cost of parking structure construction in the region comes to about $35,000 per space.
Berger also said the limited powers of the Planning Commission could compel neither fee, but they could recommend a condition the City Council can later attach to the project.
The Santa Clarita City Council drew a bit of controversy earlier in the year when a mixed-use project blocks away on Main Street drew criticism for not only going beneath the commercial space requirements, but also demolishing a historic courthouse to add condos.
The Santa Clarita City Council ultimately signed off on that project after Councilwoman Laurene Weste and the developer negotiated a $750,000 agreement for the city, which council members later renegotiated down to $300,000 for historic preservation and $450,000 going to the local radio station next door to the project, which is called the Hartwell.
