Warning bells are ringing at the Solana Beach train station.
The controversial Cedros Crossing commercial and residential development planned for the station already faces an April 30 deadline for a key state transportation grant.
A state official has said he's inclined not to give the $6 million grant, which would help fund a $19.2 million parking garage, if a majority of the City Council continues to criticize the project.
Now, the threat of a lawsuit has added pressure to the ticking clock facing the City Council, developer Shea Properties and the North County Transit District, the property owner.
In a letter dated April 8 sent to Mayor Joe Kellejian, a nonprofit legal services organization called Affordable Housing Advocates asserts that the City Council must approve Cedros Crossing and the low-cost housing it includes, or it will fail to meet a state mandate to provide affordable housing to lower-income households.
The state requires cities to produce a housing plan, called a Housing Element, that shows sufficient housing for future needs. A percentage of new units must be affordable housing.
For 2006-2011, Solana Beach should anticipate 131 new homes, and 52 must be for low-and very-low-income households, according to the San Diego Association of Governments.
The letter states that if the council does not approve Cedros Crossing by its April 23 meeting, Affordable Housing Advocates will sue – and not just for damages.
The nonprofit also will “seek to disable this Council from making any land use approvals unless and until it complies with its obligations on this site.”
“(Affordable Housing Advocates director) Catherine Rodman is claiming something that we don't agree with,” City Councilwoman Lesa Heebner said. “The city is in compliance with our affordable-housing element. We are always working toward those goals, and have made great progress. Our attorneys are looking at it.”
“Absolutely not,” said Rodman. “The (city's) Housing Element states unequivocally that this project is essential for Solana Beach to meet any of the region's housing needs. If they're unable to do this, they're unable to comply with the law – by their own document.”
The possibility of a lawsuit is the latest headache in the contentious,long-delayed Cedros Crossing project. Residents and council members have voiced concerns about parking, traffic and the size of the buildings. North County Repertory Theatre was to have made its new home in Cedros Crossing; now the theater plans to build near its current site in the Lomas Santa Fe Shopping Plaza.
In the initial proposal from Shea Properties, Cedros Crossing was to include, in addition to the theater, offices, restaurants, retail and apartments. The council called for a downsized redesign, and in January Shea submitted a proposal that eliminated the theater and offices.
Several council members remained dissatisfied. The buildings, Heebner said, were too massive.
In March, Shea submitted yet another proposal, similar to the original but without the theater.
Heebner isn't happy with the latest design, either. “It's disappointing,” she said. “It does not address our concerns.”
Meanwhile, Shea Properties and the transit district have until April 30 to file council-approved plans for the parking garage with the state Department of Transportation.
That would put them on the agenda for a June meeting of the California Transportation Commission, which awards the $6 million grant. With the deadline looming, each side has accused the other of foot-dragging.
There is also disagreement about how much of the project must be approved in order to secure the grant. The council is acting on the assumption that it need approve only the underground garage.
In February, however, Patrick Merrill, chief of the state's Department of Transportation Office of Rail, said only one of the five City Council members seemed likely to vote in favor of Cedros Crossing.
He said he could not recommend that the commission award the grant unless he had a clear indication that the full project would be approved soon.
The City Council has tentatively scheduled a meeting for 5 p.m. April 28 to discuss – and perhaps approve – Cedros Crossing, or at least the parking-garage portion of it.
