By Linda Taaffe
Los Altos
The Los Altos City Council last week approved a scaled-down version of the city’s first exclusively affordable housing complex near Loyola Corners.
The controversial mixed-use complex includes eight very-low-income rental units and a two-story, 6,000-square-foot office complex on the 23,000-square-foot lot adjacent to Bank of America, bordered by Lorraine, Maple and Fremont avenues.
The approved plan is four housing units smaller than originally proposed, but remains more than double the size allowed in the city’s Specific Plan for Loyola Corners. The specific plan had slated the site for an approximately 2,000-square-foot retail development with three town houses.
More than 100 neighbors signed a petition opposing the project, saying its massive scale conflicts with the city’s own guidelines established for the area. Neighbor after neighbor urged the council last week to make the development fit the lot, not the lot fit the development.
Loyola neighbor Fiona Saunder called the complex a “huge, monolithic structure.”
“You’re asking for a heck of a lot. We’re asking for nothing; just comply by the guidelines that you wrote or it’s never going to end,” she told the council.
Councilwoman Kris Casto said the council had a tough balancing act.
State law requires cities to provide affordable housing within their boundaries. Los Altos currently has 42 affordable units, including second-living units. The city must attain six very-low income ,below-market-rate units by the end of this year in order to meet its goal.
The eight Loyola units do not count toward that number, since the city already counted them as part of the Marriott Residence Inn development.
Developer Jeff Warmoth transferred the eight very-low income units to the Loyola site after the council decided a hotel and housing wouldn’t be the right mix for the El Camino site.
A unit designated as “very-low income” means a three-person household could earn up to $39,300 to qualify financially under state law.
The city is scheduled to decide on the conditions of approval and variance stipulations at its next meeting.
Warmoth expects to complete the units over the next year.
