Post-mortem on Steadfast rezoning
Staff editorial

Residents know the council’s Feb. 20 decision was a bad one regarding Steadfast’s parcel next to Unisys. The council voted 5-0 to rezone 10 acres of commercial property to high-density residential. As a result, 144 condos will be built in a declining area impacted by high-density housing.

Residents attending the meeting said the council is inept and misdirected. All five so-called representatives advocated for the developer and other outside interests. Except for a developer’s cash going to campaign treasuries, why did the council rezone the property?

The only excuse for the initial housing proposal three years ago was to kowtow to state affordable housing goals. Residents speaking against the project for any reason during the past three years were called elitists, racists and/or bigots. Steadfast first hurled such insults, which were parroted by Councilman Lance MacLean and Planning Commissioner Chaundra Krout, who is Councilman Frank Ury’s appointee.

One must know this basis to understand the ironic discussion on Feb. 20 about a clause in Steadfast’s contract. Councilmen Ury and MacLean both advocated at length that Steadfast should have a loophole to escape building any affordable units whatsoever. Both councilmen argued that Steadfast should be allowed to pay an in-lieu fee, whereby the city would accept cash instead of requiring affordable units in the project. Thus, the only excuse for permitting any residential development at Los Alisos and Jeronimo was revealed as a sham. Council members continue to favor developers, advocacy groups and just about anyone but the residents they were elected to represent.

If this sounds insane, it gets worse. Ury has quietly been meeting with a developer – UDR/Pacific – and The Pacific Law Center. The latter is a developer-funded affordable housing advocacy group that has threatened to sue the city over housing issues. Ury and MacLean both want a large complex of affordable apartments, which became quite clear during the Feb. 20 meeting. Ury has apparently looked at two sites – one near Oso and the freeway, and a second in north Mission Viejo adjacent to Palmia.

The in-lieu developer fee supported by Ury and MacLean would be used toward funding affordable apartments elsewhere in town. On Feb. 20, Council Members Ledesma, Reavis and Kelley voted against the loophole. Thus, Steadfast is stuck with affordable units – at least until Kelley flip-flops on this issue. She appeared to make conciliatory statements to Ury and MacLean, saying the affordable apartment complex will probably be built.

As described in last week’s blog, Kelley made ludicrous statements with the help of the ludicrous city attorney. Together, they concluded that the state could halt all building permits if the city didn’t immediately build more affordable housing. As an especially outrageous example, they said residents would be prevented from replacing broken water heaters. Why doesn’t Kelley instead tell residents a story about the bogeyman?

The November election is approximately 250 days away. Will the real leaders in the community please stand up? It’s time to remove these incompetent council members who dishonestly pretended they would represent the residents.