CARLSBAD — The Carlsbad Planning Commission recommended that the City Council approve a mixed-use development featuring retail space and 50 for-sale condominiums in the downtown Village-Barrio neighborhood.
The proposal would convert a 0.72-acre site near the intersection of Carlsbad Village Drive and Jefferson Street into a five-story building with three ground-floor commercial units totaling 3,801 square feet and four levels of housing above, according to city documents.
The for-sale condominiums would range from one- to three-bedroom units, measuring between 876 and 2,286 square feet.
The project includes four units for very low-income residents and four for moderate-income residents, qualifying it for a density bonus. Under state law, the project requested six waivers, including for maximum building height, reduced parking stall length and the removal of commercial parking requirements.
Commissioner Nicholas Foster said it was the first project he could recall during his time on the commission that included for-sale, low-income units. However, he questioned how the units would avoid the “quagmire” of an Encinitas project that raised concerns over access to affordable housing.
Nicole Piano-Jones, program manager with the city’s Housing and Homeless Services Department, said the for-sale nature of the project prevents the units from being rented out.
She added that the city oversees the vetting process for qualified buyers to ensure that only someone within the appropriate income range, a qualified nonprofit or the city purchases the property to facilitate a sale to a qualified person or family.
“And it just continues on in that capacity for the 55-year period. Every time the unit is resold, we start the clock over again,” Piano-Jones said. “We have a pretty tight ship to make sure that we’re not losing any affordable units.”
Jonathan Frankel, representing developer Rincon Homes, said the inclusion of moderate-income units — for households earning 110% of the area median income — represents a “missing middle” of people who make too much to qualify for affordable housing but not enough to afford market-rate units.
Frankel said the demographic “is tremendously underserved in general” and that Carlsbad has permitted only 14 moderate-income housing units in the city over the last five years. All of those projects were rentals, not for-sale units.
“The project as a whole, I think it’s contributing to housing,” he said. “I do like that it’s for sale and I’m really impressed with the City of Carlsbad Housing and how you guys have a program in place and mechanisms and everything to make sure the low income and moderate housing is regulated.”
‘Project is inadequate’
No members of the public spoke at the May 6 Planning Commission meeting, where the project received its recommendation.
Edward Valenzuela, a city planner, said that feedback from previous meetings, emails and outreach efforts highlighted concerns about traffic, parking and short-term vacation rentals.
City estimates found the project would add 453 trips to nearby roadways, including 29 during morning peak hours and 41 during evening peak hours, according to city documents.
“Carlsbad Village Drive is designed to adequately handle the traffic generated by the project,” Valenzuela said.
Under Assembly Bill 2097 and restrictions on parking requirements near major transit stops, short-term rentals would not be allowed as part of the project, he added.
The project includes 50 parking spaces overall. Although the developer requested a waiver from commercial parking requirements, the proposal still includes two commercial parking spaces.
Frankel added that the design has room for 23 additional lift-assisted parking spaces, bringing the total to 73. Because the parking lifts would be assigned to individual unit owners, he said they were not included in the submitted calculations.
The Planning Commission voted 7-1 to recommend the project to the City Council.
Commissioner Alicia Lafferty cast the dissenting vote, saying, “This project, to me, is inadequate.”
One of Lafferty’s concerns centered on the demolition of the bank currently on the site, which Frankel described as “a long vacant and underutilized bank and drive-thru.”
Lafferty said she felt the report did not adequately document the bank building’s historic significance.
“It references Tucker Sadler as a famous architect in San Diego, but doesn’t actually mention any even style of what this building is that’s being requested to be demolished,” she said. “It should be at least sent to the Historic Preservation Commission to make a judgement before we approve this project because I’m concerned that we are losing our community character, which seems to be something that is a constant request, but yet never fully realized.”
Lafferty also expressed concerns about the building’s height and the precedent it could set in the Village-Barrio area.
City code limits buildings in the area to 45 feet and four stories. However, the project seeks a waiver to allow a height of 63.5 feet and five stories. Structures, including the elevator mechanical room and mechanical screens, could extend the building height to more than 71 feet, according to city documents.
“Our standard is 45, we’re going 70,” Lafferty said. “It’s a big ask, it’s a big difference, and it will be felt.”
