SOLANA BEACH — The city of Solana Beach is continuing to issue permits for proposed housing projects to meet obligations in its 6th Cycle Housing Element, while several more housing developments are seeking city approval.
The 6th Cycle Housing Element, which covers the period of 2021-2029, outlines housing production requirements for California cities and plans for implementing various programs to facilitate housing construction.
Solana Beach is required to permit 875 units in this cycle and adopt 37 specific housing-related programs.
At the City Council’s March 26 meeting, city staff provided an annual update regarding the city’s Housing Element progress as of the end of 2024.
Assistant Planner John Delmer said the city has issued building permits for 178 housing units with 697 remaining, equal to 20% of its 6th Cycle allocation. In addition, 35 of the 37 housing programs required within the Housing Element are either completed or ongoing, with several adopted in late 2024.
“The completion and ongoing monitoring of 35 out of 37 programs demonstrates the city’s strong commitment to promoting housing development in our community,” Delmer said.
Of the 875 units allocated to Solana Beach, 316 must be for extremely low and very low-income households (those making less than 50% of San Diego County’s median fixed income, or MFI); 159 units for low-income (51-80% of county MFI); 160 units for moderate-income (81-120% of county MFI); and 240 units for above moderate-income (120% or more of county MFI).
As of December 2024, Solana Beach has issued permits for 32 low-income units, 80 moderate-income units, and 66 above moderate-income units. The city has not issued any permits for very low-income units.
Housing Element progress
In 2024, the city issued building permits for 82 units across various projects. This includes the Solana Highlands renovation project, which will bring 62 new units to the city, including 32 deed-restricted for seniors and 20 accessory dwelling units.
Other planned units are in various stages of review, and are not counted towards the city’s total at this time. For example, the city issued entitlements for 26 units last year, including the 13-unit Stevens 13 project planned for Stevens Avenue and the 12-unit Shea Homes project on Bell Ranch Road.
The city also received applications for various projects totaling 49 units last year. One developer has also submitted a pre-application to build 345 residential apartments near the Vons shopping center, including 42 affordable units.
“The project is expected to be formally submitted later this year,” Delmer said.
The city’s Housing Element programs outline various goals for encouraging housing production. In addition to the 24 completed and 11 ongoing programs, two remain for the city to implement.
Program 1M involves implementing a development process for extremely low-income households and special needs developments, and Program 3D consists of the adoption of the City’s Safety Element. Both are expected to be completed by the end of the year.
One of the programs the city completed in 2024 was the issuance of a request for proposals for The Pearl affordable housing project on South Sierra Avenue. For years, city leaders have expressed interest in revamping the failed project.
Skyrocketing costs led the previous developer of The Pearl to abandon it at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. The previous plans included 10 multi-bedroom units in a mixed-use development on a city-owned public parking lot.
The city issued a new RFP for the project in December but did not receive any formal proposals by the February deadline. Delmer said that before trying again later this year, officials will seek information about why it did not garner interest.
Solana Beach has also made good progress on its development of accessory dwelling units (ADUs), and is on track to exceed its Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA) goal for these units, city leaders said.
Even with more projects coming down the pipeline, Mayor Lesa Heebner expressed frustration with the sheer number of units the city is required to build and the lack of support from the state to do so.
“We have been building like crazy, and the number we got in our RHNA allocation was so outrageously high that it is impossible to meet,” Heebner said.
To realize the construction of affordable units, the city has to rely on its inclusionary housing ordinance, which requires 15% of units in a project to be deed-restricted as low-income. While there used to be more incentives for developers to construct affordable housing, particularly within ADUs, leaders noted the state has taken away many of these tools.
“I’m frustrated, because we did used to have some carrots we could offer for deed-restricted affordable, and it did at least generate one affordable unit,” Councilmember Jewel Edson said. “It would be nice if we had those things back, but we don’t.”
