By Eric Licas
The Review
A 40-year-old law setting a 45-foot height limit on buildings in South Pasadena stands in the way of the city’s efforts to enact its tentatively approved housing element. Voters must decide if that ordinance will be rescinded in November’s municipal election.
Increased housing density with taller building limits and voters’ potential distaste on the matter were the focus of discussion during a special City Council study session Monday, April 15. Councilmembers and city staff analyzed the details of South Pasadena’s housing element, which is the city’s plan to meet a state mandate for the addition of more than 2,700 homes by 2029. Councilmembers also heard comments from the public at the meeting, and weighed options regarding how the proposed height limit repeal would be worded on the ballot.
“We need people to understand why it’s so important to support this measure,” Councilwoman Janet Braun said.
The push from lawmakers in Sacramento to increase the number of available homes in communities throughout California comes in response to a statewide housing shortage, leading to soaring rental and home purchasing costs. One of the most straightforward ways to meet those mandates for cities without spare land to build out is to allow the construction of taller, higher-density residential structures.
According to the current iteration of South Pasadena’s housing element, only certain portions of the city would need to have buildings taller than 45 feet in order to achieve the density required by the state. Residential structures in the area of Mission Street in downtown, the Cawston Ostrich Farm district and along the Huntington Corridor will need to be seven-stories tall, or about 84 feet high, in order to achieve a density of 70 units per acre.
Planning officials also propose raising unit density to 110 per acre in the Fair Oaks Avenue portion of downtown. That would require eight-story buildings rising to heights of about 110 feet, according to the housing element.
“We’re not getting rid of 45 feet [across] the entire city,” City Attorney Roxanne Diaz said during the meeting. “It’s focused in those areas where … you have zoning ordinances that already support a higher density.”
If residents do not vote to approve the construction of buildings taller than 45 feet in November, planning officials will have to go back to the drawing board and revise the housing element again. The city would need to conduct extensive research to find locations other than downtown and major corridors that could support the increased housing densities. That would leave few places left to look, according to Assistant City Attorney Dave Snow. Those new sites would have to be in either medium density zones currently scheduled to accommodate 50 units per acre or single-family neighborhoods, he said.
With or without another revision, the city must clear any remaining hurdles to implement the approved housing element in about nine months. That is because the city is subject to a settlement with the nonprofit Californians for Homeownership, which sued South Pasadena after four previous drafts of the planning document were rejected by the state’s Department of Housing and Community Development and the city missed the deadline to have it certified.
Mayor Evelyn Zneimer and Councilman Michael Cacciotti cited resistance from their constituents, and asked city staff if there might be any “wiggle room” in the zoning densities and building heights laid out in the housing element.
Snow said it would be challenging for officials to identify alternatives that would satisfy the Department of Housing and Community Development, especially this late in the implementation process. Diaz, meanwhile, also noted that failing to meet the deadlines defined in South Pasadena’s settlement with Californians for Homeownership could make the city vulnerable to additional litigation.
With all that in mind, City Councilmembers floated the idea of issuing a resolution in favor of a measure to repeal the height limit, in hopes of encouraging voters to back it. They also discussed surveys, polling and other means to build support around the effort, and began working out how the measure will be worded on the ballot. No final decisions were reached Monday.
The ballot measure must be researched, written and approved for the ballot by the City Council, then submitted to the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder by early August. South Pasadena officials have said they hope to have it turned in by July to allow time to process the paperwork or make any last-minute revisions.
First published in the April 19 print issue of the South Pasadena Review.
