The Chula Vista City Council voted 4-1 Tuesday to delay action on a proposed $4 million funding commitment for an affordable housing development on a church-owned site, after neighboring residents raised concerns about drainage, privacy and parking at the project location.
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The council voted to continue the item to a June meeting, directing staff to return with conditions addressing those concerns baked into any loan agreement. The mayor cast the lone dissenting vote.
The proposed development, known as the Park Hill UMC project, would place 68 units — 67 of them income-restricted — on a baseball field at 545 E. Naples St. currently owned by the Park Hill United Methodist Church. The developer, Wakeland Housing and Development Corporation, would enter into a ground lease with the church and construct a mix of studio, one-, two- and three-bedroom units serving residents earning between 30% and 60% of the area median income.
The $4 million in proposed city and Housing Authority funding represents roughly 7% of the project’s estimated $53.8 million total development cost. Of that amount, $3 million comes from the Housing Authority’s Low- and Moderate-Income Housing Asset Fund — legacy redevelopment dollars that must be legally committed by June 30, or returned to the state.
Brian Warwick, the city’s housing manager, told the council the funding timeline was firm.
“The amount that we put into this … has to be committed by June 30th of this year under state redevelopment law,” Warwick said.
Several residents who live adjacent to the site urged the council to slow down. Stephanie Rodriguez, a homeowner on Mariposa Circle, cited years of drainage problems she attributed to the church’s prior tenant, who she said illegally trucked in fill dirt that eroded onto her property.
“My concern is that now this troubled area may be an entire apartment complex with the same drainage and erosion issues,” Rodriguez said.
Michael Osteen, who lives directly next to the proposed site, said he supports affordable housing broadly but flagged specific design concerns — including a parking lot positioned roughly 15 feet above his property and upper-floor units he said would have a direct line of sight into his backyard and bedroom.
“I’m not here asking the council to reject affordable housing,” Osteen said. “I’m asking the council to ensure that this project is designed responsibly and compatibly with the surrounding neighborhood before public funding is approved.”
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Supporters of the project included faith leaders from the California-Pacific Conference of the United Methodist Church. The Rev. Luis Garcia, the conference’s South District superintendent, said the church has a track record with similar projects.
“As a resident of Chula Vista for 23 years, I know this project will not only improve the lives of many people, but also increase the social capital of the community,” Garcia said.
City officials noted that under state law — specifically Senate Bill 4, the Affordable Housing on Faith Lands Act — the project qualifies for by-right land use approval, meaning it can move forward without discretionary council review regardless of the funding decision.
“Without this funding, the project could still move forward and submit for building permit by right ministerially without any council action,” Housing Director Stacey Kurz said.
The mayor and council members acknowledged that dynamic but differed on its implications. Mayor John McCann said state law has stripped cities of meaningful planning authority.
“Sacramento has taken local rights away from our community,” he said, adding that he would not support the project given its density in an established single-family neighborhood.
Councilmember Jose Preciado took a more tempered view on the state’s position, and said the financing question should be separated from broader concerns about the project’s design.
“Sacramento is trying to listen to how we solve housing issues, how we solve affordability problems, how we tend to seniors, how we tend to families with low income,” Preciado said.
The council’s motion to continue directs staff to incorporate concerns around parking, drainage and privacy as explicit conditions in the loan agreement when the item returns in June.
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