La Mesa officials voted unanimously to green-light a new development with 114 homes in the downtown village district, even as they voiced concerns over parking supply in the area.
The La Mesa City Council voted Tuesday to ratify the Design Review Board’s decision to approve the new development, called CityMark Palm.
The project will place a five-story mixed-use development with 114 apartments and 72 parking spaces on a vacant lot on the corner of Palm Avenue and Allison Avenue.
While the housing project and others like it often include affordable housing and address supply needs, officials said the new developments could exacerbate parking problems in the area.
“Because of the state law, and because of the density bonus, (developers) are able to forgo what we have in our municipal code,” Mayor Mark Arapostathis said. “It’s a frustrating thing.”
A new state density bonus law allowed the proposal to bypass the typical review process, which entails approval by the Planning Commission and City Council.
Specifically, the law allows for a project to add 20% more homes, provided a certain percentage are income-restricted at rents considered affordable for very low income tenants.
Of the 114 homes at CityMark Palm, 109 will be market rate, with five reserved for people who earn no more than half the area median income — below $61,250 for a single person, or $70,000 for a two-person household, per county guidelines.
Further, the project faces no parking requirements due to its proximity to La Mesa’s trolley station. A state law known as Assembly Bill 2097 bars cities from enforcing local minimum-parking requirements on new housing developments located within a half-mile of a major public transit stop.
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While city leaders could technically vote against the project’s ratification, the city attorney said it wasn’t recommended because the Urban Design Program and Downtown Village Specific Plan requirements had been met.
“There have been times that we have not ratified the DRB, and we were immediately contacted by the state,” Arapostathis said.
At the same time, officials are considering a collection of ideas to add more parking in the downtown village, such as by removing trees and bike racks and reducing red curbs
“The city of La Mesa is going to have to absorb 300 additional cars, and residents are gonna have a harder time finding parking near their homes,” Councilmember Laura Lothian said.
She said that each new transit-oriented housing development intensifies the worries of downtown business owners who fear worsening parking shortages will deter customers.
“It’s an urgent problem, and we need to get ahead of it,” she said.
Despite concerns over parking supply, Councilmember Lauren Cazares noted that the developers included more parking spaces than was required to when they were designing the apartment building.
“While this is certainly a change for the village, I think that mixed-use makes a whole lot more sense than it just being housing,” Cazares said. “I look forward to welcoming the businesses that will take over the base of that building.”
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