Settlement reduces apartments in low-income complex
By Phil Diehl, July 16, 2018

A legal settlement has been reached that will remove six units from Pacific Wind Apartments, a 90-unit affordable housing complex approved last year for Harding Street in Carlsbad’s old Barrio neighborhood.

Residents in the Carlsbad Alliance for Responsible Development filed a writ of mandate last August in Vista Superior Court seeking to stop or reduce the size of the project, saying the noise, traffic and height of the three-story buildings would overwhelm the older, single-story homes next door to the property.

“We always said we are not trying to fight affordable housing in the area,” said Everett DeLano, an attorney representing the residents. “We just want it to fit in with the neighborhood.”

The developer, a partnership of C&C Development and Innovative Housing Opportunities, has agreed to remove the top floor of one building, reducing the total number of apartments by six, said Debbie Fountain, Carlsbad’s housing and neighborhood services director. The number of parking spaces will remain the same, which means more spaces per apartment overall.

Final approval of the changes are being processed by the city, Fountain said. No start date has been set for construction, which is expected to take 18 months to two years.

Pacific Wind, formerly known as the Harding Street Neighbors project, will cover about four acres along Harding Street west of Interstate 5, about a block north of Tamarack Avenue at the southeast end of the Barrio.

The apartments would be clustered in five buildings of two and three stories, and plans include a two-story recreation center.

About 60 percent of the units would be three-bedroom apartments, with the rest one or two bedrooms. To qualify as residents, a household of four must have an income at 80 percent or less of the median county income of $73,000. Depending on individual circumstances, that would make rents between $800 and $1,200 a month.

The developer received a $7.4 million loan from the city in 2012 to purchase 21 small duplex lots for the site. Also, the city has agreed to close more than half a block of Harding Street and dedicate that property to the project.

Most of the homes on the lots were built in the 1950s, and many are in poor repair. They will be demolished.

The developer originally planned to build as many as 140 apartments, but was unable to buy all the lots needed for that.

Carlsbad officials have supported the project as a way to help address the city’s shortage of affordable housing.

Also last year, Carlsbad approved a $4.25 million construction loan to a developer with plans to build 50 affordable apartments for low-income and homeless military veterans in the Barrio.

The apartments would be built by Affirmed Housing at two separate sites — one also on Harding Street and the other on Oak Avenue, both just west of Interstate 5. Twenty-six of the apartments would be studios, and the rest would have one, two and three bedrooms.

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