What about Housing?

West Coyote Hills

Last night the City of Fullerton kicked off another attempt to decide what to do with West Coyote Hills by holding an informational meeting in the Senior Center across from city hall. Oddly missing from a lengthy discussion of proposed residential development was any serious explanation of housing needs in Fullerton.

Nearly 200 people listened to a history of the hills and of past development efforts and a summary of the current planning process presented by Joan Wolff, consultant planner for the city.  Then members of the audience spoke.  Most opposed development.  Friends of Coyote Hills, a citizen group that wants to preserve the hills in a wild state, had a display in the lobby and was very visible in the audience.

Many issues were raised — traffic, smog, pollution, water, schools, quake safety, fires, congestion, recreation, ecology — and all seemed to have been researched and reviewed repeatedly since the question of development first arose in the earl 1970’s.  But housing got short shrift.

Thirty-five minutes into her 45-minute presentation, Wolff said, “In general our area is jobs rich and housing poor, so to get in more compliance with the AQMD and SCAG forecasts, additional housing is seen as desirable.”

Judith Kaluzny , a Fullerton attorney, asked whether any consideration had been given to building low-income housing since there’s no shortage of high-end housing in Fullerton.  Wolff said that could be added to the plan if so desired, but it wasn’t included right now.

Karen Lang McNabb said she believed the city lost money on new housing due to the increased cost of providing services, but no one on the panel of city employees responded to that portion of her comments.

Bob Jensen asked what would be the downside of not developing the hills.

Wolff replied that the city couldn’t afford to buy the land and preserve it, but that the developer had agreed to leave significant open space and to maintain trails.

“If the development occurred there would be some benefit to the city in terms of recreational resources,” she said.

There was no mention of a pressing need for housing.  Instead, the city’s plan is to build on open space as a means of preserving open space.

You can read the plan here.