Brea residents could see more dense housing developments come to the North Orange County city.
It comes after changes to zoning codes following the city council’s decision to move forward with an ordinance that seeks to streamline the incentives and waivers process for constructing more dense housing projects.
In a 4-0 vote on May 6, council members initiated the ordinance that will need at least two more readings by the city council before it can be codified.
The ordinance proposes to codify an existing state density bonus law that incentivizes higher density housing projects through reductions to parking requirements and development standards in an effort to reduce the cost of construction for developers.
“We’ve always been a very housing forward community and that’s evident in having an affordable housing ordinance since the 1990s,” Brea Assistant City Manager Jason Killebrew said in an interview.
Further incentives are also included for childcare facilities as well as housing projects located near transit centers.
Any housing development with five or more units would qualify for the proposed density bonuses, so long as an adequate amount of affordable units are available, according to the staff report.
Overall, a density increase would be dependent on the type of housing being built, the level of affordability and the total number of affordable units available.
Should the ordinance be approved, Brea officials say it can help the city hit its state-mandated housing numbers, according to the staff report.
Brea officials have to zone for 2,365 new housing units by 2029, according to their adopted housing plan.
Of those new units, 669 of them need to be aimed at low income and very low income residents.
In Orange County, a four-person household making less than $135,350 a year is considered low income, according to thresholds set by the California Department of Housing and Community Development.
According to a recent report released by the Cal State Fullerton College of Business and Economics, the median home price in Orange County is $1.15 million, with a median monthly mortgage payment of nearly $7,700.
Following a question from Brea City Councilmember Steven Vargas at the May 6 council meeting, Killebrew also confirmed that these density bonuses will not take effect in areas zoned for single-family homes.
City Planner Joanne Hwang further clarified that single-family zoned properties are only allowed to have up to four units constructed on them.
With current state mandates, cities in Orange County vary in the amount of units they need to zone for by 2029. Fullerton and Huntington Beach, for example, will both need to zone for more than 13,000 units, while Buena Park has to plan for more than 9,000 new housing units.
While Brea and other OC cities grapple with the housing mandates, Huntington Beach tried opposing the state mandates through a lawsuit that ultimately failed in appeals court.
Hwang also noted that Brea could benefit from meeting housing requirements through grants offered by the state.
“This will allow the city to continue to maintain the “Prohousing” designation, which does provide the city with advantages on certain grant opportunities,” she said.
As noted during the presentation at the May 6 meeting, Brea is currently the only city in Orange County designated as a Prohousing Jurisdiction by the California Department of Community and Housing Development and is one of 42 cities throughout California with the distinction.
In April, Brea officials approved the development of two new housing developments near the 57 freeway which are slated to bring nearly 300 new housing units to the city.
[Read: Brea Expects 300 New Homes to be Built]
Going forward, Killebrew believes that adopting the ordinance will be crucial to helping Brea meet its housing construction needs.
“Having a local density bonus actually in our code, it really helps with those times where there is ambiguous language between state law and us trying to revert to the state law and see how that intertwines with our own requirements,” Killebrew said of the proposed ordinance. “Now it’s all encompassed in our zoning code.”