Local News in Brief : Condo Lottery Set for Monday

The city of Rancho Palos Verdes has announced how it will conduct the lottery in which 10 people will win the right to buy “affordable” condominiums in a 49-unit development near Golden Cove shopping center.

The drawing will be conducted at 5 p.m. Monday at Hesse Park. Public Information Officer Katie Pitcher said that about 1,000 Rancho Palos Verdes residents are expected to vie for the opportunity to purchase one of the “affordable” units, priced at about $140,000. Identical units in the Villa Capri development on Hawthorne Boulevard cost $450,000.

If 10 qualified residents--with incomes of less than $60,000 a year--cannot be found, then a lottery will be held for non-residents.

The drawing will be telecast live on cable Channel 3. Participants, who do not have to be present, are being issued lottery numbers by mail.

Numbers, not names, will be drawn, and winning numbers will be posted at Rancho Palos Verdes City Hall, Hesse Park, Ladera Linda Community Center, Pt. Vicente Interpretive Center and the Peninsula Center and Miraleste branch libraries.

One hundred numbers will be selected, with the holders of the first 35 asked to show that they qualify by residence and income level. The first 10 selected then will have 90 days to qualify for a loan, Pitcher said. “If they can’t qualify within 90 days, they’re out,” she said.

Under state law, the city must make affordable housing available to residents. E. S. Development Inc. of Redondo Beach, the Villa Capri developer, is making the 10 units available in exchange for the city’s willingness to change the project’s zoning from commercial to residential.

Participants had to submit their names for the drawing by 5 p.m. Jan. 11.