SANTA ANA : Proposal Would Cut Apartment Density

Overcrowding in Santa Ana could be reduced by amending the city’s general plan to curb construction of high-density apartment projects, according to city planners.

A proposed amendment, already approved by the Planning Commission, would slice the number of apartment units from 35 to 15 per acre in the city’s downtown and Civic Center areas. Other sections of the city are already limited to seven units per acre.

The City Council is scheduled to hold a public hearing on the amendment at its next meeting Tuesday.

A staff report to the City Council said that overcrowding in Santa Ana has been caused by housing developments with large numbers of units. The high-density projects lead to “on-street parking and circulation problems, increased demand for emergency services and rapid deterioration of these properties due to overcrowding and inadequate maintenance,” the staff report said.

Passage of the amendment would affect 19 housing projects that are in various stages of city approval. Six of the projects, which already have been approved, would be allowed under a grandfather clause.

In December, the Planning Commission approved the proposed amendment 5 to 0, with two commissioners absent.

Three years ago the city had adopted an amendment cutting the allowable apartment density from 90 units to 35 in all neighborhoods except those designated as development areas.

Several neighborhood associations have been pushing for limitations on high-density apartment buildings, particularly those in higher crime areas. In 1986, the East Side Assn., which is made up of about 100 residents, successfully persuaded the city to reduce the apartment density in its section of town after a number of apartment complexes were built there and the crime rate increased.