HUNTINGTON BEACH : Residents Not Happy About Project Plans

Residents of a neighborhood with names such as Happy, Jolly and Joyful aren’t lately, because of plans for a 140-unit condominium complex.

About 50 of them went to City Hall this week and persuaded planning commissioners to scale down the redevelopment project on Joyful Lane and Happy Drive, near Jolly Lane. The development is a joint project of a Huntington Beach company and the city’s Redevelopment Agency.

Commissioners, who will reconsider a revised version of the proposal Oct. 2, agreed with residents’ criticisms that the planned complex would be too large and that it targets young buyers for property designated for senior-citizen housing. The 4-acre site is one of the last in the city zoned for low-cost, senior housing.

Commissioners decided not to reject the project entirely, however, mainly because it calls for more than half of the condominiums to be set aside for moderate-income buyers, who could receive federal assistance for their down payment. Those buyers, who must earn less than $50,000 per year, would qualify for $2 million in federal subsidies the city has earmarked for the project.

As proposed, however, the housing assistance would be available only for first-time buyers. Commissioners are calling for revised plans to make available at least some of the financial aid for low-income seniors.