Affordable Housing Issue Stirs Up Race

The state’s affordable housing requirement, an issue that brought hundreds of residents to City Council meetings late last year, has resurfaced in the race for two seats in the April 14 election.

But two out of the three active candidates say it is an issue that has already been settled.

The affluent city of 47,959 has a healthy fiscal outlook, unlike many San Gabriel Valley cities that are struggling with budget deficits. There have been no cutbacks since fiscal year 1988-89 when the city lost $800,000 in sales tax revenue after Grand Chevrolet left. Sales taxes, have remained stable at about $2 million annually. This year’s $35-million budget will probably be maintained next year.

Mayor Larry Glenn, 55, is the only incumbent in the race; Councilman David Bodley is not seeking reelection.

Former Councilwoman Lois M. Shade, 49, and Planning Commissioner Dale Colby, 54, are competing with Glenn for the two vacant seats. John Gordon dropped out of the race after the ballots were printed but said he has “gotten the word out” and expects few votes.

Shade, an administrative assistant for the Los Angeles County Federation of Republican Women, was a councilwoman from 1982 to 1990.

The 27-year resident, who unsuccessfully sought a third term two years ago, opposes using sales tax revenue to subsidize businesses. She also questions whether the city’s General Plan, approved in January, is valid because it failed to satisfy state requirements that the city provide for a “fair share” of affordable housing.

The council refused to amend the General Plan to designate sites for construction of hundreds of apartments and condominiums as affordable housing. It kept the eight properties zoned low-density residential and commercial.

Shade said she fears that after the election, developers will seek to amend the General Plan to allow multiple-family homes, citing the state law as justification. But she vows to prevent rezoning industrial and commercial and single-family areas for multiple-family use.

Shade proposed satisfying the state requirements by using redevelopment funds for a shared-equity program to assist young families in buying homes.

The other two contenders disagree that the plan is in jeopardy.

“In my opinion, Lois is trying to make this an issue to gain support,” said Colby, a planning commissioner for 11 years, adding that the state has not rejected the plan.

Colby, president of Covina Valley Board of Realtors and a member of the Los Angeles Tax Appeals Board, said the plan lists goals and objectives for meeting the requirements by alternative means. The plan outlines mixed-use projects that would consist of commercial businesses on the bottom and residential units on top, he said.

Glenn, owner of a Glendora paper supply company, said affordable housing is no longer a major issue because the city has satisfied its requirement with construction of two senior citizen complexes. City officials are working on implementing a mortgage credit program for first-time home buyers, such as Shade proposed, he said.

He promotes raising revenue by bringing in new businesses. He mentioned approval last year of plans for two supermarkets and the possibility of bringing two dealerships to the auto mall.