Council OKs Housing Project After Settling Developers’ Suits

The proposed Monterey Views housing development, which was the focal point of the city’s slow-growth movement for more than a decade, received the final go-ahead Tuesday after developers agreed to drop two lawsuits against the city and pay a one-time fee of $373,500 for police and fire services.

After meeting in closed session, the City Council voted 4 to 1 to approve a settlement with general partners Frank Venti, Lelia Jabin and Robert Chu that will allow 83 single-family homes to be built on a nearly 30-acre site, the largest undeveloped parcel in Monterey Park.

Councilwoman Judy Chu (no relation to Robert Chu) cast the dissenting vote, contending the developers should pay more for the public safety costs that will result from the new housing.

As part of the settlement, the council yielded its right to establish a benefit assessment district under the Mello-Roos Community Facilities Act, which allows cities to recoup costs for public improvements and police, fire and other services.

The creation of a Mello-Roos district was one of the conditions imposed when the council originally approved the project and certified its environmental impact report in August. However, the council last month voted to reconsider the matter after the developers filed a lawsuit challenging the legality of the Mello-Roos action.

“At the last minute, the city wanted to impose the Mello-Roos,” Venti said. “I would not have broken ground if they imposed that on us.”

He said a Mello-Roos assessment district, which requires property owners to waive their rights to protest the city’s fees, would have scared off potential buyers. “The sophisticated buyers realize that it’s double taxation,” Venti said. The average home in the subdivision will sell for about $500,000, Venti said.

The site, a hilly region west of Atlantic Boulevard at Cadiz Street, has been the subject of several proposed developments since 1979, including 178 townhouses, 150 condominium units and 107 single-family homes.

Venti said the proposed developments were derailed by slow-growth proponents, including former councils and a grass-roots group called the Residents Association of Monterey Park.

With an approved plan finally in hand, Venti said he will begin work in April.