BREA : Affordable Housing Ceremony Scheduled

A ceremonial groundbreaking will be held at noon Tuesday for the Birch View affordable housing project at the corner of Birch Street and Laurel Avenue.

Developer George Taunton said that grading has begun for the 25-unit project, which is expected to be completed in February, 1994.

Twenty of the 25 condominium units to be built will be set aside for families with moderate to very low incomes, Taunton said.

In January, the City Council, sitting as the Redevelopment Agency, approved the sale of agency-owned lots at below-market cost to Taunton and his wife, Carol, to be used for the housing project.

Officials said the project will help boost the city’s affordable-housing stock and meet the increasing needs of the community.

Once completed, the project will have five three-bedroom units, to be sold at current market rates of $165,000 each.

Of the 20 affordable units, costing $150,000 each, 14 will be sold to buyers earning between $38,600 and $63,350 annually.

One unit will be sold to a buyer earning between $26,350 and $38,600 annually and five to buyers earning under $26,350 annually.

All units are two-story townhouses with private patios. The complex will have a spa and landscaped courtyard.

Qualified Brea residents who have been displaced by redevelopment projects will have the first crack at buying the units, according to Redevelopment Services Director Sue Georgino.

Georgino said the staff is currently designing a program to select families who could buy the units.

In addition to the income limits, applicants must qualify for a conventional mortgage loan, she said.

Application forms will be available starting June 15 at the Redevelopment Services, Civic & Cultural Center, 1 Civic Center Circle.

For more information, call (714) 671-4422.