Santa Clarita / Antelope Valley : Delay Threatens Senior Housing Project

A housing project for low-income senior citizens is in jeopardy after the Planning Commission on Tuesday postponed a decision on the project and asked for alterations to it, citing concerns over traffic and parking.

The delay forces the Canterbury Village Retirement Corp. to apply for a fourth extension on a $4.3-million federal grant it received more than a year ago.

“Every time you go back to ask for more time, it gets a little more difficult,” said Ben Beckler, director of project development for Southern California Presbyterian Homes, which is sponsoring the project.

The commission made its decision after residents near the proposed Valencia project site on Avenida Rotella raised concerns about the amount of traffic the development would generate. They also told commissioners they feared the height of the proposed three-story complex would damage the area’s aesthetics.

“The access to that particular project and from that project cannot and should not be allowed to go onto a residential street,” said Patrick Milton, president of the Old Orchard One Homeowners Assn. “It has too high a density, and we would like to see a two-story project that is compatible with the condominiums that are there.”

The commissioners agreed the concerns raised needed to be investigated, but stopped short of saying they were serious enough to stop the project.

“I want to see the project succeed,” said Commissioner Louis Brathwaite. “However, you need to answer some of the questions that the community has raised.”

Beckler said that alterations proposed by opponents, such as having traffic enter the site through a neighboring shopping center or church, could kill the project.

“Usually, these types of projects are not looked at negatively by a community, and that does not seem to be the case right now,” Beckler said. “This is the first time we’ve really had opposition of this kind to a proposal.”

Residents of the project, who would tend to be in their mid-70s, are unlikely to have cars, Beckler said, since many cannot afford them. To force residents and visitors to park in the church or the shopping mall parking lots and come in through the back door would give residents of the development second-class citizenship, he added.

“I liken it to owning your family house and having people come to visit you by coming through your neighbor’s yard and through the back door,” Beckler said. “To me, it’s almost the back of the bus mentality.”

The Glendale-based Southern California Presbyterian Homes runs eight similar projects throughout the region and is building a ninth in Glendale. The typical residents of the proposed development would pay 30% of their income, or about $150 a month in rent, with the federal government subsidizing the rest.

The site’s proximity to a shopping center with a grocery store, pharmacy and hardware store, said backers of the project, who include Councilwoman Jill Klajic, make this project near perfect.

“We have a severe shortage of senior housing in the Santa Clarita Valley,” Klajic said. “This is an ideal location.”