Belmont City Council OKs loan for Old County Road housing project


The development was approved early last year via Senate Bill 35, which streamlines permitting processes for affordable housing developments.

There will be 21 one-bedroom, 21 two-bedroom and 21 three-bedroom units for households making anywhere from 30% to 70% of the area median income. Four of the 63 units are allocated for permanent supportive housing.

The city’s $2 million loan — at 3% interest over 55 years, at minimum — would help accelerate the developer’s application process for the low-income housing tax credit, said Ryan Andrusz, development analyst at CRP Affordable Housing and Community Development, during the City Council meeting. 

"We really believe that this $2 million request … will allow us to start construction, and hopefully this time next year we'll have a similar hearing that we did for the Ridge at Ralson," Andrusz said during the recent council meeting.

Some councilmembers, such as Tom McCune and Robin Pang-Maganaris, previously criticized the developers’ lack of outreach last year while seeking a separate loan for the similar affordable housing proposal on Ralston Avenue, though all council members present, excluding Pang-Maganaris, ultimately approved the loan for the Old County Road project at the meeting April 28. 

City leaders also emphasized the importance of ensuring the ground floor retail space comprises publicly accessible space. 

“We’ve been burned before,” Councilmember Gina Latimerlo said to the developers during the meeting. “It's really important for us to take care of the new folks who are coming into the community but also take care of the folks that have created the community as well.”

Earlier this year, some residents sued the city over another controversial development proposal, led by the developer Prometheus Real Estate Group, at 500-580 Masonic Way, over the lack of publicly accessible, ground floor retail and commercial use, something that was explicitly encouraged in the city’s 2017 Belmont Village Specific Plan document.

“The loss of existing commercial space is always difficult … so retail having below, especially in those walkable neighborhoods, is great,” Mayor Julia Mates said.