Douglas J. Dennington
Direct Dial: (714) 641-3419
E-mail: [email protected]
March 20, 2023
Ru t an & Tu ck er , LL P | 18 57 5 Ja mb or ee Road , 9 th Fl oo r
I r vi ne , CA 92 61 2 | 71 4 - 64 1- 51 00 | Fa x 71 4 - 546 -90 35 Or an ge Coun ty | Pa lo Alto | San Fr a nc is co | Sc ot ts da le | www. ru ta n. co m 560/011409-0110
18946144.1 a03/20/23
VIA E-MAIL
City of Los Alamitos City Council
3191 Katella Avenue
Los Alamitos, CA 90720-5600
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[email protected]
Re: Los Alamitos Luxury Apartments
Item 10B, March 20, 2023 City Council Agenda
Dear Mayor Doby and Honorable Members of the City Council:
This office represents Los Alamitos Luxury Apartments, LLC (“Client”). In connection with item 10B on your agenda, by enclosure, I am including my January 20, 2023 letter to you regarding the proposed R-4 Zoning District and our concerns related to the same. We wish to reiterate our concerns once again.
Very truly yours,
RUTAN & TUCKER, LLP
Douglas J. Dennington
DJD:AST:mrs
Enclosure
cc: Windmera Quintanar, City Clerk, MMC ([email protected]) Douglas J. Dennington
Direct Dial: (714) 641-3419
E-mail: [email protected]
January 20, 2023
Ru t an & Tu ck er , LL P | 18 57 5 Ja mb or ee Road , 9 th Fl oo r
I r vi ne , CA 92 61 2 | 71 4 - 64 1- 51 00 | Fa x 71 4 - 546 -90 35 Or an ge Coun ty | Pa lo Alto | San Fra nc is co | www.r u tan . co m 2590/011409-0110
18637723.1 a01/20/23
VIA ELECTRONIC MAIL
City of Los Alamitos City Council
3191 Katella Avenue
Los Alamitos, CA 90720-5600
[email protected];
[email protected];
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[email protected]
Re: Item 12(A) on January 23, 2023 City Council Agenda
Dear Mayor Doby and Honorable Members of the City Council:
This office represents Los Alamitos Luxury Apartments, LLC (“Client”). We write this letter to you regarding Item 12(A) on your January 23, 2023 City Council Agenda, concerning an ordinance to enact the R-4 zoning district.
Our Client recently completed the development of its apartment community located at 3342 Cerritos Avenue, Los Alamitos, California (“Development”). As the City is keenly aware, our Client was met with unfair, if not outright illegal, demands from individuals on the City Council and Planning Commission who resided near the (now completed) Development. When certain members of the Planning Commission and City Council received word of the proposed development (after conceptual plans were provided to City staff), the Planning Commission and City Council hatched a scheme by which to impose new “guest parking” and other arbitrary requirements that, due to the fully built-out nature of the City, could only be applied to my Client’s proposed development. In adopting the Urgency Ordinance (Ordinance No. 2017-13) and permanent ordinance imposing the “guest parking” requirements, the City Council made several findings regarding the imperative need to protect the public health, safety, and welfare from impacts caused by high-density housing. In addition, due to the City’s environmental concerns, my Client was also required to perform extensive Phase I and Phase II reporting prior to finalizing the Development, at significant expense.
Recently, it has come to our attention that the City is considering the adoption of a new zoning district, the R-4, to allow for multi-family residential developments at select locations in the City. The R-4 development standards remain unclear. However, given the stringent standards applied to my Client’s Development, which included the adoption of an Urgency Ordinance to impose the aforementioned guest parking requirements, as well as extensive Phase I and II reporting, it is imperative that similar multi-family developments in the City also abide by these conditions. Zoning regulations City of Los Alamitos City Council
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must “‘be uniform and equal in operation and effect, and provide those in similar circumstances, among whom no reasonable basis for distinction exists, with equal protection of the law . . . .’” (Quoting 8 McQuillin, Mun. Corp. (3d ed.) § 25.65, fns. omitted.) Indeed, the United States Constitution’s Equal Protection Clause demands that the City treat like users in a similar manner.
In enacting the Urgency Ordinance approximately five years ago at its December 18, 2017 meeting, City staff provided the City Council with a staff report touting the urgent need for action. The staff report noted the high ongoing demand for guest parking:
The City is experiencing an increasing demand for on-street parking in the R-2 and R-3 Zoning Districts. The Development Services Director, Associate Planner and Police Department frequently receive complaints and requests for service relating to illegally parked vehicles and an overconcentration of on-street parking. Inadequate off-street parking requirements for new or expanded multi-family development contribute to deficiency of on-street parking.
The Urgency Ordinance itself stated:
The increase in on-street parking demand results from several contributing factors that impact parking conditions, including the addition of new and frequently higher density residential uses, an increase in household size and the number of vehicles per household, the use of garage spaces for non-vehicle storage, and inadequate off-street parking requirements.
According to the Urgency Ordinance, on-street parking needed to be addressed because it leads to additional safety hazards and crime:
The increase in on-street parking demand results in a higher risk of traffic collisions and safety hazards to pedestrians and children, as more motorists travel in search of on-street parking. Additionally, the congested parking provides additional targets for criminal theft and other activity, and makes patrol of the area more difficult for law enforcement.
These same recitals were then repeated when the Urgency Ordinance was extended on January 16, 2018, via Ordinance No. 2018-01. Eventually a permanent ordinance was adopted by the Council a few months later (Ordinance No. 2018-04) and the guest parking requirements were permanently placed into the Los Alamitos Municipal Code.
The City’s clear belief is that on-street parking demands from housing projects increase the risk of crime, traffic collisions and are harmful to children. Given that these findings were made only five City of Los Alamitos City Council
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years ago and the City has not seen any reason to revise the LAMC to remove the guest parking requirements, the City must surely remain of the belief that guest parking remains a critical issue to be addressed by high-density residential developments. Therefore, it is our request that the City maintain such requirements in any new R-4 zone.
Relatedly, the City’s environmental process with my Client’s Development was also extremely arduous and we request that any proposed development within the R-4 undergo a similar process, which must include, at a minimum, Phase I and Phase II environmental assessments. Specifically, the City’s own consultants have previously identified a number of REC (Recognized Environmental Concerns) across a large part of the City, inclusive of many areas being proposed for this new zone. On that point, a search of the numerous public databases maintained by regulatory agencies identifies dozens of sites located in the City that have or may have hazardous waste contamination or where land use include activities that may lead to such contamination. Therefore, it is imperative that the City impose similar robust environmental reporting and studies prior to approval of any R-4 project.
We thank the City for its consideration of this letter and are available to provide any additional information that may be of assistance.
Sincerely,
RUTAN & TUCKER, LLP
Douglas J. Dennington
DJD/paj
cc: Windmera Quintanar, City Clerk, MMC
([email protected])