The Votes Are In!
2024 Readers' Choice is back, bigger and better than ever!
View Winners → Public meeting set for Tuesday on Elara housing project in Arcadia
Arcadia Weekly Nov 19, 2024
The proposed Elara affordable housing complex on Live Oak Avenue. | Rendering courtesy of the city of Arcadia
by
share with
The Arcadia City Council has scheduled a public meeting Tuesday on a proposed six-story, 95-unit affordable housing complex located in an unincorporated area of Los Angeles County that borders the city’s southern section.
The Elara project’s developer Affirmed Housing is expected to give a presentation and answer questions from community members at Arcadia City Council Chambers, 240 W. Huntington Drive. Start time is 5 p.m.
The proposed site for the project is 4217 Live Oak Ave., the former site of an Alta Dena Dairy.
Monthly rents at Elara will cost from $728 to $1,872 based on household income and unit size, according to Affirmed Housing. Tenants will pay approximately 30% of their income for rent and utilities, and nearly half of the apartments will be for very-low-income families who have experienced homelessness.
In an Oct. 3 letter to LA County Supervisor Kathryn Barger and Development Authority Director Emilio Salas, Mayor Michael Cao noted concerns about the proposed project.
“In recent weeks, many Arcadians have reached out to me and the City Council, expressing surprise and concern over the 95-unit affordable housing project slated for unincorporated land, adjacent to the southern border of our City,” Cao wrote.
“In Arcadia, residents are treated as important stakeholders in the local development process, receiving a certain level of outreach on major projects. We received no contact from County Staff, the Applicant, or anyone else involved with the property, prior to the recent community meeting, which was only held to meet a funding requirement,” the letter continued. “It is very disappointing to have a project of this magnitude approved without advanced notice of any kind to the adjoining cities, and absent of any input from the neighbors.”
Cao added that “misinformation also appears to be circulating about this project, with residents believing these units will serve as an emergency shelter for the unhoused, inciting fear over property values and public safety.”
He also relayed residents’ “concerns over the project’s density, height, and lack of sufficient parking, all of which need to be addressed” and noted that while the city has “no jurisdiction over this project, and there is no required entitlement process, the Project was billed as ‘Elara Arcadia’ and marketed as ‘part of the Arcadia Community.’ Our residents have valid concerns over the proposed housing project that should be addressed beyond a flyer and a community meeting. Please take the necessary steps to better communicate, outreach, and solicit input from those you will be impacting with this project, our residents.”
Barger and Salas did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Arcadia City Manager Dominic Lazzaretto said the city has not received a response to Cao’s letter.
Councilwoman April Verlato said she supports more housing, “but it needs to be properly located and smartly designed. Permanent supportive housing can enhance a neighborhood increasing property values when a blighted area is redeveloped.”
Verlato said she didn’t know enough about Elara to support or oppose it.
City officials said they’ve received over 100 emails and other forms of communication from residents about the project.
The meeting may be viewed on the city’s website: arcadiaca.gov/discover/city_council/view_city_council_meetings.php.
More information on the project is available from the city’s website and from Affirmed Housing.
Updated Nov. 19, 2024, 9:58 a.m.
More from Arcadia Weekly
