City nixes low-income apartment complex

Eron Ben-Yehuda

HUNTINGTON BEACH -- Concerns about crime and overcrowding convinced the

City Council to reject a plan Monday for more affordable housing.

Local developer Amwest Environmental Group Inc. proposed building a

three-story, 107-unit apartment complex on Ellis Avenue, near Beach

Boulevard. Only individuals who meet the federal criteria for making low

to very low incomes would have qualified to rent the single-room studios

for about $550 per month.

While everyone recognized the need for creating cheaper places to live in

the city, the council, by a 6-1 vote, decided there were too many risks

with this project. Only Councilwoman Shirley Dettloff supported the

development, downplaying fears about the surrounding neighborhood turning

to seed.

In March, the city’s Planning Commission also voted down the project, 4

to 3, also citing concerns about crime. That action prompted the

developer to appeal to the council.

“I think sometimes we worry too much about what might happen,” Dettloff

said.

But there was little doubt in the minds of nearby residents and property

owners of what the area’s future would have held. They predicted

prostitutes, drug addicts and alcoholics moving into the complex,

creating all kinds of trouble.

“I am very, very concerned about my safety,” said Marlene McIlroy, who

owns a condominium close to the proposed project.

Resident Jim Martin told the council he foresaw “nothing but trouble

there.” He wasn’t reassured by the developer’s proposed safeguards, such

as checking the background of potential tenants, requiring visitors to

check in, installing 24-hour closed-circuit television monitors in common

areas and posting security personnel on site.

“If there was no crime, why do we need a guard?” Martin asked.

To reduce the potential for mischief, Councilman Peter Green suggested

the developer make the property into low-cost senior housing.

But the developer’s project manager, Charles Tsang, said he wanted to

attract not only the elderly but teachers, nurses, waiters and, in

general, people from “all walks of life.”

Not all residents objected to the project.

Liz Phibbs of Huntington Beach used to live in a low-income apartment

with her husband before they made enough money to rent a better place.

“I don’t think I was a prostitute. I don’t think I was an alcoholic,” she

told the council, “neither was my husband.”