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Published on 07/17/1995 All articles from this issue

Parc Regent senior housing project escapes with Council approval

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By Joanne Griffith Domingue / Town Crier Staff Writer

Plans for the 57-unit Parc Regent senior housing project almost collapsed before receiving final approval July 10 at the Los Altos City Council meeting.

The city and the developer could not agree on a price for the 6,978-square-feet of city land the developer needs to buy before the project can begin.

"Deciding not to sell this land to the developer would kill the project," said Bruce Bane, Los Altos director of public works, in a July 7 staff report.

The housing is planned for 2.4 acres on the corner of Edith Avenue and San Antonio Road. The city owns the land on the Edith side of the parcel which will be used for a park.

The city would not allow access to the land from San Antonio Road because of traffic congestion. So the developers needed to buy, from the city, a driveway width of land from Edith Avenue as an entrance to the project.

The city wanted $279,120 for the land, based upon a 1991 appraisal. The developers offered $174,450, saying land value had dropped since 1991.

After an hour of closed-session negotiations at the Council meeting, both parties agreed to a price of $218,000.

The city must still review and approve some parts of the development before it will issue a building permit. The planning department needs proof that the project complies with the city noise abatement ordinance and that an audit has been done of the sprinkling system for the landscaping.

"None of the reports were submitted on time," said James Mackenzie, Los Altos senior planner. The staff is reviewing the plans for compliance.

"But it would be catastrophic for the development if the building permit was held up beyond Aug. 1," he said.

Aug. 1 is the drop-dead date for the developers. That's the day when they must pay the creditors.

To pay the creditors, they need their financing; to get their financing, they need the building permit; and to get the permit, they need title to the strip of land from Edith Avenue, said Carol Hoffman, Los Altos planning director.

The rest of the city land along Edith is earmarked for a city park.

During construction, the developers will be renting that land from the city to use for construction worker parking and for building material storage.

Bane projects rental from the land to be about $15,000 per year during the two years of construction. The developer will also pay the city $50,000 cash for the loss of city-owned open space which will go toward the park.

"The city does not yet have a design for the park," Hoffman said. "The earliest the park work might start is 1997-98 and will come at the end of phase II of the Parc Regent construction. Phase II is not yet scheduled." That depends upon how well phase I sells, she said.