Is the ironwood project dead?
On June 5, 2024, The City of Rancho Palos Verdes informed the developer of the Ironwood project that the "full" application would "likely" be rejected. We have provided the timeline and details below. Given the legal complexity in this situation, such details are important and necessary.
Background
Sacramento pushed for affordable housing, ignoring local cities’ requirements.
Sacramento required each city in California to submit a Housing Element (HE) plan for approval.
While the HE plan is being reviewed and not yet certified, a loophole created by Sacramento Law Makers called “Builder’s Remedy” (BR) allows developers to file “preliminary” applications for affordable housing projects that bypass local zoning laws.
The BR loophole was created by the state to punish the cities that did not have an approved HE by the Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD). RPV's plan was finally approved by HCD on its 3rd attempt on June 12, 2024. It should be noted that the RPV City Council adopted an updated HE plan in 2022 only to be deemed non-compliant by HCD.
Such BR projects are exempted from many of the cities’ zoning code requirements! BR essentially invalidates local zoning until a HE is deemed substantially compliant by HCD.
Within 180 days from the preliminary application, the developers must file a “full” application to provide more details on the project for processing.
Ironwood Project Update
Verdes Estates Inc. submitted a preliminary BR application called the Ironwood Project on January 22, 2024, to build 482 apartment units at 5323 Ironwood Street, Rancho Palos Verdes (RPV) in a canyon parallel to Silver Spur Street. See details here.
On April 18, Verdes Estates Inc. submitted a new preliminary BR application that was significantly different from the January application.
According to the City of RPV, on May 23, Verdes Estates, Inc. sent an email to the City of RPV to withdraw the January application. As a result, the April 18 BR application superseded the January one as the preliminary application.
On June 3, Verdes Estates attempted to retract the May 23 withdrawal.
On June 5, the City of RPV informed Verdes Estates of its position on the Ironwood Project:
RPV submitted its HE to HCD on April 16. The City Council adopted, under the Urgency Ordinance, a rezoning ordinance on the same day to be consistent with the HE.
On June 12, HCD deemed RPV’s HE to be in substantial compliance.
The RPV rezoning ordinance adopted in April became effective immediately on April 16 thereby rezoning properties noted in the HE’s site inventory list are consistent with direction from HCD.
If Verdes Estates submits a full application consistent with the April 18 preliminary BR application, the Ironwood project would “likely” be rejected due to conflicts with the April 16 City Council-adopted HE and rezoning since the new BR pre-application was submitted after April 16.
PVP Watch’s Opinion
The RPV HE approval by HCD was a significant achievement by the City of RPV to close the BR loophole – i.e. no more BR applications will be accepted.
Future construction projects must comply with RPV’s zoning and building requirements, making these projects safer and minimizing the environmental impact on the neighborhood and RPV.
If Verdes Estates, Inc. chooses to continue with the Ironwood Project, it must comply with said requirements. No more quick profit at the expense of the neighborhood and the City of RPV.
Unless Verdes Estates, Inc. has secured full funding for the Ironwood project, attracting investors will be difficult given the uncertainty of obtaining the RPV’s approval and potential legal delays.
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We are a group of volunteers and donations keep PVP Watch alive. If you would like to help, please send us your check for $35 or more to PVP Watch, 5011 Rockvalley Road, Rancho Palos Verdes, CA 90275. Thank you.
