Eden Housing is proposing to construct 130 units of affordable workforce housing at the southeast corner of Railroad Avenue and L Street in Downtown Livermore. The proposed project consists of two residential buildings to be developed by Eden Housing with a large public park with playground (Veterans Park) in between. The project would include one-, two-, and three-bedroom units, underground parking, resident meeting space, service facilities, and a private playground for residents.
Is this part of the Downtown Plan approved by the City Council in 2018?
Yes. Prior to approval of the Downtown Plan, the City worked for many years through the complex process of acquiring and assembling the downtown properties, relocating tenants, demolishing buildings, and doing environmental clean-up to prepare the project site for redevelopment. The City underwent an extensive community outreach process and received feedback on the best locations for a range of uses, including workforce housing.
Based on this public process, the City Council approved a Downtown Plan in January 2018, which included two public parks, a science center, black box theater, new commercial retail space, affordable workforce housing and a wine country themed hotel. The housing shown on the illustrative plan was conceptual since a developer had not yet been chosen for the project. Eden Housing was ultimately selected to develop the project and they worked through the City entitlement process to refine and develop a final site plan and building designs for the project.
How was Eden Housing chosen for this project?
In May 2018, the City issued a Request for Qualifications to identify a developer for the site. Multiple affordable housing developers submitted applications and Eden Housing was selected based on their successful history of developing, managing, and maintaining similar projects throughout the Bay Area and in Livermore. In November 2018, the City Council approved a Disposition, Development and Loan Agreement (DDLA) with Eden Housing and provided a $500,000 loan for Eden to begin design and predevelopment work for a housing project on this site.
Please explain the affordable rental housing this project provides and the type of workforce it will serve.
This project will be affordable to a variety of essential workers in Livermore who are unable to afford market rate housing. This includes entry level teachers and school staff, health care workers, office workers, restaurant and retail employees, and many more. The Eden project will meet the needs of working households in Livermore and will be available to those earning 60 percent or less of the area median income (AMI), which for a single person is $65,400 and for a family of four is $93,420.
Compared to the concept plan created in January 2018, has the current plan changed?
The fundamental aspects of the project remain the same. It provides 130 units of workforce housing with a large public park (Veterans Park) running through the center. Compared to the 2018 concept plan, there have been some changes in design. The project is now proposed to be divided into two four-story buildings rather than four three- and four-story buildings. The building footprint has increased to accommodate a mix of one-, two-, and three-bedroom units and more common areas and amenities than the original concept. The result is a project that will better meet the needs of Livermore’s working families.
The private landscape areas around the project have been reduced, but the public amenity of Veterans Park has been enlarged and remains the central feature of the site plan. The layout of Veterans Park has also been adjusted to provide room for a public playground near the corner of Veterans Way and the K Street promenade. The center of the park, as originally planned, provides room for a public green connecting all the way from South L Street to South Livermore Avenue, which will enhance this portion of the Downtown core for visitors and residents. The City intends for the park to be designed and entitled separately but offered in timely coordination with Eden’s residential development.
Eden Housing was awarded $14.4 million from the Regional East County Measure A1 Bond competitive funding pool in January 2020. Please explain how this funding works. Does it need to be repaid and would Eden Housing lose this funding if the project did not move forward as proposed?
Affordable housing projects such as this typically require several funding sources. With limited funding sources available to build affordable housing, developers must carefully assemble a complex financing strategy. As typical for other developments, the City has provided pre-construction funding and the land for the project, while Eden, the nonprofit partner, has developed designs, secured entitlements, and now seeks additional project funding for construction.
Eden Housing was able to secure a funding commitment of $14.4 million from Alameda County’s East County Measure A Bond fund. The project was competitively selected in large part based on its Downtown location, proximity to transit, and because the City already owned the site and had entered into an agreement with Eden to provide the land for the project. Without site control the project would not have been funded by the County and would not have been able to move forward in the near term. If the project does not move forward, Eden will need to return the $14.4 million to the County and the grant funding will be distributed to another project (most likely in another City) that is ready to move forward.
Could the project be moved to another site?
The City does not own any nearby property or have excess funding available for property purchase. The City acquired the downtown site with affordable housing funds in 2008. Through the City’s community outreach process in 2017, the majority of respondents identified the northwest portion of the site as an appropriate location for affordable workforce housing. The City Council incorporated 130 units of workforce housing into the Downtown Plan in 2018 and the proposed project implements that plan.
The Alameda County Housing and Community Development Department has confirmed that if the project were to be significantly altered, reduced in size or moved to another site, the County’s $14.4 million grant would no longer be available to the project and the funding would be awarded instead to the next highest scoring project on the County’s list, or the rescinded funds could be reissued through a new Request for Proposals process that would be open to other jurisdictions.
What is the Regional Housing Needs Assessment (RHNA), and why is this project relevant to making progress towards fulfilling the City’s RHNA obligation?
The RHNA refers to the fair share of regional housing that the City is required to accommodate during an eight-year planning period as determined by State housing law. The City’s RHNA for the current eight-year Housing Element cycle is 4,570 dwelling units, distributed among four income categories (1,317 very low, 758 low, 696 moderate, and 1,799 above moderate). Consistent with the RHNA for most Bay Area cities, Livermore’s overall housing need is greatest in the very low- income (28.8% of RHNA) and above moderate-income (39.4% of RHNA) categories. According to State housing law, 50% of the very low-income RHNA allocation should be targeted to extremely low-income individuals (658 units). Livermore’s RHNA also reflects a need for workforce and senior housing in the low- and moderate-income categories, which represent 16.5% and 15.2% of the RHNA, respectively.
In the previous Housing Element cycle, the City met its RHNA targets for the above moderate- and moderate-income categories. However, the City did not meet its targets for the low- and extremely/very low-income categories.
Eden’s workforce housing project would account for 130 housing units affordable to low-, very low-, and extremely low-income households. The City’s current Housing Element sites inventory identifies 130 housing units at a low-income affordability level for the Eden project site. Since the proposal is for 130 units, it meets the Housing Element site inventory’s assigned unit capacity for the site.
What is the timing for this project?
The City Council approved the project at a public hearing on May 25, 2021. Eden is working to prepare building permit plans and secure financing for the construction. Once all financing commitments are secured, the project is expected to take about 14 months to complete.
How will residents be selected for the Eden Housing project? How will local residents and workers be prioritized and is there any City oversight?
The City of Livermore has entered into a "Regulatory Agreement" with Eden which states that Eden will implement application preferences for Livermore residents and employees.
The resident selection policies (documenting live/work applicant preferences) are required to be submitted to the City for review and approval prior to marketing of the project; typically, six months prior to completing construction. Eden will be responsible for following all State and Federal fair housing laws in the leasing process.
The City Council made a commitment to maintain sufficient parking during construction in the Downtown. What are the current plans?
Construction of the L Street Parking Garage is underway and will provide 452 new spaces. Construction of the L Street Garage is expected to be complete in the Spring of 2025. The additional spaces provided at L Street will help ensure adequate parking supply during later phases of construction. In addition, the City has obtained additional parking area at the northwest corner of north K Street and Railroad Avenue to provide more short-term parking solutions during construction of the L Street Garage.
How is historical contamination at the Eden Housing site being addressed?
Subsurface contaminant impacts were a known condition that was previously studied in the 2009 Subsequent Environmental Impact Report. The City is working with the State's Regional Water Quality Control Board to address existing conditions following the Regional Water Quality Control Board’s typical process for development of contaminated sites.
Data collected at the site and nearby properties indicate that the chemical impacts detected at the Eden site are the result of one or more releases from the nearby former dry cleaner and are not from prior lumberyard or train depot use on the Eden site. A separate cleanup effort will focus on the source of the contamination at the nearby former dry cleaner site. Evaluation of the data also indicates that the estimated risk to people at the Eden Housing site are well within levels considered by Cal/EPA and the USEPA to be protective of human health and do not require further remediation or mitigation at the site based on the current design of the development.
Ongoing Water Board oversight of the Eden Housing site will involve site management activities, including soil handling requirements during construction and notification procedures if subsurface and/or development conditions should change.
Although the site is subject to ongoing cleanup site management activities overseen by the Regional Water Quality Control Board, that cleanup is not an unusual circumstance given the past property use, which included a former lumberyard and train depot, and its location in a downtown area with surrounding commercial uses that have included dry cleaners. In fact, similar cleanup activities were conducted on the Livermore Valley Center project sites for the Bankhead Theater, Cinema, and First Street Mixed-Use Commercial uses.
