Santa Ana : City Council OKs Steps to Ease Housing Shortage

Final design plans for 93 new, single-family houses and a 130-unit apartment complex in the west side of town were approved this week by the City Council, but a proposal for a 49-unit apartment complex on South Main Street was returned to planners for more study.

The council also approved zoning changes to pave the way for construction of both housing projects, set to begin this spring. The 223 new units are seen by officials as an important step toward reducing Santa Ana’s acute housing shortage.

The 93 houses will be built on a 10.7- acre West Reservoir site on the southeast corner of 1st and Newhope streets. The Redevelopment Agency selected Kaufman & Broad Land Co. of Los Angeles to develop the site.

R.M. Galloway, senior vice president for Kaufman & Broad, said grading will begin within 30 days and “we will have people living there this year.” The project is the largest development of single-family tract houses in the city in several years, officials said.

The 130 apartments, planned for the west side of Harbor Boulevard just south of Century Boulevard, will be built by Classic Development, an Irvine-based firm, using a Cape Cod architectural theme with wood siding.

The 4.67-acre site had been zoned for commercial use. Councilman John Acosta cast the lone dissenting vote.