By Jim Shilander
The affordable housing project at 107 and 115 Avenida Serra will go before the Plan Commission in mid to late April, San Clemente Housing Coordinator Denise Obrero said this week.
The planned project would have 19 units over three stories. Obrero said the developer of the project was looking to apply for tax credits to help build the facility, which meant the city would have to meet certain milestones as far as moving the plans through the city’s process.
Obrero said the project would be the first affordable housing put in the city since Talega. The city was also interested in providing housing for young professionals and employees of businesses downtown, which could increase the number walking to work and help alleviate parking difficulties, she said.
Concerns have been raised, however, about the size and cost of the project, $7.29 million. Obrero said, however, that the city likely would not have been able to afford to purchase and rehabilitate the kind of facility large enough to house as many people as the Serra project.
