In the next three days our State Assembly and State Senate will vote on SB 79, a Housing development bill.
SB 79 was recently amended, and what this now means for Claremont is that if SB 79 passes, the bill would upzone these areas from our train station in downtown Claremont to the following heights and densities:
• Within 1/4 mile – 65 feet (6 stories), 100 units per acre, Floor Area Ratio of 3.0 which means the total built-up area of the building can be up to 3 times the size of the land plot.
• Within 1/2 mile – 55 feet, (5 stories), 80 units per acre, Floor Area Ratio of 2.5 which means the total built-up area of the building can be up to 2.5 times the size of the land plot.
In addition, SB 79 allows for buildings immediately adjacent to our train station to be 8 stories high, with commensurate increase in density.
The proposed Village South development, just south of the train tracks on the west side of Indian Hill to Arrow Highway is 24 acres. Excluding streets, this could mean that the state would allow something like 1500 to 2,000 units at Village South. SB 79 disallows the City of Claremont from modifying that amount of units, providing green space or anything else. The density will be determined by the state, with no local input.
Under SB 79, only 10% of our historic buildings and neighborhoods with that half mile radius can be protected - the rest can be sacrificed.
Yes! to height and density by our train stations. But tell your state senator and assembly member we want to build a better bill.
We can build housing AND preserve historic communities, too.
Senator Sasha Renée Pérez Phone: (916) 651-4025
Assembly member John Harabedian Phone: (626) 351-1917
Pamela Casey Nagler is currently finishing her book, A Century of Disgrace: The Removal, Enslavement, and Massacre of California’s Indigenous People 1769 - 1869.
