During the Dec. 21 Signal Hill Planning Commission meeting, community development staff reviewed projects that are starting or awaiting approval in 2022. The projects include expanding an educational campus, building new industrial parks, creating new retail spaces and constructing State-required housing.
In terms of education, Community Development Director Colleen Doan said the American University of Health Sciences (AUHS) at 1600 E. Hill St. is preparing to expand its campus by adding a new school of medicine and a charter high school focusing on STEAM (science, technology, engineering and math). Those buildings would add to AUHS’s existing nursing and pharmacy schools and outpatient clinics.
AUHS also plans to build a residence on property it purchased north of the campus on Walnut Ave., across the street from Signal Hill Elementary School, to house faculty or students, Doan said.
In terms of industrial development, staff reviewed several projects that the Planning Commission and City Council have already approved or are considering.
Among those are a former Majestic Golf Land site at 2550 Orange Ave. that Signal Hill Petroleum (SHP) sold to developer CenterPoint Properties, according to Associate Planner Ryan Agbayani. CenterPoint intends to construct a large industrial warehouse of more than 101,000 square feet on the property.
However, the developer must first perform a thorough traffic analysis before the City can approve its conceptual plans, Agbayani said, especially since part of the project includes extending 25th Street from Orange to Brayton avenues to allow vehicle and truck access to the site.
Planning Manager Erika Ramirez said a smaller, 2.2-acre industrial project at 1450 E. 27th St. and 2655 Walnut Ave. is also still under consideration. The project consists of two industrial buildings totaling 24,000 square feet, one of which can be flexibly used as retail or office space.
A larger industrial project that the council approved this year is dubbed the Signal Hill Business Park at 2020 Walnut Ave., Ramirez said. Once complete, the nearly nine-acre site will feature nine buildings totaling more than 151,000 square feet of space.
In terms of retail, Ramirez said the council approved plans this year to develop Gateway Center North, anchored by a Target retailer at 950 E. 33rd St. The Target store will be renovated inside and out beginning in January 2022, she said.
In addition, property owners Venture Point and SHP plan to construct new retail pads on the adjacent 13-acre site at 3177 California Ave., plus a new drive-thru restaurant and new three-story self-storage facility of more than 177,000 square feet, Ramirez said.
Planned residential development includes four new housing projects, complicated by SB 9
In terms of residential projects, she said the council approved four new housing developments to meet the demands of the State’s Regional Housing Needs Assessment (RHNA), which requires Signal Hill to build 517 new housing units by 2029.
The four planned new housing developments are: Orange Bluff, a 9.2-acre site on Orange Avenue between 27th and 28th streets; Walnut Bluff condominiums at the corner of Walnut Avenue and Willow Street; Town Center Northwest, an 8.3-acre mixed-use commercial and residential project at the northeast corner of Walnut Avenue and Willow Street; and Heritage Square, an 8.8-acre mixed-use residential and commercial project along Cherry Avenue between Crescent Heights and Burnett streets.
The City intends to submit final plans for the four developments to the State by February, but may take until October, per an extended deadline allowed by a new bill, Ramirez said.
In addition, Doan said the Planning Commission will consider approving seven new residential buildings at the northwest corner of Pacific Coast Highway and Molino Avenue. The Planning Commission asked the developer to add more parking spaces, fewer buildings and reduced building heights to prevent an impact on views at that location.
The commission also requested the developer of a residential courtyard at 1933 Temple Ave. to reduce the project’s number of buildings, Doan said. Those plans now include eight buildings with flat roofs to reduce view obstruction.
Doan said the project was controversial when developers sought approval from the City several years ago. The City denied the project then but its new applicants are more accommodating of surrounding residents’ concerns, she said.
The City will conduct a neighborhood meeting and Planning Commission workshop and public hearing on the plans, Doan said, though none are scheduled yet.
Agbayani noted that a few other residential projects are still pending the commission’s approval, including a Signal Hill Smart Homes development at 2750 E. 20th St.; a two-story duplex at 2250 Ohio Ave.; and a custom single-family home at 1900 Temple Ave., with plans for both attached and detached garages.
Doan also reviewed SB 9 with the commission—a new law that takes effect Jan. 1, 2022 and allows residential property owners to subdivide their land into two and build up to two residential properties on each parcel. The intent of the law is to increase middle-income housing throughout the state.
Under the new law, single-family residential property splits won’t require City approval, Doan said, adding that owners must use the new lots as primary residences for at least three years and not use them for short-term renting.
Ramirez said that a property owner that did not want to split their lot could still build a second primary home on the lot in addition to two accessory dwelling units.
In Signal Hill, splitting lots to build new homes would result in long and narrow homes, not much wider than a two-car garage, she added.
The City Council adopted an urgency ordinance during its Dec. 14 meeting requiring objective development standards and an application requirement by interested residents, Doan said.
“We just wanted to make sure that we had, with our ordinance, as much local control as the State is allowing us,” she said.
