PUSD’s Roosevelt Elementary School Campus Housing Plan Would Skip Traditional Public Review

The Pasadena Unified School District is pursuing an unprecedented housing development for its disused Roosevelt Elementary School site that would create as many as 112 residential units under a plan that leverages two new California housing laws.

The project would mark one of the first instances statewide of a school district utilizing both Assembly Bill 2295 and Senate Bill 35 to streamline affordable housing construction while bypassing traditional local public review processes.

“We’ve never had a project like this, and we’re not aware of another one, actually, where they’ve combined both bills yet in the state. So this might be one of the first,” said a City planning representative at Tuesday night’s Economic Development & Technology Committee meeting.

Under Assembly Bill 2295, housing becomes an allowed use on any local educational agency site, guaranteeing minimum density of 30 dwelling units per acre and 35-foot height limits. The Roosevelt project, currently proposed at 20-22 units per acre on the Public, Semi-public zoned site, would need to provide at least 10 units with 55-year deed restrictions for affordability.

The affordability requirements mandate that 30% of units be reserved for very low or low-income households (maximum $78,600 for family of four) and 21% for moderate-income households (maximum $117,840). Units must first be offered to local agency employees, then public employees, before becoming available to the general public.

While exempt from California Environmental Quality Act review under Senate Bill 35’s streamlined process, the project would still need to undergo City departmental reviews within a 90-day window once the application is complete. The development must meet local requirements for transportation infrastructure, building safety, and fire protection, while paying standard residential and traffic impact fees.

“It would be great as we’re building a partnership, they have lots of empty properties and I’m hoping that we can work together … in a way that is the Pasadena-centric, in a Pasadena collaboration way that we typically do,” said Committee Chair Tyron Hampton.

City officials noted that while traditional public hearings would be bypassed, the Pasadena Unified School District may conduct public discussions through their Board meetings.

The project, currently at the preliminary application stage, abuts an RM-16 residential zone. The City’s transportation department maintains authority to impose requirements for traffic management and ingress/egress locations outside of California Environmental Quality Act review.

The development must comply with the City’s objective design standards, and discussions have included the possibility of incorporating community benefit spaces such as pocket parks, though it was reported that no District commitments have been made.