Councilmembers Want More Community Engagement In PUSD Housing Project

Pasadena City Council members are urging the Pasadena Unified School District (PUSD) to engage more directly with residents regarding its proposed workforce housing project at the former Roosevelt Elementary School site.

District officials have had meetings with neighbors living near the site and homeowners’ associations, but so far there have been no community meetings.

Consultants said there is a community meeting plan and said they planned to “put something together to get additional feedback.”

“Your constituents aren’t just the students and the parents, but the people who are all around you. We’re all a part of a community together,” said Councilmember Jason Lyon. “And so there is sometimes this feeling that PUSD is insular and talking to itself and not talking to anyone else. And I think the idea of having a really baked plan without a big broad community meeting or a design charette, I would’ve done a charette at the beginning of this to say, what do you want to see? And probably you want to do a charette just within PUSD to hear from the ideal residents, but that’s disappointing.”

The proposed development includes 110 rental units—80 apartments and 30 townhomes—intended for Pasadena Unified School District employees.

According to a 2023 survey, most Pasadena Unified School District employees (70%) spend more than 30% of their income on housing, which is considered a high housing cost burden. The survey also reported the average monthly rent/mortgage paid by Pasadena Unified School District employees is $2,200. Rent in the area is well over $3,000.

“With our loss of housing because of the Eaton Fire, the desire and the imminent need for us to be able to move this project forward now matters more than ever,” said Patrice Marshall Mckenzie. “So we want to be good neighbors. We want to be able to engage our community and be able to solicit feedback and recommendations where possible to be able to be inclusive. But what people need right now is housing, and we have the ability to offer that to our employee population. So we want to be able to move that forward in a way that is expeditious, responsible, and also meeting a critical demand.”

The Board endorsed pursuing the SB 35 and AB 2295 entitlement pathway, which is estimated to take six months and requires 50% of units to be designated as low-income housing.

Board President Kim Kenne opposed using the entitlement pathways and voted against the item.

The pathway refers to two California laws that create streamlined processes for developing housing, particularly on School District-owned land.

This approach, recommended by the Superintendent’s Advisory Committee, was chosen over two other options: a full city entitlement process, which would take about 24 months, and an AB 2295 project with partial streamlining, 12 to 15 months.

AB 2295 specifically allows School Districts to develop housing on property they own. A key requirement is that a majority of units be affordable to low or moderate-income households.

By invoking this pathway, the District would be able to bypass certain local zoning restrictions and lengthy approval processes, including CEQA review.

Last year, Councilmember Tyron Hampton called for a meeting with the District to discuss the project.

“We want to be partners with you, but the way this seems to be going, it doesn’t seem like there’s a lot of partnership there,” Hampton said on Monday.

But even as councilmembers called for more engagement on the project, they acknowledged the need for housing.

“I hope the community engagement [process] that you go through is a robust one and that is something that you work on throughout the process and are continually working with the neighbors,” said Vice Mayor Jess Rivas.

Rivas said that she hoped the School District and the City continued to work toward a successful project.