Subject: Proposed Extension of Moratorium on Condominium Conversions, June 12, 2007 Agenda

June 13, 2007        

Leon Garden, Chair, and
Members of the Monterey Planning Commission
City Hall
Monterey CA 93940

Dear Chair Garden and Commissioners:

The League of Women Voters of the Monterey Peninsula would like to commend the members of the Commission subcommittee and planning staff who have been working on a comprehensive review of the City’s policies and ordinance governing condominium conversions. In the several weeks since they began their study, a number of applications not subject to the current moratorium have also been in process. Most notably, the project at 825 Casanova Avenue has presented some of the major issues and difficulties which must be resolved with most conversions, especially of older apartment complexes.

Your discussion, plus comments from the public and neighbors, has covered a broad range of concerns. These have included not only compliance with code and construction requirements, but the impacts of a particular conversion on the City’s affordable workforce housing supply, the neighborhood character, and whether the alternative of new construction, rather than rehabilitation, would better meet the City’s housing needs for its residents and workers.

We appreciate the importance you have given to the need for a thorough study of the current conversion standards, and taking the time to do it. We urge you to recommend that the City Council extend the moratorium
to December.

Sincerely,

Janet Brennan, President
LWV of the Monterey Peninsula