Board of Education Special Meeting, January 26, 2026

001those watching via live stream. Did I hit it? Sharon says am I am I not on here? >> I'd like to welcome everyone here in the chamber and those watching via live stream and call the January 26, 2026 special meeting of the board of education to order with all trustees present. Uh can we get a motion to adopt tonight's agenda? Moved by trustee uh vice president Boso, seconded by trustee Hazen, I think. Um okay. Uh student trustees, please vote. All other board members, please vote. All right. Uh, Miss Sultz, [clears throat] can you please provide information for public speakers about today's meeting protocols? >> Yes. Today's meeting of the board of education is a business meeting that is conducted in public and board members will not engage in dialogue with members of the audience. Board

002bylaw 1025 sets the time limit for public comment on agenda items at a maximum of 20 minutes. Please listen for your name to be called. Speakers are listed and called in the order received. When your name is called, please come to the podium to speak. When you begin speaking, the green light below my name on the dis indicates that the timer has started. When the light turns yellow, you will have one minute remaining. A buzzer will indicate that your time has expired. If you have not yet done so and would like to sign up for in-person public comment, iPads are available in the back of the auditorium and in the lobby. >> Thank you, Miss Souls. on that. I know we've got more speakers than 20 minutes on the first item. Can I ask uh

003my fellow trustees if we can extend on uh the first item uh public comment to 50 minutes beyond the 20 minutes. >> Looking forward to it. So moved. >> Okay. 50. Yeah. Total of 5' be one minute a piece. Yeah. Five minute. Yeah. Uh do we have a second on that? Okay. Second by trustee win. Uh trustees win and or please vote. All other trustees please vote. Okay. We will uh open tonight's workshop with an introduction by superintendent Bula. >> We need Shaina's vote on >> that. There we go. >> Now we're good. >> We're good. Okay. Um, followed by information on the affordable workforce housing initiative by Drew Roland and Lee Dolgarov. Superintendent. >> Thank you, President Bereda, and good evening. Um, I'd actually like to welcome both our deputy superintendent of operations, Drew

004Rollins, and also Lee Dgraph to come up to the DAS with us. Um, there's a lot of excitement here today, but I'm I'm actually going to say of how proud I am about the progressive nature of what we're trying to accomplish. Um, this is the start of historic initiatives for our district and that we have learned a lot about um, to this effort to bring workforce housing in a region that desperately needs it. Trusty Person, please know that you said something that I've been following up on, which is how might we take a look at our process so we can replicate it. we will continue to um have these types of meetings because we want to continue to develop these communities not only for San Diego but also for our students making sure that families

005have affordable housing and we bring families back into San Diego. Um I also know that there's been other places across the country that are paying attention. I've gotten phone calls both from Texas and from Minnesota thinking about how might we do this um as an educators but also building that ecosystem of housing for our students and our staff. Um, so for today and tomorrow, I do want to note that there's been a lot of staff time, and I mean a lot of staff time dedicated to ensuring that trustees have all the necessary information to make their decisions today and tomorrow. That's why you have 55 attachments with today's agenda. All of those attachments have also been made public. Um, we believe that this is a mutual responsibility of the whole city and so you also

006have that information. Um, ultimately some of your questions are judgment calls and that's why these workshops have been designed in a way for you to make your own best judgment with the information that is available to you. I do want to remind everyone that this is just the beginning of the process. The decisions for today and tomorrow are to decide which developers to begin discussions and negotiations with and there will be future board agenda items that will finalize the terms and the development agreements. Um, with that I won't add much more. we are very timesensitive and so I'm hoping that everyone keeps to their time um in order to make sure that we um are thorough but also timely. Um so thank you very much team and I'll hand it back to you. >> Thank

007you Superintendent Pagula. Okay, we will now consider item C2, the presentation of proposals to construct and operate affordable workforce housing. >> You have some introductory items by Lee. >> Oh, I'm sorry. We've got uh >> Drew and and Lee going first. Thank you. >> Oh, it's coming. Okay. >> Okay. Thank you, Superintendent Dr. Bula. And uh good afternoon, board president Barrera, Vice President Bazo, board members, and members of the public. Before I begin, I want to recognize our dedicated real estate department team here. Gene Fuller, Tracy Tinknell, Debbie Campbell. Couldn't do it without you. Thank you. Um, San Diego Unified is is poised to become the leader in creating affordable housing, workforce housing for school districts. Um, this presentation is going to provide some background and context for developer presentations to come. This is our

008joint occupancy development process. Last April, we issued a request for proposals and conducted public listening sessions at each property. At this meeting, the board has an opportunity to select proposals and authorize staff to complete due diligence, negotiate ground leases, and join occupancy agreements for future consideration by the board. On December 10th, the board approved board workshops to allow developers to present their proposals for consideration and extended invitations to qualified proposers. And to better facilitate comparison between the proposals, developers submitted tabular summaries of their proposals that are attached to this board item. These are the port board approved um workforce housing uh guiding principles for your reference. Uh the first three presentations we're going to hear tonight pertain to this 13 and a half acre normal street property excluding Bernie Elementary School. The proposed joint occupancy

009includes a preschool or child development center with student drop off and parking improvements to support Bernie Elementary. The next group of presentations relate to our uh 4/10en of an acre commercial street property and the proposed joint occasy uh includes preschool or child development center. Back in April of 2024, um, when we first started this process, we conducted a housing survey of our staff, and the survey identified a a clear need for affordable housing. A majority of our district staff respondents do not own their own homes, are housing burdened, interested in district housing, have considered leaving this district because of the high housing costs, and have low to moderate household incomes. This table outlines San Diego's affordability challenges. These are the monthly market rents uh near district affordable housing properties. One-bedroom apartments range from almost 2,000

010a month to 3,300 a month. This is a a table of the HUD tax subsidy area media income limits from 30% AMI to 100% AMI for various family sizes for reference. And this table actually shows how individual staff incomes relate to HUD income limits. And while we don't have total household income for our staff, we have we do have individual in um individual incomes based on our payroll and the number of household dependents based on the district's healthcare plan. In this summary, we're comparing individual staff incomes to the HUD AMI groups. in as individuals 56% of our staff are extremely low very low low or low income which is below 80% AMI and 14% of our staff are moderate income between 80 and 100 and 29 or above 100% AMI. This individual uh payroll data

011actually aligns with the employee survey that I showed you on slide seven. uh in that in that survey was a survey of household income and 45% of respondents fall into the extremely low very low and low income categories there. These are the tables um for the number of uh San Unified employees that fit into each AMI range by family size but based on their individual income. And then you can see the concentration of employees uh between 50 and 80% AMI. Now, I'm going to move quickly through the next few slides um that we can always come back to if you need to um because we're breaking things down by u employee bargaining unit from here on out. So, this is SDA members. So, this table provides uh the same information as the above slide, but

012it's filtered for only SDA bargaining unit members. And you can see the concentration of of members in various AMIs here. This next table is filtered for OSS bargaining unit members. And the following table is OTBS bargaining unit members. Can't forget our police, the POA unit members here. And this table is filtered for our paraheducator members. And then we have three groups of AASD. We have the ASD classified supervisors, classified managers and certificated managers. And then uh these are the nonrepresented supervisors and non-represented managers. And last but not least, our confidential employees. Um and I I did move quickly through this data, but but please let please know we can return to it at any time. Getting back to our process. So, um, from this point on, you'll have the opportunity to listen to developer pre

013presentations and ask questions and consider proposals for action. A board action tonight would authorize staff to continue this process. Future board review and approval is required to approve ground leases, joint occupancy agreements prior to the design, construction, occupancy. And that concludes this presentation. I'll turn it back over to you, President Vera. Thank you. >> Thank you so much, Lee. Okay, we will now consider a presentation of proposals to construct and operate affordable workforce housing and joint occupancy at 4100 Normal Street, the Eugene Bucker Education Center site. We will hear presentations from three proposers on this property. The order of the presentations will be determined by a random draw. And I would like to ask trustee or DAS if you can uh do the uh drawing. [laughter] >> Yeah. >> Number one. Okay. Number two. >>

014Monarch. Number two. Okay. That's it. We're good. Thanks. Thank you, Trusty Ord. >> Yeah. >> Okay. So, I would like to call Affirmed Housing uh to make your presentation. You will have 10 minutes followed by 10 minutes of question and answer from the board. >> I think it's the right Good evening and thank you to the board, district staff, community members, and the selection committee for being here tonight. My name is Jimmy Silverwood, president of Affirmed Housing. We're a family operated company with deep roots here in San Diego. We bring deep local knowledge and a proven track record, including over 3.5 billion secured in funding and thousands of homes recently delivered or underway in California. San Diego is our hometown and our mission is to help make it more affordable. We're proud to have delivered

015beautiful, award-winning, and deeply affordable homes. And we believe we're uniquely qualified to continue that work in partnership with the district. That confidence is reflected in the committee's evaluation where our proposal earned the top score 10 points ahead of the next highest scoring team. When the district asked for housing affordable to staff across a wide range of incomes, we took that seriously. Our proposal delivers homes that meet those needs. Our response was shaped by community groups, district staff, and our experience delivering affordable homes. It reflects the right balance of density and amenities, enough scale to achieve long-term affordability while creating a livable community that respects the neighborhood. We also know that there has been interest in exploring additional density. Our architect has already studied multiple higher density scenarios, including five and six story v variations as

016well as revised unit mixes. We can walk through those during question and answer if the board would like. Staff deserve stability, a home that supports family life and allows them to invest in their future. Building on our partnership with the district, we're proud to propose close to a thousand affordable homes to help deliver that opportunity here. With that, I'd like to invite our partner to share a bit about our combined experience. >> Thanks, Jimmy. Um, Mr. President, I'm uh and members of the board, I'm Caleb Rup. I'm the CEO of the Pacific Companies. Um, I just want to first stop and say, uh, we get a lot of requests to do workforce housing for with employers, school districts, and stuff. And what you put together, the data you put together is exactly the kind of

017data that I've always been asking for. Like, tell me where your folks are earning their living, how much they're making, how big is their household size. So, thanks for doing the the very thing that I'm often asking for all the time. Um, it's outstanding. So, good job. Go off to a good start. Um, so collectively affirmed in our company, we started on 5,000 units of affordable housing last year, just to give you kind of a benchmark. And, um, we're on track to start another 3,500 units of housing. And this is really just in the California market where we work and do a ton of stuff. Um, collectively, we've done about 400 projects uh, over the course of that, you know, roughly 25 years. Um, 30,000 affordable homes. So, that's kind of the collective capacity. This

018last uh time we last year we were successful getting 19 tax credit awards. Uh so that's the financing source that funds a lot of the AMI levels 30 to 80 that that your employees need and we've consistently delivered on all of those projects you know year-over-year. So we're a 27 year old company and um have you know completed all of these projects you know on time effectively and delivered them without investor capital calls or anything else. So, um, long long story and history I could go into, but we are vertically integrated. We're a developer, a contractor, we have architectural services, we work with third parties. Um, spent a lot of time over the years doing policy work. Jimmy and I actually serve together do policy work as well. Um, so the tax credit program is

019just got a big boost from the federal government and is doing great. And so we're actively working with investors, Bank of America, US Bank, JP Morgan that fund our projects. So if if you ever hear that it's not working out right now or there's problems with it, that's just really not the case. I think for newer entrance into the market, they might have a little more trouble um if they don't have experience or the history of the relationships. But for our company, we've had great success in that area and continue to um our partnerships really about shared values. um our capabilities on community engagement, entitlements, uh design, cost efficiency, proform of management, making sure that we can present a realistic and effective plan to you guys so that you can count on us to deliver.

020That's really what we're known for is high production, consistent delivery, and something you guys can rely upon when you pick a partner. So, that's us. That's really what we bring to the table, and um and we'll continue to do that in this case. So, uh with that, I'm going to turn it back to Jimmy. Thank you guys so much for allowing us to be here tonight. Really appreciate it. And uh Jimmy, come on up. Thanks, Caleb. All right, we're proposing approximately 952 new 100% affordable homes for local San Dieans and district staff along with space in Annex 2 for a district operated daycare and preschool. Community input shaped the design. In response to April feedback, we preserved the oak and heritage tree in our proposal. We maintained annex one and two and added amenities like

021a dog park and community garden to the site plan. We appreciate the recent planning group's comments and we look forward to working closely with them while staying aligned with the district's priorities if selected. Our goal is responsible density, preserving what matters to the neighborhood while achieving the scale needed to deliver deep affordability. And if the district wants more density or more large bedroom units, we've already developed concepts to increase yield while maintaining feasibility. This project provides strong predictable revenue to the district for the long run. The proposal guarantees $250,000 for three of our phases, totaling $750,000 annually to the district upon completion with a 2 and 12% escalation over the lease term. This creates a stable, growing revenue stream while leveraging district land to directly support workforce housing. I know at the last hearing there

022was a lot of discussions about affordability. Affordability is the core of this proposal, not as a slogan, but as a measurable structural advantage built into our project. As you can see on this table here, our average rent across all unit types is $1922, which is more than $450 below the current San Diego market average of 2376. By contrast, the other proposals came in with rents that are on average more than $450 per month above market. For families, that difference is meaningful. It translates into hundreds of dollars in real monthly savings. On average, nearly $900 per month in savings compared to the other two proposals. For district teachers and staff, that savings matters. It supports retention, strengthens recruitment, and provides long-term stability so employees aren't pushed farther and farther from the communities that they serve. And

023because our rents remain below market throughout the entire ground lease term, those savings compound, totaling between 900 million to 1.1 billion in rental savings to the tenants over the time compared to the other two proposals. We also understand that some teachers earn above 100% AMI. So, we intentionally built flexibility into our proposal. Our proposal has flexibility to change the current 75 homes originally set at 100% AMI to instead serve households up to 120% AMI without changing the underwriting as we would simply keep those rents at 100% AMI as included in our original proposal. This isn't just about building units. It's about delivering housing people can truly afford and creating an opportunity to deliver something for district employees that the private market is not producing. In terms of project timeline, we have it here on this

024slide with the construction start of the phases between 2029 to 2031 and completion in Lisa between 2031 and 2033. And we have four phases, but at the same time, we structured the capital financing so that we could go after funding for each phase simultaneously. And this reflects realistic timelines based on our team's delivery experience. In closing, thank you again for being here this evening and for your thoughtful consideration. We're grateful for the committee's confidence and excited to continue our partnership with the district. We believe this proposal delivers deep affordability, strong financial performance, and long-term value for San Diego. We look forward to working with the district, if selected, the planning group, and the broader community to deliver a project that reflects local priorities and provides real lasting affordability for district employees. We welcome your questions.

025Thank you so much for this opportunity. >> Thank you so much, Affirmed. really appreciate your presentation. We are going to now put the clock on ourselves. So, we've got 10 minutes total uh for questions and answer answers for a firm. So, I'm going to ask each trustee to limit your questions to a total of one minute and we'll have one minute response uh to each of the uh questions as well. So trustees, who wants to ask the trusty Patterson, I'll just ask a few questions here quickly. I'll take much less than one minute. Give you a little bit yield the rest of my time. Um to [clears throat] you uh three of your four phases in the current plan are modular um and of from an outofstate modular producer. Uh so first question is is

026it possible to make them not modular or if they are modular to make them a um we do have a PLA we have actually a modular producer in east of LA I think um that is that has a PLA. So that's the first question with regard to modular. Second is we had some input from [clears throat] the community that was concerned about the lack of east west flow in the project. And so the question is not there's two sides of this. The community has expressed concern about the possibility of cars moving from east to west which is not something they want and but the desiraability of having pedestrian traffic moving east west if that makes sense. So that's the second question um about breaking up blocks to facilitate pedestrian access. Uh and then you my

027third was about phasing but you appear to have answered the question on phasing that [clears throat] they can be presumably the the actual construction has to be phased but the financing component can can be simultaneous. So um it's really only two questions. Thank you. >> Okay. So I'll I'll start on the first question. Um, I know that this was something that had come up in regards to the last hearing and and really in terms of construction technique, we've confirmed we can also build it onsite if that's the district's preference. So, um, we currently have we're vertically integrated. We have construction underway right now with PLA's in San Diego. And so, we have that experience. That was something that we checked after the last hearing and we believe we can deliver it for the same price.

028question. >> Yeah. So, I'm going to bring up our architect to talk about that a little bit. I know that in terms of cars, no. Uh there's it's it's only for fire access. So, um I'm not positive what was envisioned if it's Ballards or Yes. Thanks, Jimmy. Gerard Garbedian, senior associate Dan Group. Yes. As Jimmy said and as we discussed with the community uh in our community planning meeting, the the street that's the south connector east west is a street for access for residents only and will be bothered on normal. So there's no through traffic ballards can be removed if fire or other vehicles emergency vehicles need that transition or transit. Otherwise, it's basically a dead-end street and primarily a pedestrian pass through or connector with resident access. So, we're not cutting holes through the

029curb on campus to access the garages. So, it's a neater way and a cleaner way to get people in their garages. >> Thank you. Um, so you spoke a little bit about the fact that you can increase yield while maintaining feasibility. So, can you tell us more about that? How dense can you go? How big can you go? How many more units can you add? And what would that do, if anything, to affordability? Um, also wondering, following up on um Trusty Person's question, uh, you said you could build onsite um, at the same price. I'm wondering what does it do to the timeline right now? I believe your sort of phase project is aiming to be complete by 2033. um does that date still hold? It is, you know, past our 10-year goal, but curious

030if you can speak to that. Um and then also about whether um you're able to add more placemaking elements or amenities um to really add value to the to the broader community um without increasing um rents. Okay, sorry I had to ask my colleague what the first question was. I need a pen. Um, okay. So, we did look at some alternative schemes. Um, in terms of the current uh rat product, we currently step down buildings in certain areas at from 5 to four stories. So, those would be kind of the first areas that we would look to increase density. Um, but that would only get about 26 26 24 additional units. So that would be 976 total if we went to and we also looked at a revised unit mix as well. Understanding that the

031district might be interested in more two and threebedroom units by modifying some of the studio and onebedrooms within the project. We could get to roughly 40% twos and threes and we can do that currently with our total unit count that we've proposed the 952. So that was something that we studied. Um but in terms of increasing density, getting it higher, uh we also looked at a sixstory building throughout which yielded us about close to 1,50 units. The only negative with that is we would be adding a level of concrete to achieve that density. Um and so certainly that would uh have some cost impacts and then in addition if we are building it on site the wrap layout would look a little bit differently and so we also studied what that would look like. So

032with a traditional wrap layout five stories throughout the site we'd be at about and as well as with that revised unit mix 40% twos and threes we'd be closer to,080 units. Um, >> okay. Sorry. Timeline. Yes. Um, modular is a quicker construction technique than on-site builds. Um, Caleb, I mean, in terms of your modular, >> Yeah. real quick. It' be about 25% increase in schedule rough. >> Okay. Thank you. Um, I know there's a lot of like in intricacies and detail going into all of these plans and we appreciate you for putting all this together in a way we can understand. Is there a way you could just summarize like some like the top two or three reasons that you think that your plan kind of stands out from the others? I know that's kind

033of hard, but is there something that like, you know, just to highlight like what why your plan would be the most um reasonable one and the one that we should choose if something like kind of rises to the top for you for your plan versus the other two? Yeah, I think I I I went through it a little bit in the presentation, but I think the number one thing is the rents that we'll be charging for our project and there's a pretty distinct difference between those between the three proposals. I think that's you know I know at the last hearing it was a discussion around these proposals are very different and I think that's certainly one of the biggest aspects. Um outside of that I think it's just our ability to deliver. Um, you know,

034we specifically brought in the Pacific Companies because this project, us on our own, we could probably do it, but at the same time, we wanted to have additional uh financial capacity for something like this. And the Pacific Companies always ranks in the top three in the US in terms of affordable housing production. Like, yeah, last year, I mean, we started on 750 units. They started on 4,200 throughout California. So they are um consistently, you know, I last year they'll be the number one uh developer in the US in terms of affordable housing. So I think those two combined is why we think we're the best team for this. >> Well, I'll make it a question and you've talked about it already. The the box I call them boxes. Um, I don't want housing that's going

035to be like the military. Everybody knows what military housing is. Recently, they've done a little bit better with it. But is there a way to make it so that it's not a stigma? Oh, you live over there in the project or in those houses or um just the whole amenities piece. I know I'm talking aesthetics, but >> yeah, >> it's kind of important if you're going to live there for a while. >> Yeah, absolutely. So, I think throughout San Diego, if you if you go and tour our buildings, they are the nicest in the neighborhood. I think in terms of this presentation, originally we didn't even have renderings included in our proposal. Right? So in terms of the boxiness, I I I agree we could have done a better job, but this is like very

036conceptual in terms of the renderings and architecture and all of that. I think you know the planning group um put something together earlier this month. That was the first time we actually got to you know work with them and talk with them about this project. Um, and so, you know, we were kind of putting our best foot forward at the time, but in terms of the renderings, we could have done a much better job showing really what it could look like, and that's what uh was included in the presentation. Those were renderings, still assuming modular, but with traditional build, we could have even more ins and outs. Start out with a box and then we're going to make a silk purse out of Sal's ear. That that's the only thing that really troubles me that

037I don't want it to be a stereotype that folks can walk up and say, "Oh, you live in the in the educators the teachers unit." and it's like a stigma instead of an integrated part of the community where we're part of everybody or like a project kind of thing where um anyway, we'll look at that. >> I I would love the opportunity to take you to any of our properties in San Diego and I guarantee you'd be very impressed. kind of close to our question of the tax credits as employees move up. So, one clarification as well is the tax credits fund up to 80% AMI. So, our 100% AMI units are not held to the tax credit regulatory agreement. But for those 80% AMI units that might move up, I think the threshold's 150%.

038140% AMI. And I mean, I haven't came across it too much, but have have you? And but I guess in theory, what could happen? No, I mean the the income in the resident the residence income is allowed to go up to 140% of median. So it's well above what the limits are. And then to the extent you have market rate units in your building, uh what you are required to do is once those incomes graduate above a certain level, you're then required to take that market unit and make that an affordable unit for the next person moving in. So that's kind of the way it works. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> Okay. Thank you very much. >> Yeah. Thank you very much for the opportunity. >> [applause] >> like to call on Monarch Eden to present.

039>> Are you ready to start? >> Uh, >> I get to start. Miss Stoultz, just tell us when we uh we're starting. >> I'm sorry, I didn't hear you. >> Just tell us when the clock starts. >> And this is the clicker. >> It'll be up there. There you go. Right there. 10 minutes. >> Okay. Go. Go ahead. >> Okay. Good evening, board president, trustees, superintendent, and staff. We want to thank you for this opportunity to present the A+ San Diego team's plan for Normal Street site. Even when I worked in this building, we all knew that there was a better plan for Normal Street. But it took the vision of your board and your staff to get to the starting line that we're on tonight. These are the team members of the A+ San

040Diego team together with the Monarch Group, Klein Financial, Eden Housing. There are nonprofits like the Prebus Foundation, Jewish Family Services, Alliance Healthcare, who will all be long-term partners in this project. This dramatic photo, we can't wait, is a statewide uh theme of the CTA. It's the um clearly something that's related to your affordable housing because teachers shouldn't be made to wait, classified staff shouldn't be made to wait for years for affordable housing near the schools where they work. That's why it's critical uh that district employees get the affordable housing they need. They can't live in homes that can never get built. So to fully understand um that the delivery models of the of our proposal and other proposals, you need to select a team that can deliver affordable housing as soon as possible at the

041lowest risk to the district. So in this RFP, you challenge teams to be innovative, not in concept, but in outcome. You asked that we maximize affordable workforce housing, that we balance homes of educators and classified staff, that we include familysiz housing, and that it be delivered with speed and certainty. The A+ San Diego proposal for Normal Street is the only proposal that can deliver on that vision. Next, uh Sarah will come up and discuss how our model and the plan for Normal Street can actually deliver 1,600 affordable workforce housing units with far less risk than the other proposals. Sarah, >> thank you, Bernie. Our proposal offers the district an innovative housing system, not a one-off project. It meets and exceeds the board's goal to house 10% of your workforce by delivering affordable homes across multiple

042sites, including the RFP sites and Monarch Klein projects already in planning or under construction as seen here. This system is legally sound and we have submitted a clear legal opinion in your packet uh to staff confirming that we can prioritize district employees across all sites. So, how do we actually get to 1615 affordable homes together? Normal is the anchor, delivering 443 affordable homes across income levels, half of them familysized, two and three bedrooms, but it's only one part of a larger system. The scale combines uh comes from combining the district's RFP sites with our active development pipeline plus projects already delivered or underway on district land. This is Levia, not a rendering. Built, occupied, highquality, affordable homes serving district employees today. This is what delivery looks like when financing is real, timelines are controlled, and

043execution is proven. And delivery doesn't stop with one project. This is Hillside in Encanto. It is fully financed, under construction today, and will deliver 106 affordable homes that can be offered to qualifying district employees starting in about 12 months. So, this is the site. We'll talk about Normal Street. Now, the legacy and what we are being asked here today to to steward. Normal is the district's largest and most visible site and the place where the standard must be the highest. This is what our normal proposal feels like at the ground level. Our vision for normal is grounded in more than seven years of district AVRP and uptown planning, fully supported by the community coalition of University Heights here tonight and reflects a strong commitment to continued collaboration with everybody moving forward. The housing mix aligns

044with real district wages evenly split between classified staff and educators with the majority of affordable homes designed as two and three bedrooms. The plan protects surrounding neighborhoods with adequate on-site parking, preserves annex one and key trees, and creates a walkable campus-like environment with child care, joint use parking for Bernie and neighborhood serving uses. At this scale, there are non-negotiable conditions required for housing to actually get built here with the risk kept off of you, the district. You've clearly called for capital certainty, executable financing, and a proven delivery platform. If any one of these fails, the delivery doesn't just slow, it stops. Here you see how our project meets the neighborhood, scaled, treelined, and integrated. Very briefly, the risk at normal is delivery. One proposal depends on w on winning future tax credit awards across multiple

045phases, a process that often stretches delivery 8 to 10 years. Another relies on a HUD loan structure that has not been shown to comply at any scale, assumes district revenue incompatible with HUD's clear subordination requirements, and depends on EIFD financing, none of which are approved or have been executed at this scale. and requiring years of external approvals before construction can begin. We avoid those risks. As reflected in the letters before you, we have documented institutional backing, including over 1 billion in available financing capacity here for these projects from Missouo and equity partners legal in general and taus institutions with 1.9 trillion and 1.4 trillion in assets respectively. This allows us to move now with you years sooner, not decades later. This is Normal Street, the frontage, active, respectful, uh, and designed to belong with the

046heritage fus uh, at the gateway. Let's be clear about what tax credit financing is designed to do and what it isn't. In California, a typical tax credit project delivers about 600 to uh, six, excuse me, 60 to 100 homes at a time. Normal proposes 700 to a,000 plus homes, a 10 times plus scale jump. Trying to stretch the traditional subsidy system to this scale means multi-phase delivery, delay, possibly rising costs, and uncertainty. Our mixed income approach is not a compromise. It is the only proven way to deliver affordability at this scale with speed, certainty, and real results. Here's the compounding problem. The other proposals combine unproven construction methods with financing that requires years of outside approvals. Each adds risk on its own. Stacked together, they significantly increase the chance of delay or failure. That is

047not innovation. That is a gamble on the district's most important site. Using the district's own criteria, which proposal and team can actually deliver? It's a simple question. That means real financing, a credible timeline, uh proven team, family-sized home for classified staff and educators, community compatibility, and risk kept off the district. At normal, even one gap stops a project and only one proposal clears every required bar hours. So, normal street isn't simply uh we can't you basically it can't absorb the risks that we've discussed. There is no margin for error. This landmark site demands proven execution. Financing certainty and quality from day one. And this is our full vision. in a complete district campus ready to be built, anchored uh right there by the restored annex one. Simply put, the other proposals introduce higher risk, increasing

048the likelihood of delays, redesign, and fewer homes actually delivered. Our proposal can be uh begin delivering affordable homes to district employees in under two years using proven executable financing. That's what real innovation looks like. a system that delivers housing faster with certainty. We are offering the most deliverable project for Normal Street and a scalable multi-sight system that can deliver significantly more workforce housing. No other proposal before you offers this level of scale, readiness, and delivery certainty across an integrated system. We are ready to build. We are ready to deliver. and we are ready to be your long-term partner, not just on this site, but in building an innovative workforce housing system for the district and beyond. Tonight, this board can choose certainty over speculation and real proven results over hype. This is how a housing

049legacy is built, starting right here at Normal Street together. Thank you. >> Thank you so much. Thank you, Sarah. Thank you, Monarch. Okay. Uh questions from the board. Uh trusty person. >> Sure. Okay. Thank you, President Barrera. Thank you very much for the presentation. Um [clears throat] a couple of questions. I'll be very brief. Um the first is uh the panel in their recommendation expressed concern about the potential um in the bifurcation of the Eden project and the Monarch project that there would be uh a substantial step down in quality or something where it would be noticeably different. And I wanted to give you an opportunity to address that concern. And then the other is on the question of um I I recognize in not using low-inccome housing tax credits there's some necessity of cross

050subsidizing with market rate. My question is on the the 400 units and change of affordable um would would you have to expand the project substantially to be able to cross subsidize any additional uh any additional density any additional affordable units in the project? Those are my two questions. >> Me too. Um so just real quick, uh Trusty Peterson on the quality and segregation and we submitted something um on the record I think prior to the last boarding miss just to clarify. We believe and and trustee um Whitehurst Payne mentioned this in fully integrated communities, better social outcomes, quality, a lot of reasons we can get into um but basically the quality these are these are communities where we we all want to live for our kids etc. where we want to live today for your

051employees. So the quality much like Levia, we're doing much deeper affordability here, but the quality would be identical if not better because that is what we do and have done for over 50 years. Um and so everything is intermixed throughout. You can't tell the difference from an affordable home versus a market rate home. Partner Bob Klein. Hi, uh, Robert Klene. And just for context, uh, for the state of California, for the state assembly and state senate, uh, they hired me and I wrote the California Housing Finance Agency Act to create the state's bond financing entity. Uh, and we did as a company the first bond financed uh, multif family housing in the state of California's history. So, we have 50 years of history here. In re in response to your question, uh first of all,

052just to set the facts rate uh straight in comparing the assisted rents and the market rate rents, uh it is important for the public to know the truth about this, which is uh a firm is not correct. The their affordable rents are identical to ours because they're both set by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development and the state of California. So for every income group, for every unit size, the rents are identical. They've created this chart by blending in our market rate rents with our affordable rents to distort the outcome. But our rents are identical for the affordable units as theirs are controlled by the same people. The importance of the market rate side is as a board if expenses increase faster than these regulated rents which has happened many times in the

053last five decades. You do not want them coming back to you and saying well we can't make our operations work. We can't make our debt service. We're going to be in default of our covenants. By having a market rate component, you have a buffer so that you have revenue that's being generated that's not under these controlled rents. So when expenses outpace rents on the affordable units, they can continue on a sustainable basis. This is 99 years. You have to look at the ability on a sustained basis to be able to perform. Additionally, with a market rate, you can afford like at Livia the higher quality amenities that attract people. The question is fundamentally, do the classified employees and the teachers want to live in this housing? There were 2,000 applications for 50 positions at Libya

054because of the quality. You have proven quality delivered. They voted with their feet. 2,000 applications. >> I just I just need to give some time for other board members to >> that you need to have an attractive living environment. >> Thank you. Okay. Uh other board member questions. Vice President Baza. So now I feel obligated to ask the same question um that I did of the last group that I guess there's so many details going into this and we're being hit by a lot of information, but I guess maybe what kind of do you feel I'm hearing some some um some of the information that I think you're going to tell me, but what makes you kind of rise to the top do you think of compared to the other proposals? >> It's a couple

055quick things. We've delivered for you guys. Our heart is here. There's there's a tremendous amount of authenticity. It's the people and the team who are going to do this over the long haul. We're not going anywhere. We're committed to this for the long haul. This is the centerpiece of everything that we're doing. So, I think the people part that really matters and the track record and execution. You've heard it, 50 years, I think 45,000 units combined. Um, this is what we want to be focused on in partnership with you over the long haul. Um, and then the second piece I think we kind of alluded to, Trusty Bazo, is again, these are quality homes where we would all want to live. I think that's really important here. the amenities, the placemaking, all of the components.

056We've got incredible partners, by the way. You talk about the people, Prebis, Jewish Family Service Alliant, and others, San Diego Football Club. There's some incredible things we can do here from a community standpoint to activate child care, after hours programs, and all kinds of things and services they provide as well to make this a really amazing uh holistic community beyond just the housing component itself. Trusty Hazer. >> Thank you. I have a couple questions. So, we've been talking a little bit about quality and I guess I'm just seeking clarity um on the quality of the proposed units. Um, and if you can speak to whether there's a difference in quality for the units for or lowest income staff, which I believe are being built by Eden compared to the units for employees at or above

057100% um, built by Monarch. Um, really sort of going back to Trusty Whitehurst Payne's question. So, that's the first one. Um and then similar to my question for the last uh proposers is can you substantially increase potentially double the total number of units at this site while maintaining your current um AMI distribution and um unit mix. Um and could you complete the project? So could you get bigger and complete the proposed project um or this new project by 2031? um and would that at all impact um plans for the Ballard site? Um so I think those are the two big ones. >> Yeah. So Trusty Hen on the on the first one uh a couple things in terms of the quality. So I think most of you or all of you probably been out to

058Livia that's the quality and just going to continue to push the envelope to do that better. So across the entire project what we're talking about here whether it's the Eden side or the Monarch Klein side. Again the quality these have got to be phenomenal communities for people to live in for the long term. Um, I'll I'll point out a couple other things on quality. We hit it on the in terms of all the placemaking. That's really important as well. But with respect to the units themselves, our units on average, we talk a lot about family homes. We saw that in the survey results. That was incredibly helpful. Talking to SDA, talking to the other bargaining units. So, we've got uh 50, it's basically about 50% of the homes are two and threebedroom. On average, our

059units are about 20% larger than the competing proposals. We really believe and we've always done this in big in building bigger familysized homes >> for both buildings >> that's in the Monarch Klein building. Eden >> I mean the question is really around the other building. Are we still talking about the same level of quality that we >> the quality we are and we've got we're also and I think a part of the quality also is the parking. So we've we've worked a lot um with the community group. We know this neighborhood is heavily impacted but but I think that goes into the quality as well. making sure that we're dealing with everything here on site um to make sure that folks have places to park. We're not overwhelming the neighborhood around. Linda, >> thank you.

060Linda Mandolini with Eden Housing. Uh we've been doing this for 58 years now and uh we have built with many um single family home uh builders who sell in the millions of dollars. We've put affordable housing in those communities and our goal is to be seamless. We want people to drive by and think we're market rate. >> But I mean inside, >> inside and outside, they will be very nice housing. It will be great housing that people want to live in. And we're long-term owners, so we like it to be just as nice 50 years from now as it is the first day we open it. So we we are super committed to quality. >> Thank you. >> Second half question. >> Yeah. And we're going to have to extend this maybe by two minutes,

061but if you could just address Trusty Hazen's question about going bigger, >> like doubling the unit. >> So the question was, can we go bigger? >> Could you double the number of units? >> We're committed to working with you. We've also obviously working with you, the community. Um, we set out kind of what was grounded here, as I mentioned, was kind of the seven-year process to date. We have the ability to go bigger. We would obviously want to do that with the direction of the district and working with the community as well, but we do have the the ability to go bigger >> on the same timeline. >> Yes. Thank you. Uh I I'd like to say that there has to be some constraint there because you have to first have the quality so people

062want to live there and the quality of amenities and you can't you can't go uh significantly larger than where we are now and maintain the quality of amenity space. >> Okay. >> You have to have enough space. >> Okay. Trusty White Payne, did you have a question? I think that u my colleagues have been touching on my points and uh we just need to be sure we get the numbers we need. >> Okay. Trusty W, Trusty Ordas. Okay. And my only question is really around the market rate units. We've defined affordability as uh our employees paying no more than 30% of family income on rent. Uh can you stick to those parameters even with your market rate units? >> Yes. Okay. Yes. >> Okay. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you, Monarch Eden. >>

063Thank you. [applause] >> Okay. And our final presentation on this site is Prota. Thank you members of the board. Um my name's staff. My name is Yehudi Gaffen, better known as Gaff. I'm joined today by Jeff Esau, my partner, and by Andrew Sharp will be presenting. Um Andrew Melik got caught up in the snowstorm that is happening and he's landing in San Diego at 6:30. He told me he's very upset that he's not here. He apologizes sincerely. He's trying to watch it on streamed video right now. I want to just start out by telling you that our work, my work with the district started in 1998 with Propm. It's close on 30 years. And the district has honored us, allowed us to work with you to build some of the most amazing classroom spaces, campuses.

064I think that's renowned statewide. And I think what's really amazing is that we now have this opportunity to do the same thing with you for your teachers because I truly believe your teachers and your staff deserve it. And it would be an amazing honor for us and our team and I've personally handpicked every member of our team to make sure that they can deliver. They're the best in the nation right now and we look forward to going ahead to do that. I'd now like to turn it over to Andrew Sharp to walk you through the project. >> Let's see. Marty, am I doing this right? >> Stop the clock. Thank you. I want to start by addressing the question that uh trustee or vice president Bazo has asked of everybody which is um what are

065the biggest advantages to our proposal? Um I want to talk about a couple things that are really clear. Um one is the amount of money that we deliver to the district. We deliver the most revenue 4.2 2 billion dollars. But I also want to talk about the units. We deliver 1500 affordable units and we deliver them here on this site, not scattered across the city. So I think those two things are clear and I want to make sure that um that those rise to the top as we as you all go through this very difficult process of of making these comparisons. Um I also want to talk about the uh fact that our plan is not just um not just clear, but it's also shovel ready. I think that's essential. Um, one of you heard

066Gaff talk a little bit about the quality of the team. Um, we have some of the best people in the business, including the architectural firm of the year. When you talk about building quality, um, I think that that work speaks for itself. It's, uh, part of the reason that, um, the largest institutions in the state of California, University of California, Merrced, San Diego, have turned to the members of our team to um, build housing that's worthy of their students. Um and I also want to talk about the fact that labor is part of our team. We um we consider them to be an essential partner and that means not just um uh signing a PLA which of course we've done but also it means creating apprenticeships for students during the construction process creating the next

067generation of uh skilled labor. Um, I think the way that we demonstrate our partnership with labor the most though is and uh demonstrate the most respect for working families is by creating 1500 affordable 100% rentrestricted units that are available to the working women and men of San Diego Unified. I I want to be clear that all of our units are dedicated to San Diego Unified employees. Um, other teams did not make that commitment. we did because we think there's no point in building workforce housing if it's not for your workforce. Um, uh, we also went out of our way to make sure that we had a good mix of families. Um, 40% of our units are set aside for families. Again, that's a high percent, but more than percent, what matters is the number. Um,

068we have nearly 600 family units. We think that's important when it comes to building a complete community, but it's also important in terms of reversing the enrollment decline that big city districts across the state have seen. Um we make allowance for 822 students. That's enough to reverse some of the enrollment declines that we've seen in um some of our neighborhood schools, Roosevelt Middle, San Diego High. um that would make a significant contribution to those um to their enrollment and it would also um over the lifetime of the agreement contribute almost 4 billion dollars in additional ADA to the school district. We also provided an opportunity for the district to house retirees. Um we felt like that's an important part of any community, older folks. It's especially important some of us age. Um, and we thought

069it was important for the uh, district to be able to set those units aside for the retirees if they decide to. Um, that's your decision. If it turns out that you would rather prioritize active members of the workforce, then you'll have 300 additional units of workforce housing at your disposal. This what I really wanted to explain in terms of um, LITC finance projects, we've heard a lot of back and forth on, you know, what's affordable and what's not. I really want to make the point that our commitment is based on um the real lived experience of your employees. It it's not based on HUD numbers. Um although I'm encouraged to hear that the federal government is doing great. It's it's based on what people experience in their paychecks, what they take home. And so we

070looked at um making sure that we can hold our rents to 30% of what people take home. And that has a big impact when you're talking about 80% AMI units. We took an example of a teacher who's earning $75,000 a year. That teacher is going to wind up paying $443 more in monthly rent in a LITC funded project than he would in a uh in a privately funded project like ours. And that's why most housing projects created in the state of California by school districts don't rely only on LITC. Um it's because it doesn't work for teachers. And that's that's really an important point. I don't think anybody wants to see something like this in San Diego. Um the fact is with LITC funded projects about 70% of the district employees who are teachers will

071be barred from applying on day one. They won't qualify and that's not something that we think is acceptable. Um it's equally important that we can um that we finance our project privately because we want to be able to deliver quickly, reliably for the district. LITC obviously is competitive. That introduces an element of risk and uncertainty. Um also frankly um it it prevents other organizations from delivering at the scale that we would like to deliver in terms of the revenue for the district. $4.2 billion is really enough to move the needle in terms of the long-term stability of the school district. Um I heard mention that uh I I assume that was our project when you're talking about mass timber. Um, mass timber is a reliable technology. They use it in the Portland airport. Um, we

072would build the largest mass timber project in San Diego. And and that's important because I want to I want to finish by talking to the students. Everybody knows the planet's getting hotter. They know climate change is real and they know it's up to us to do something about it. That's why our project is built with mass timber. It's why we put the most number of people possible in a high value community like this where there's walkable streets where 92% walkability score. They have access to transit. Um we are proud of having the most sustainable project because we are focused on the future. We feel like we're standing on a once in a generation lifetime to do uh once in a lifetime opportunity to do something about climate change. We also go up. that's the way

073of putting people here. I heard somebody say that you can't really have the amenities um if you have scale. We don't agree with that. We think we can create the amenities by going high and that's what we've chosen to do. Um uh that's opened up that unlocks a lot of amenities for the community like a pool, like three parks. Um, we we feel like this is going to give you the legacy that you all want to leave to this community as you prepare for the next chapter for San Diego Unified. But I I'd really like my partner to talk a little bit more about legacy. >> Thank you. Thank Thank you, Andrew. Um, as I've gotten older, I've thought more about legacy. And I know that uh you all are doing the same thing as

074board members. And I truly do believe that uh this project has the ability to leave a legacy for you, but also for us. I'm an amateur baker, and you'll see here that uh I have this vision to actually build a bakery here. That would be the first bakery that we do. But on a serious note, um I also am very committed and have formed a foundation in honor of my late son um to foster workforce development but also education and training. And the vision we have is to actually repurpose the annex into a teacher training facility to really bring the university back to university heights. We've had initial discussions with UCSD who working with us at Seapport and there's a lot of interest from them to actually partner with us and the school district to

075create this teacher training early childhood training at the annex on this facility. And I think this picture to me was very emotional because this shows the first graduating class at Normal Street and uh I think at the turn of the century. And what we really hope is that this will again become a place to celebrate education, a place to give our teachers what they deserve and to create to create an iconic project for our state. Thank you very much. >> Thank you. Thank you so much. Okay, board member questions. Who would like to go first? Go in a different order. Trustee Vice President Bazo, why don't you go first? Well, um, you already answered my my one question that I felt like I was obligated. Um, I know you've talked a lot about teacher affordability,

076um, which of course is important. How does that now align with our um, other um, you know, our our uh, front office staff, our custodians, people in the like what's your plan kind of to make sure? Of course, we want to balance and have housing for teachers, but also for um our other staff that are not getting paid as high an income. >> I'll let Andrew maybe dive into some of those details because he's really been geeking out on all of that over the last months. But I will tell you this, I think the biggest uh difference with our project is we're not constrained by the LITC, by the federal and state regulations. we can partner with you to really create those bands that would be flexible to be able to accommodate what you need

077to do at the time. So I think that's the major advantage to our structure to our ability to really deal with that because it is going to change. I mean we know what it is today but one thing for sure is it's not going to be like that forever with us. you'll have the ability to do that in partnership without having to comply with some regulation that someone else has set up. >> And I would just say uh we think it's incredibly important that this be a mixed income community. We've set aside 400 units um for folks that are lower on the wage scale. Um I I do want to address the teacher question though because it's really something that's been studied extensively by City Lab, by University of California, Berkeley. um they looked at

078the numbers that you all have in front of you kind of what are people's pay scales and they said in the abstract half the teachers in the state of California should be eligible to live in low-income housing but by the time you account for the fact that many of them have a partner who are married by the time you account for the fact that a lot of times lit is small units over 80% um it actually the bulk of them winds up being much lower on the scale um by the time you do all of that math it's only about 27% of the teachers in the state who would qualify for LIITC. And again, we think because you all have been so effective in in recruiting teachers and making sure they're fairly compensated, we think

079that number is um even lower here. So again, 70% of your educators not able to apply on day one. We just think is unacceptable. But thank you, >> Trusty White House. I I think that's really a a big question for me that you just raised because um one I don't think that we should exclude um classified staff. I think we we're all in it together. um we need AIDS and so forth in in the room, but we've got to find a way to address um exiting people just because of their salary one way or the other, either too low or too high. And um it's good to see that you guys have at least thought about it to address that because once you do add in all these people, it's not the same as what

080people are saying it is. So, I'm glad that you did address that [clears throat] issue for me. >> Trusty Patterson. >> Thank you, President Bur. I just have a few questions. I'll be quick. Um, first of all, uh, in relation to, uh, there was some questions around EIFD and HU HUD financing. I didn't recall the HUD part in the proposal. I my recollection is that the EIFD was that internal to the project, the budget was internal to the project, but that you would potentially seek in the future for ongoing maintenance. The EFD. Second question is about um the one uh we can talk about this in our board discussion but the 120% AMI is difficult because it's constraining but it's basically market rate in this area. So that's a question that we'll get to but

081you might want to reflect briefly on the 120 AMI. >> Um and then there was your pro your proposal had this had a senior housing component. If we did not want to move forward with the senior housing component could that be done? And then the final one is the community has um various members of the community have expressed concerns about um setbacks around annex one. And so my question is concretely would the project be able to be reconfigured in order to give at least a 70 foot setback on all sides to to the anotanics one. Thank you. >> So let me maybe start with your last questions. Definitely, we're very flexible in terms of relooking at the project, moving setbacks, changing the the heights of buildings if they impact the annex or Bernie Elementary or

082anything else. We obviously had to put something forward. I think it's the beginning and we stand ready and willing to make whatever changes that we need to as we go through the the process. Um, I'll maybe take the last question. I may forget some of your questions but uh there were a number of misstatements made by some of the other competitors. Our project does not rely on EIFD for the project. The only statement we made was that at our Seapport project we have a very significant public infrastructure EIFD component going forward. We've learned a lot. We've had some discussions with the city already and we believe that that is a mechanism to fix the fork. We know that there's a lot of focus on the fork. We want to get it fixed and we look

083forward to working with you and with the city to really help uh develop a mechanism to do that. And EFDs are definitely there. But in no way is an EIFD part of our project. Um sorry, I'm trying to remember >> the what >> retirees. >> Oh, sorry. Yeah, definitely. I mean, as Andrew said, we really believe a complete community does involve seniors. However, we are completely open that if that needs to be converted to active employees of the district, we're very open to that. Um, it was a placeholder put in for good reason, but in no way is it cemented in. We prepared to change that. And on the 120% I think frankly the um our proposal is based on on staff actual salaries um as opposed to federal AMI [snorts] uh salary bands. And

084so the commitment we've made is nobody's going to pay more than 30% of their income. That that's the way we've defined it. Um that was the RFP's definition. That's the definition that we've always used. Um, frankly, we had to put that in the spreadsheets that we received from the district and so that created a ma potentially some confusion, but um, no, uh, I think we heard Trusty Barrera loud and clear that, um, he wants to know that your employees are getting a good deal. Um, that that's important to us. Um, we looked at the market rate across the street. We we don't have any market rate in our proposal. Um, we think it's important that everything's below market and we'll work with you to um on the affordability if uh and and again I think

085Yaff alluded to this, but I want to emphasize the point. We have flexibility to work with you on that um because there are no other parties to our agreement. It's between us and the district. So, um we don't rely on HUD or anybody else to kind of negotiate. >> Thank you, >> Trusty Haz. >> Thank you. So you proposed, 1100 units at or above 100% AMI and based on employee income and demand data from survey the survey, I wonder if such a large share of higher income units will actually outstrip the demand of our employees with these incomes. Um, and we also know that employees at the lowest end of our pay scale are most struggling to afford housing. Um, and that we see the greatest rate of turnover among these staff. And I'm wondering

086uh if your project could be amended and would it still pencil if you reallocated about 500 of the 100 to 120% AMI units um and guaranteed them for employees uh on the lower end of of the pay scale because when we look at the total numbers we only have 3,000 total employees that are over 100% and we know about a third of them already own their own homes and many of them are stably housed. So this just doesn't I'm I'm wondering how you could shift potentially. >> So Trustee Hazen, I'll tell you this. We went through so many whatifs and hypotheticals and uh we were really um it ended up in this uh cycle of what if this and what if that. And what we said was the big thing we bring to you is

087the ability to work with you to meet your goals. because if we don't meet your goals and your community's goals of teachers or uh classified employees, then we uh we failed. So, we have the ability, as Andrew said, to really model that to what makes sense for you. There's no one else at the table. There's no restrictions on what we can do. So, we uh we look forward to working with you to really model that out and to see what makes sense. >> Thank you. And then quick uh second question, my last question is your projected revenue which is 460 million when we look at net present value comparing apples to apples across all proposals is still nearly eight times higher than the other biders. Um and I'm wondering if district revenue were reduced to

088a comparable level as the others which is call it $60ish million in net present value. Could you materially reduce rents? We could absolutely that's the teeter totter that we need to work with you on. So we've made certain assumptions but as we move through the modeling that's definitely a lever you could pull to be able to meet the goals of your constituents. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you. [clears throat] And my my question I think was or questions were asked by Trusty Patterson which is the tower overlooking Bernie Elementary. Uh don't feel great about that. So we'd have to we'd have to >> Yeah, we absolutely can look at reducing the height on that. Whether the units get whether the number of units get reduced or we take another building a little higher. All

089of that's on the table and we're willing to work through that with you as we go through it. Nothing is set in concrete. In fact, it's mass timber, not concrete. [laughter] And um and I appreciate the uh looking at the $75,000 a year teacher. Um we'd want to see that that gap between what's out in the market and what somebody is actually paying in our development is consistent across the different income bands. >> And that is consistent. It's uh the the the AMIs set by HUD are I don't want to call it artificial but they're set due to some other reasons. We have our we have the ability to set that to whatever is the real salaries. >> Great. Great. Thank you so much. Thank you. >> Thank you. [applause] >> Okay. We now have

090public comment. Um, we're allocating a total of 550 minutes. We're going to limit it to one minute a piece and I'm going to be pretty strict about that. So, Miss Staltz, please call the public speak. >> Yes. I'll call up groups of five people at a time. If you could please come up and line up at the podium. Their uh names are being called in the order that we received them. Gail Freight, F R I E D T. Alyssa Ham, Vahan Hartuni, Leaf Gensert, and Nancy Moors. Please come forward if your name has been called. Yeah, go ahead. >> Please say who you are so we can mark you down. >> All right, testing one three. All right. All right. Uh, good evening. Uh, my name is Vhan Hartuni and I'm a homeowner in University

091Heights. I saw more extensive presentations of these proposals at the uptown CPG and one thought remained in my mind. This board's top priority is their teachers and getting them housed. But what's the point of having a roof over your head if you find yourself forced to drive to a farway store in order to get what you need? Car ownership isn't just monetarily expensive. The time wasted in traffic is one you never make back. That is why it is essential to have shops and facilities on site with a mixeduse development. Let me be clear. This isn't to make a destination for others to flock to, but to prevent the residents and even the surrounding neighborhood from needing to drive out and clogged roads. I am asking the board to reject reject affirm's Oak Tree Village proposal.

092It is residential only and that makes it a deal breakaker. Of the remaining two, I hope you all choose Keystone. Proteia and Malik have taken a holistic approach that maximizes not only housing but access to amenities as well. Thank you. >> Thanks so much. >> Hello. Hello. Yeah, my name is Life Gendzad. I'm the vice president of RISD. We are a local public transport advocacy group. I also live in Northbuck but just over the border of Texas street. So I'm here in this area all the time. So I want to point out that we'll probably hear a lot around uh infrastructure and how we don't have the infrastructure for that amount of people moving into the neighborhood. This area is apart from areas with trolley access one of the best connected areas by public transport.

093We have the 215 bus going here which we're currently advocating to make better. But nevertheless we have a rapid bus. We have one of the highest frequency buses with the seven. So from that concludes that we should focus on the development that brings in the most people because we have infrastructure but we can also improve on the inf infrastructure that we that we do. So the the keystone proposal is what we are advocating for. Thank you so much. >> Okay. Sarah Fureborn, Erin Coleman, Mark Johnson, Christopher Mills, and Bruce Coons. Thank you, Bruce Coons, executive director of Saver Heritage Organization. No matter which project that you uh pick, um we want to be sure that you take a look at the setbacks from annex one uh and the stepbacks for the buildings immediately adjacent to

094annex one. So the uh the buildings that are immediately adjacent should be subordinate to the historic resource and we think that you would probably need to add to a team of historic resource specialists to help you through the squa uh aspect of the uh design and the environmental analysis when you do that. Um, but you know that fantastic site, right? It's one of the most visible sites in San Diego. Um, want to say a little pitch for trying to get some uh distinctive architecture at least at the southern end and around the annex because this is going to be one of the most visible places. You've seen the historic pictures. Anyhow, >> thank you very much. >> Let's do this right first time right and we'll be happy. >> Thank you. Aaron Coleman. Esteemed members

095of the board. Um, my name's Aaron Coleman. I'm a neighbor who owns a home and lives just a few blocks away from the proposed site. Uh, I'm also a father to two daughters in the district. Every proposal under consideration is at least almost double anything discussed just next door in the Bernie Auditorium workshops in terms of size and scale. Yet uh your work to build goodwill in the university heads community means you have many like myself here understanding that the 400ish version didn't pencil and yet we are still here ready to accept a much larger project but within reason. Steve Jobs famously is quoted telling his ambitious early Macintosh team real artists ship. You have an opportunity to reshape the narrative around these kinds of projects to be a model deserving of statewide admiration. The

096story we should be telling is one of impressive workforce housing with real meaningful community engagement and goodwill that actually got built. I fear that the Prota project specially, but any project that is 11 stories high ignores years of feedback and may galvanize the neighborhood against it. I support the Monarch project and I thank you all for your time and consideration. Thank you. >> Good evening trustees. time. My name is Mark Johnson, president of UHCA and member of the community coalition of University Heights. While none of the proposals fulfill all of the goals supported by the community, Monarch proposal is the one that we're imploring you to support because it meets the most number of goals. Um Monarch has demonstrated the most willingness to work with the community to incorporate as many priorities as possible, particularly

097public open space around annex one. With 1500 units, the Proteier Malik proposal is four times the size of the Winslow project across the street. In addition to dominating Annex1, it would overwhelm the neighborhood and increase uh's population by another 25% in just one project. The affirmed project has a very large footprint covering most of the site with limited open space and circulation. Lacking retail, the project would not be attractive or inviting. Whichever proposal the board approves tonight, we implore you that you look at the coalition's recommendations and continue to engage with the community so that we can have the legacy that all of us can be proud of for the next generation. Thank you. [applause] >> Hello. Uh my name is Christopher Mills, uh executive director of the University Heights Community Development Corporation and also

098a member of the community uh University Heights Community Coalition. And I'd like to add our support for the Monarch Housing Proposal and request that the uh uh coalition's recommendations uh be included in uh uh what whatever proposal you select. You know, the story of the school district on this site is a story of University Heights. Our your history is our history. So, whatever happens here uh is going to affect University Heights. And of what we're concerned with right now is all this non-infrastructure in University Heights. We're concerned with um 1,400 units that have already been proposed uh in University Heights and adding another uh 1500 units and 3,000 uh residents will only add to a congested and disturbed community. So, let's make this a good story and support the Monarch proposal. Thank you. >> [applause]

099>> Hey, the next group, Kristen Harms, William Ellig, Ted Kelis, Jason Vance, and Wesley Morgan. Good evening. I'm Kristen Harms with the University Heights Historical Society and a member of the Community Coalition of University Heights. After seven years of collaboration with the district, our community was very excited about the site plan created by the district's architect for the Brooker site. The AVRP site plan fulfilled the goals of the district, the unions, and the community and respects the significant heritage of the site. We were therefore pretty surprised and very disappointed when the district set that AVRP site plan aside last year and put the BRE project out to bid. However, in the very short time since then, we have been impressed with the Monarch Housing Group and their interest in working with our community. Monarch is

100also a proven development partner of the districts. Our coalition supports the Monarch housing proposal and also asks that our coalition's recommendations be included in the term sheet for the selected proposal. Thank you. [applause] Good evening. My name is Bill Ellig. I'm a member of the uh community uh community coalition of University Heights and also Uptown Planners, but I'm speaking tonight on behalf of the coalition. To say that University Heights has a long history supporting education at this site would be an understatement. University Heights was formed in 1888, almost 140 years ago. and seen the normal school, the junior high school, which is commonly overlooked, and the ed center here. Before you this evening is a choice that will continue this tradition for the next 100 years. University Heights has supported all of this, although I

101wish the normal school was still standing here in the parking lot next door. And Monarch has shown that it has a proven record of success. It has worked well with the district and the community. And I ask you as you make your decision, please remember the gravity of this. This is a hundredyear project. This is important. Thank you very much. [applause] I'm Ted Kirkus and I'm a lone voice advocating for dog parks. [snorts] Only one of these proposals took us seriously. The others gave us lip service. Proteia, thank you. I was impressed with your proposal, but it's not perfect. 63% of San Dieans have dogs. That's twice the national average. Proteius proposal, 1500 units will bring in 900 dogs. Add the hundreds of dogs in the community, in the other buildings, in the other houses.

102We're talking thousands thousands of dogs within easy walking distance. We need a bigger park. Their their proposal is good, but it needs to be bigger. 63% of of San Dieagans have dogs. More like dogs. Would like to spend time around dogs if they could do it somewhere other than a piece of ugly dirt. We need a nice park where that could happen. Make the dog haters go to the ugly piece of park. We need the nice park. Please give it a chance. [applause] Can't beat that. Uh, good evening. I'm Wes Morgan, a San Diego native and I've been a resident of Uptown for 12 years. I'm supportive of the Keystone proposal just like our local community planning group shared with you and any solution that builds up and not out. As you consider tonight, I

103ask you to look at four items. One, please maximize height so you can create real green spaces. height is how you unlock parks, plazas, and walkable public areas. Low buildings, spread pavement, parking garages, and hardcaping like in the Malik proposal. Not sure if you saw all of those street level parking lots. Second, please maximize the total number of affordable homes created. No fancy math. Third, do not overcompensate for what exists today. the surrounding area is zoned at or greater than this site and at or greater than every proposal or at least the Keystone proposal you saw today. And then finally, don't distract yourself with the value of the annexes. The very small number of people who care about them are in this room and you'll hear about each one of them. Thank you very much.

104>> Thank you. [applause] >> Good evening. My name is Jason. I'm the chair of North Park Planning Committee. Tonight's decision is important for both North Park and the city of San Diego. This location sits along rich transit connections and it's a massive opportunity for us to address housing affordability. The planning committee voted to endorse the Keystone proposal because it would provide 1,200 affordable homes for teachers, 300 for seniors. It also adds new public parks to the neighborhood which residents are excited about. Fully underground parking allows the street level to prioritize people, public space, and even commercial activity. This location is already so dense and walkable with strong transit. If we want to avoid traffic and parking issues, uh we really should be building housing here. Thank you. [applause] Okay, the next group is Kate Neil,

105Kyle Weinberg, Cynthia Driver, Michael Donovan, and John Hannisk. We can go out of order. >> Okay. >> Thank you. My name is Michael Donovan. I'm here to represent Vibrant Uptown, a group of community activists in the Uptown area. We are striving to develop uh more live, work, play communities >> [snorts] >> uh within this these neighborhoods. We've had uh too much time dealing with uh being crowded out by cars and by parking lots and a lack of parks. We need more places where people can live and want to spend their time and not have to jump in the car and go somewhere else. From what I hear of the uh proteomalik keystone proposal, it provides the best value to your staff, your teachers, and all of the members of the education community. And it provides

106a place where they will want to live and work and play. Thank you. [applause] Kyle Weinberg, president, San Diego Education Association, special education teacher and renter along with 62% of the other employees in this district. We need to maximize the number of units that are available to educators and our families. That means that we need to keep the eligibility at 120% AMI for as many units as possible and have as many units as possible as 50% in the agreement that we have with the district. 50% of units need to be available to educators. So that's important with the AMI. We need to have mixed income uh within that affordable housing integrated that mixed income within the affordable housing so that our children are growing up and benefiting from diverse exposure to children from all different

107backgrounds. We need to address twin goals that we came out with with our committee with our recommendations of um filling those hard to staff positions like special education by providing affordable housing and also declining enrollment. We have to maximize the number of affordable units. We have to maximize the number of units total in this to advance our climate justice goals. >> Thank you. The next group is Ed Koy, Jane, Bill Helm, Ashley Harrington, Jordan Latchford, and Tyler Rener. >> Hello, I'm Bill Helm, director of the Dow Sanctuary, martial arts school right across the street. I've been there since 1991, and we have Tai Chi classes in the parking lot on the weekend. And I would like to object to going up too high and increasing so much more density. I'd also like to mention the

108historical trees and the ridiculous plan to transplant a 100-year-old oak tree somewhere. I think that's ridiculous and I would like to see that tree saved regardless of the rest of it. Increased density and less parking is not a good mix. were already challenged mightily, especially the businesses to have access by the public to our places. Thank you. You [applause] >> Hi, my name is Ashley Harrington. My husband and I are local homeowners and we strongly support the Proteameic Keystone project. As others have stated, this is a transit dense area. There are a lot of amenities, schools, grocery, medical, and I support the most number of units. For every teacher that moves into this unit, that's one more unit out in the community that's not as attractive, that becomes more affordable through filtering. We've already seen

109this in cities that have densified, like Phoenix and Austin, where rents are down 20 to 30% because of increased density. I strongly support San Diego moving in that direction. It's exciting that we're looking at the future of this neighborhood and adding more families, more teachers, and more support staff. And density is the way to go there. Thank you for your time. >> Thank you. [applause] >> All right. Good afternoon, President Barrera and board members. My name is Jordan and I live in University Heights and I'm here to speak in support of the Keystone proposal. I want to begin by thanking San Diego Unified and the board for your thoughtful work to address the region's housing crisis. Your willingness to step up is making a difference in teachers and staff's lives. We can all agree that

110teachers and staff deserve to live in the communities they work in. Want to emphasize that the board has a rare opportunity here. The Bucker site sits between Hillrest University Heights and North Park, one of the most transitrich and walkable areas in the region. This 13acre site has so much potential, and I encourage the board to think big. Places like this are exactly where well-designed, higher density housing can succeed and truly benefit the community. The Keystone proposal will generate millions in resources to support students, teachers, and facilities for decades while supporting community goals. As a neighbor, I believe this is the chance to create something lasting and positive for our community. Thank you. >> Thank you. [applause] The next group is Matthew Driver, Maline Tyson, NR Salahv, Manny Rodriguez, and Guthrie Leonard. >> Sorry, I was

111right. Tyler Rener. >> Yeah, >> Tyler Ren. >> Hi there. My name is Tyler Rener and I've been engaged in this process for several years. I think there's a clear community desire for the greatest amount of public benefit. I hope that you choose a project that prioritizes housing, especially for families. I hope that you prioritize open space, placemaking, and public amenities. Whichever one you choose, please choose the one that maximizes the number of units for that project. That's how you get the amenities and benefits to the neighborhood. I share this as a University Heights resident, someone who works in housing and homeless services and the son of two public school educators and brothers of public school teachers. There's important voices that are missing here today, notably renters, younger folks, and the future residents of this

112community. So, please match the scale of the surrounding neighborhood, especially as you see North Park and Hillrest redevelop. This is a time to be bold, transformative, and forward thinking. Thank you. >> [applause] [clears throat] >> Good evening. Uh, President Barrera, thank you very much for adding the time this evening. Uh, public comment is really important, matters a lot. So, thank you very much. [clears throat and cough] My name is Matt Driver. I'm the vice chair of the Uptown Community Planning Group. Um, as a community advocate and a parent where this project is planned, I ask you to delay the vote today and allow at least another 30 days. um the neighbors in this community. Uh while there has been a lot of discussion on how to use this space and how it can be maximized,

113how many units, maximize the units and such, I've heard very little talk this evening about the residents here in this community about how they are going to be impacted by it. I'm sure most of you have seen the traffic out front at Bernie at 315. That's 100 cars, 150 cars. We're talking about putting 700 to a,000 cars out there on that same street. Um that takes some some thought and some planning and I think we're rushing this right [snorts] now. Obviously we did seven years we scrapped that whole project and started from scratch only nine months ago. Um equally important I think you need to listen to the teachers and administrators. >> Thank you very much. [applause] >> Thank you board. My name is Maddie Tyson and I live up here on the mesa and

114I w walk bike and shop shop here every day and I want to support uh Keystone Proa Malik whatever you're calling it. Every time I bike through here I am terrified when I have to cross the intersection and I feel like I'm taking my life into my hands. My dad died being hit by a car here in San Diego. My boyfriend yesterday told me that his cousin was asking for money for because her son was hitting by a car outside. Protay is the only proposal that comes up with a solution to this and also generates momentum for further additional resources that can come to support transportation and the infrastructure that everyone in this community wants and needs to be able to have a safe pedestrianfriendly lifestyle in addition to having a car. It's hard for

115us who would like to start a family to buy a home and I would like to urge the board to select the option that provides the most housing possible. More than that, Proate is the only project that has a plan to fix the fork. It is the only project that can provide the momentum we need to have the vision for the future. Thank you. >> Thank you, [applause] >> Board of Trustees, members of the public. My name is Anar Salivv. I'm the secretary of the Uptown Community Planning Group, which you've heard from a lot today. I'm also the appointed member on the city's mobility board as well as the executive director of Bike San Diego. I'm not here on behalf of any of those groups. I'm here speaking as a resident of San Diego asking

116you to vote in support of Keystone. I think a lot about housing, land use, and transportation. And I'm here to implore you that you select the option that promises the most homes, the most amenities, the most retail, and a real commitment to fixing the fork outside of this building right here. I grew up 10 minutes away from my elementary school, which allowed me and my mom, who worked there as a part-time lunch lady and an afterchool attendant, to walk there together, to bike there together, and to spend quality time together. That proximity also gave her the confidence to take that job while raising my baby sister. And so when instances came up when like a one-year-old, my sister had a fever or there was another emergency, she could get home quickly and make sure it's

117been handled. So with that, I ask you, vote for the right thing. Vote Proa. Thank you. [applause] >> Good afternoon, President Barrera and board of trustees. My name is Manny Rodriguez. I'm here on behalf of the Yimi Democrats of San Diego County. Our organization and hundreds of supporters supports decisions that will bring down the cost of housing and make San Diego an affordable place to live for working families. And I'm here to respectfully request that this board today prioritize the needs of working families. You're going to hear from a lot of folks today. You've already heard from a lot of folks today who are trying to, you know, push their aesthetic preferences about the projects to the very top. But we see your role as you know elected officials to prioritize the needs of everyone

118particularly those that are most struggling to make ends meet in San Diego. So we respectfully request that you support the project that meets the needs of working people which is the Keystone project. Thank you very much. [applause] >> Uh hello board. My name is Guthri Leonard. I'm also here on behalf of Wright SD. We're a community nonprofit dedicated to improving public transit in San Diego. We believe Keystone's proposal can meaningfully reduce the cost of housing and transportation by putting the most units near the 1, 11, 7, and 215 bus routes as well as highquality bike infrastructure. This means we do not need the quantity of parking that other developers are offering. The Keystone's proposal is the most effective at achieving needed affordability for residents with benefits for them and the community at large. And so

119with that in mind, please select the Keystone proposal and provide for teachers and others who deserve to live in this community and in San Diego at large. Thank you. [applause] Hey, the next group is Lesie B Holden, Edgar Ramirez Menriquez, Maxwell Gergen, Adam, and Joanna Maul. All right. Hi, good evening everybody. Um, my wife and I are homeowners here in University Heights. Um, we're also growing our family and our child will start at Bernie Elementary School around the time this project opens. So, this decision is very real for us, affects our own kids and thousands of others across San Diego. Um, one reason that I strongly support the Protaya proposal is its focus on safety. U, it's the only proposal that meaningfully addresses the intersection at Park and Elcohone. Um, you know, two dear friends

120of mine have been killed in traffic collisions that were entirely preventable with better intersection, and we've already lost one neighbor there at that intersection. It's a disaster waiting to happen, and we needed more safe streets in this neighborhood. PRAA also stands apart because it delivers 100% affordable housing uh with all of the homes reserved for San Diego Unified teachers and staff while keeping elig eligibility up to 120% AMI for as many units as possible. That matters a lot because there are a lot of educators here who and working families who are struggling to make ends meet. And to have quality schools, we need to have quality teachers. Just as important as well as the investment in our schools uh protect is projected to generate $4.2 billion in revenue uh compared to 300 million for the

121Monarch proposal. And that difference represents decades of additional funding for classrooms, facilities, and school supports. So with that, thank you and I urge you to choose the protay proposal. >> Thank you. [applause] >> Good evening board members. Uh my name is Edgar Ramirez Mriquez and I'm a nine-year resident of University Heights. I'm here to speak in support of the Keystone proposal for three reasons. Number one, Keystone delivers the greatest amount of workforce affordable housing. Number two, Keystone provides the greatest amount of muchneeded public space, including three publicly accessible parks and a community pool. And number three, Keystone is the only proposal that includes a strategy to directly address the long-term sta long-term safety issues at Park Boulevard, Alcohon, and Normal Street. I believe public land should provide the greatest public good and for me that's

122a keystone proposal. Thank you. [applause] >> Hello, my name is Johanna M, a resident of North Park and also a board member of the North Park Planning Committee. I am also a licensed landscape architect here in California who works on several whole site mods for the school and I have also worked on several for these developers and architects. And I strongly urge you to vote for the Keystone because I believe it truly has the strongest team. They have the most creative proposal um that will provide the density that is needed to create this vibrant community. They also provide middle inome housing and so this will be inclusive to teachers who are considered um middle income. And so I urge you to vote for Keystone as well because I also believe that the architecture here is

123the most uh it's the most fitting for the for the environment for the neighborhood. Um and this is truly important for the identity of a of a community. And so I urge you to please vote and choose the Keystone proposal. Thank you. [applause] >> Okay, the next group is Zach DeFazio Ferrell, Sharon Gell, Shaquille Adams, Christopher Allen, and Ricardo Sanchez. You can you can go ahead. >> Oh, thanks. >> Good evening trustees. U my name is Actazio Ferrell. I'm a born and bred San Diegon and this month marks my 10th year living in University Heights. Um I want to ask a simple question of all of you. What is the purpose of these proposals and who is this housing for? Um, is it for SDUSD employees or is it for people in the community who

124will never live in any of these units yet are generally the loudest and most vocal and opposing them? Um, I think we should be prioritizing the real needs of SDUSD employees um, teachers, staff and families uh, not designing projects um, around the objections of I rate [snorts] neighbors who will never set foot in them ever. So um, I urge you to support the portal proposal. I think it delivers a scale, reach, and the ability to house a broad cross-section of SDUSD employees. Um, and for that reason, I hope you'll reconsider um the Affirm proposal and go with the Porta Malik one. Thank you. >> If your name's been called, please. Yes. >> Hello. My name is Sharon Gail. I live in the Uptown neighborhood. Now, you've been told that the annex one and two are

125necessary to tell the history of the previous school that was at this location. I'd like to point out that there are more effective and cheaper ways of telling the history. You can use the written word. You can write something. You could do a PowerPoint presentation. You can use the internet. You can reach millions of people with a written word. You can use a spoken word. Teachers use a spoken word to teach history. That's the way everyone in this room learned history. You can use visuals. Note that when they talked about history of the this the of they used old pictures. So using old pictures they found more effective than using there was only one picture of the current buildings there. So yes you can use objects paintings cars buildings. Now, while paintings and cars can

126be moved, buildings can't be moved. Thank you so much. Thank you. >> Hello, my name is Shaquille Adams. I'm a native San Diego here. I'm proposing the Keystone project for the most available units because it's it's the units with it's the it's the units with the able to house the most of people next to the bus line which I've used in which I use uh used many times before to visit Alcohol Boulevard and and many other places here. It's been a very nice area, very good. I'm from Encanto and I'd like to see this place develop more and have teachers be able to just enjoy just being able just to walk to work which is a very it's a very uh being close to your place you you work is very convenient. Thank you. [applause]

127>> Good evening board. Christopher Allen representative for the Carpenters Union out here in San Diego. Let's talk about the project that actually pencils out and not fall into the same trap that the Midway Rising proposal did by selecting a development team that just painted a pretty picture. The Carpenters Union from public comment warned the city council that the team they were looking at to select didn't have a feasible project. We warned them and didn't pencil out that things could get cut out and it did. However, the Monarch Group project is financially sound. Their unit count is optimal and if it was raised to 1500, it would drive the mixed units toward a single bedroom and studios. We have to strike a good balance between housing CLA classified staff and educator families to accommodate all. This

128is a team ready to deliver one that brings no risk. There's no bait and switch, just a willingness to start working now on delivering affordable housing for teachers and staff. Thank you for your time. Thank you. [applause] >> Good evening, board. My name is Ricardo Sanchez. I'm a San Diego native and representative for the Carpenters Union here in San Diego. Um today's question is how many developers before you today have made a commitment to the community by using responsible contractors and secure the future of construction workers in every project. Whether there's a PLA on it or not who can say that they made that commitment well let me tell you which one. Monarch developers with these type of commitments is something that should be considered in your pref prequalification process and on your proposals. Thank

129you. [applause] >> Okay, the next group is Jorge Mure Montes, Dave Gardner, Vincent Ayaf Feli, Dale Mcini, and Krishna Hammond. >> Good afternoon, board members. President Veda, Vice President Bazo, board members, good afternoon. My name is Horontes. I'm a representative with the Western States Regional Council of Carpenters. I'm here to put it on record. It does no good to use certain developers that come to certain developments to do the right thing to make a profit and with that profit to turn around go with other projects and hire the worst of the worst labor law violators that of exploiter workers by selecting a developer like Monarch Group who has committed in writing to hire responsible subcontractors on all their projects. Let's not forget about the projects are all beautiful. Everybody's good. But let's not forget about

130the people that build these projects. Thank you. [applause] >> Uh hello, my name is Vincent Eiffel. I moved to Hillrest six years ago. I have a degree in urban planning and I've worked at a nonprofit for low-income housing for Slavic Village Recovery in Cleveland, Ohio. I am a part of the LGBTQ uh community. I moved to San Diego from a conservative state where I was called a all the time when I would be holding the hand of my boyfriend. I fell in love with Hillrest. I want to say that every unit not built is pulling the ladder up. Every unit not built is saying I got mine and I'm slamming the door behind me. It is frankly immoral to do anything else, especially during these times with what we are seeing on the news. So,

131I am for the Keystone project by Port or Portion. Keystone has the best impact on the community. It has the most family units. Um, it has senior housing. It is walkability. Um, I walked here today. I walk almost everywhere. Uh, 18% of San Dieans's income goes to vehicular transit. That in in itself is affordability. That takes out of their rent money. >> [applause] >> Hi, my name is Dale McNenny and I'm here today to speak in favor of the Keystone project. This project will house over a thousand people who make our schools function and they deserve to live in the neighborhood they work. University Heights will be a stronger and more vibrant community with a project that utilizes existing infrastructure like local transit corridors and incorporates mixed use to create spaces for neighbors to interact

132with each other from all different walks of life. If we want to create a San Diego that works for all of us, we need to be comfortable thinking big. I believe the Keystone project is the only development that fulfills this vision. Thank you, and I hope you all have a good day. Thank you. Hi. Uh my name is Krishna. I'm a member of the North Park Planning Committee. Uh I'm here to urge you to support the uh Porta Malik Keystone project. Uh I think it's critical that we maximize the amount of units uh in order to maximize affordability and I also think that it's important that uh this project has presented opportunity to fix the fork. Uh as we know this intersection is confusing. It's dangerous. Um, we have, it's been a major pain point

133for residents. I live right down the street and it's very challenging the first time you move in. Uh, so I think that this is a great opportunity to try and um make some real change changes, not just for the residents of this new potential project, but also for the surrounding area uh with this opportunity to fix the fork. So, thank you for your time and have a great day. [applause] Okay, the last group of speakers, Michael Singleton, Ben Nichols, Alen Rose, Kevin Vino, Brittany Bailey, and Nicole Lily. >> Good evening. My name is Mike Singleton. I'm the chair of the Uptown Community Planning Group. um for um we have six neighborhoods in Uptown and we have three members on our 17 member board from University Heights. We we didn't hear about this project early enough

134to discuss it in our December meeting, but since then we've had two full board meetings and two subcommittee meetings and as you see we've done a lot of work in that one-month period. Um we had um 15 of our 17 members participated in all of those items and uh that's really important uh to show that we're all very committed to this. For the nine topics that we use which are different from your criteria um was ranked the highest follow closely with Monarch then much further behind with Michael's group which we went ahead and did anyway and um and then a firm had all negative points in last place. All projects still need improvements and our group remains divided on density, traffic, and height. All were missing the essential crossings and traffic solutions. All could improve

135the new to old context of the annex building. We will continue to offer to work with you on this into the future. Thank you. >> Thank you. [applause] >> Hello. My name is Benjamin Nichols. I'm the executive director of the Hillrest Business Association and I'm here representing 800 1,800 small businesses and property owners. We register our support for the Proteium Malik project. Hillrest businesses have for many years sought places for our customers to live close to our neighborhood. Maximizing new homes for working families is the missing middle of our new housing in Uptown. Maximizing housing should be our priority. We should not be afraid of height or density or good design. We should not be afraid of leaning into more housing as a solution for our environmental and traffic issues. Protier Malik has worked with

136the community. They're involved with our work that we've done on Pride Prominade and understand the importance of rebuilding pedestrian connections between Hillrest and University Heights. We are not looking for a wall off campus but true connections to the surrounding community. Thank you very much. [applause] >> Good evening and thank you for the opportunity to speak. My name is Alen. I am a parent of children in North Park ages five and eight. First, on the issue of our educators, we see dedicated teachers in our local school leave and their positions go unfilled. The Keystone proposal with its middle unincome housing units is a direct answer to this crisis. It includes a substantially higher number of two and three-bedroom units, which directly supports educators with children who need stable long-term housing. Second, as a family, we feel

137the dangers of our current streets firsthand. Just one example. A large pickup truck drove over my 8-year-old's bike while she was still on it after she fell while crossing the street. This is just one. This is why the coordination with fix the fork is not optional. It is essential and will save lives. Keystone is the only proposal that fully uh that formally integrates these critical safety upgrades. Finally, my family and I have cut out a car from our expenses, saving us tens of thousands annually. For our city to remain vibrant, dynamic, and functional, we must create neighborhoods where a car-free life is a viable option for everyone who wants Keystone with 1500 homes in a transit-rich location does exactly that. Thank you very much. [applause] >> Uh, thank you everybody. My name is Kevin. Um

138when this board came here to make housing for teachers, we want to ensure that we're maximizing how much we can house our teachers in San Diego. Uh especially consider that as shown in some of the demonstrations that many teachers actually live below the poverty line. Uh even though they have high salaries, San Diego is an extremely expensive city to live in. So I think any project that can maximize the amount of living spaces for teachers uh would be the best. That's why I think Keystone would be the best project to implement here. Not only that, but it also implements large amounts of uh green and open spaces. Um, and I think that uh the uh setback requirements and high restrictions are not a bug in these proposals but a feature because of that. It allows

139for extended open spaces and also mixed use development which will make these uh places a destination and like mentioned this won't be looked at as like another project or a place to be avoided in the community but a vibrant centerpiece for it. Thank you. >> [applause] >> Hello. I'm so sorry about my voice. I blew it out at a protest this weekend. Um, my name is Nicole Lily. Um, I'm the executive director of Our Time to Act. We're a youthled nonprofit. Um, I'll keep my comments short. As the daughter of a teacher and the executive director of [laughter] an organization that works primarily with youth, we understand the importance of having supportive housing, affordable housing for our teachers, and for our community. For that reason, we're strongly in support of the Keystone project and in

140support of mixed income mixeduse housing development to support our teachers, our communities, and our future. Thank you so much. >> Thank you. [applause] Uh, good afternoon. My name is Britney Bailey with the office of Mayor Todd Gloria. I'm here today to express our strong support for SDUSD's leadership in redeveloping district properties for affordable housing. This is exactly the kind of climate smart transit connected development that San Diego needs. Placing the maximum amount of affordable h homes near schools, services, and job centers reduces emissions and creates healthier, walkable, and more sustainable communities. In an era where all San Dieans are struggling with affordability and cost of housing remains one of the biggest barriers to hiring and retaining employees, prioritizing affordable housing for teachers and working families strengthens our schools and helps retain the educators that our

141children rely on. Public agencies have a responsibility to make the highest and best use of publicly owned land and SDSU USD is setting the standard by taking this bold first step. The city remains a partner in helping address the infrastructure on the street out here that's been mentioned several times this evening and we thank you for your vision and commitment to addressing our affordable housing and climate challenges together. Thank you. [applause] Good evening board and hello neighbors. Uh I'm Adam Klene. Uh I'm a homeowner here in University Heights and a public servant. I was here on December 10th uh to speak and um I'm happy to be here again tonight. I'm here in support of Affirm's plan. Um uh I'm I'm I want to welcome teachers and the staff to our neighborhood. Um, and my

142understanding is the district staff uh uh supported Affirm's plan because it had the best combination of of all of the factors that have been discussed here tonight. Thank you. >> Thank you. [applause] >> That concludes public comment. >> Thank you. Thank you so much to everybody who came out and uh and gave us comments tonight. So, I think we've got a couple of uh things that we want to try to accomplish with each of these uh uh projects. One is I'd like to start discussion by seeing if we can get a motion uh for any of the presentations. Uh, and as we discuss the motion, I think it's also important for each of us to indicate what elements we want to see negotiated by our staff uh before a final agreement comes back to us

143and see if we can get consensus uh on those additional elements as well. So, I'll begin by entertaining a motion. Trusty Person. >> Thank you. Um I'm a little nervous to make make a motion here because it's um so let me just say first of all I'm going to make a motion for the sake of discussion because we need a motion on the floor um start discussion. Do you want me to make a motion with additional terms or make a motion to support one and then we can add terms as the conversation? >> I think that would be clearer. Yeah. >> Okay. So, I'm going to make a motion um largely because I think this this motion is default in the sense that it is it is most on the the letter of the RFP.

144It is most responsive in terms of what we said as a priority. That said, we could as a board decide that there are other things that are more important to counterbalance it. Let me just say I'm going to I'm going to move based on um the what we established in our proposed in our RFP as the most the highest priority which is the number of affordable units and the affordability which we also established is that [clears throat] it is less the unit is less than 30% of a family's income. So based strictly on that criteria again for the sake of discussion um I'm going to move um the proteia project uh and and we'll seek a second uh to discuss the merits or demerits of that project. >> Okay, we've got a motion from trustee

145Person in support of the Proa project. Is there a second? Second by Vice President Bazo. Okay, we can now uh entertain discussion on the motion. And I think as we discuss the motion, I think we can then talk about um what elements we would want to see negotiated in the uh if if this motion is successful. Okay. Uh who wants to speak to the motion? Uh Trusty Hazen. I I have a series of questions um and requests I suppose related um to the proteia project. Um and the first is really around the unit mix based on employee incomes and I'm really seeking clarity about your recommended number of units at or above 100% of AMI. We heard when I asked Prodiac could they shift sounded like yes they could shift um as needed and seemed

146to be flexible around that but we have a thousand employees earning above 100% nearly 2,000 earning at or near 100%. My conservative assumption is that roughly 20% of employees at the upper end of our pay scale might be interested and need um district-owned housing on this site. Um so that would be call it 600 units total at or above 100%. I'm wondering first if that sounds right to you and then I have some follow-up questions and then recommendations. So the basic question is about how many units do you think are required across all sites, not just Normal Street, but tomorrow we're going to be hearing um about Ballard where there are also a lot of units at this income level. How many total units do you think it would be prudent to build um >>

147so for 100% plus? >> So you could I mean you could take a look at the slide 11 that I showed earlier. um that would give you some indication of of that number. The challenge is we only have the data on from our payroll on individual salaries and we have the data from the survey which aligns with but it doesn't completely correlate and the survey was 2700 respondents out of the the total. So my recommendation is to not lock in on hard numbers on at this time and let us do more research and maybe do another survey so we can fully understand the >> actual the household incomes because I don't think we have enough data >> that works >> that's accurate enough and I apologize for that. That's aations of the >> I think

148that's a great recommendation. So if trustees agree, I think if we can collect more actual data about household incomes, about the real housing needs at or above um 100% and that and then to use that to inform negotiations both for this site um and and for Ballard as well, right, to make sure that need actually and demand aligns with what what we're building. So that's the first. The second is around parking. Um, and while I agree um with everybody who has said yes, yes, yes, let's really leverage transit oriented development and help move our community um to bike and walk and use transit. All of those things are right. Unfortunately, our schools aren't all cited um near transit. And so I think we have to be really honest about the parking needs of our employees.

149So in the same vein of understanding um housing needs if we can also collect real data on on the parking needs and then enter into negotiations again to align the demand um with what's provided. It seems to me um that while I wish transit was a viable option for all of our employees, it simply isn't. And so I think all of you know I think this project is underparked and we need to um get some more data and then use that to inform uh what happens moving forward. Um the other one um is around revenue assumptions. Um and I asked you know this bidder about you know could we reduce revenue and uh then decrease um rents and I heard yes and I don't know if the board is interested in that. For me um

150you know as we look at the revenue being proposed here it's so much higher than everyone else and for me this is what how do we provide the most affordable units to the greatest number of people. Um, so I would favor less money to the district because at the end of the day it's just our money that's going in the paychecks of these residents and then coming back to us. Um, so if we can explore that. Um, and >> Sha, can I say something very Mr. President, >> in just in response to that, and then I encourage you to continue on, but I I think >> as you try to conceptualize these projects, [clears throat] it actually doesn't make sense. They're either or at a certain level to to have education workforce housing 100% education

151workforce housing for our workforce and to focus on revenue means we're collaborating with the developer to generate profit and then taking a cut from our workers. It doesn't make sense. So it the revenue generation makes sense if we have market rate in there because then you're saying okay well let's try to cross subsidize or let's you know add additional funds of general fund through market rate rents. But I would say that I'm I'm concerned I share Trusty Hazen's concern about about generating revenue from our staff >> on the backs of employees. >> It's really >> Yeah. So I I mean that's that's my feeling and I don't know there there's consensus there but but I tend to agree. Um and um I think also um we heard um from community about the use of responsible

152subcontractors. Um so if we can incorporate that into negotiations as well. Um, and then really uh focusing on time to occupancy, making sure uh that we can still hit our goal um of of getting this done in in under 10 years. I know uh I believe this project proposes um a completion date of 2031. Um, I think aiming for that or getting as close to that as possible would be great. >> Thank you. Thank you, Trusty Hazer. >> Trusty W. >> I know you do this already. Uh, but I really am interested in in the financing piece so that we have a um a tight timeline on whether or not folks are meeting it and we don't go down the road and then we find, oh, there's a default or whatever and we can't finish

153a project. So, just as we're going through putting in a timeline that's realistic for them and for us uh so that we're not stuck hold in the bag and then have to redo it or go somewhere else at the end. That's my main concern. >> Okay. >> Um maybe we could ask Lee and Drew to speak to the viability of financing on this project where there's a motion. >> Yeah. I I think um you know we're the staff has reviewed the the proformas and we're confident in the the motion the proteia malik proposal has solid financing solid backing we have a lot of confidence that we can um complete financing and um and I I don't think it's going to impact the timeline but but to your um thoughts uh trusty whitehurst pain we're we're

154definitely going to stay on track in terms of making sure that um we're hitting those milestones, working with the developer to make sure that we stay on on time and and that the financing is coming in as as we discussed because that's one of the one of the issues in terms of meeting our goal in terms of um o the overall timeline of the project. >> I don't want to beat a dead horse, but we have some schools where we've gotten out there with people we thought um had a good record and then down the [snorts] road. So if we stay on it, we see there's a problem with any of them, >> we'd stop it early. >> Vice President Bazo. Yes. >> Yes. Um I think I'm not going to repeat thing. Yeah, I

155think the concerns are are warranted. I think definitely um the parking concern that Trusty Hayen brought up um I think is important. Um, but I believe the reason I'm supporting the Keystone project is, you know, I've had time to kind of formulate and learn more about the air, go through the materials. And I think um, tonight I just felt that they met the overall needs of the both district and staff the way that it was proposed to us and also just the larger community. I mean, I have a 26 and 28-year-old daughter that does not live in San Diego because they want to buy a house somewhere or a condo and they can't afford to in San Diego. So, um you know, it just it speaks to me that as long as the respons we're

156doing this responsibly, um the denser housing I think um is important in San Diego and uh as Fabi said or Dr. Beula said, we're we're being looked at nationally. I've had several other schoolboard members from all over the country asking about this. So, I'm excited about the work. Um and uh um let's see what else was I gonna say about that. Um yeah, I think just being able to clarify tonight the you know why their their project is is the strongest. I think um that Mr. Sharp did a good job of uh kind of being the most comprehensive um view of that and uh keeping the concerns in mind that we have. I feel comfortable with at this point moving forward with that project. Thank you, Vice President Baza. Trusty Win. >> Um, I just,

157you know, it's as a student perspective, I think ProA is really like calling to students and like students who live within the district boundaries. Um, I think that Protiera really does meet like the goals of staff and um like kind of what the district wanted in the first place with housing, but >> also just like kind of to touch on kind of what everyone is saying. I don't want to repeat a lot, but um as a student who does drive um >> dang guys, finding parking is hard in San Diego, okay? Like everywhere you go, it's kind of hard to park. Um, so I am a little bit concerned um about parking, but I'm pretty confident that Protiera can um, you know, help us with that. Um, but I really love I really want to

158say I really love the visuals that were provided in the presentations. Um, but yeah, >> thank you. Thank you, Trusty. Trusty Ordos, no comments. Oh, go ahead. >> Yeah. >> Um, I'll just say really quickly, uh, kind of what trusty Newman was saying, but I'm a person who likes listening to the people. I like listening to you guys coming up and saying, I like this one, I don't like this one, I like this one, and hearing the reason why. Because we as a board, we're making the decision, but like it's for them at the end of the day. Um, and what I do want to say about Protaya, the Keystone [clears throat] Project is, and I'm sure you saw when you said appren apprenticeships for students. That is important. So, thank you. >> Thank you,

159Trusty Ord. Trusty Person. >> Thank you, President Bar. [clears throat] So, let me say a few things about this in general. Um, I was not at a protest, but I have a nine and a 12-year-old, both of whom had flu over the weekend. So, I've been in a I've been in a mask the whole weekend and I'm good, but I am tired. And so, you'll hear that in my voice here. Um, so let me say it broadly speaking and in relation to this project, I was personally startled by the 11 stories and by the 1500 units. I'll just say that I [snorts] as we were designing these RFPs um in part because I did not think anything over seven stories with pencil for members of the public were not familiar in general you can have

160two two two pedest two two floors of concrete pedestal and five stories of stick built and over that you need steel reinforced concrete which is much more expensive. So I frankly did not anticipate that we'd get anything over seven stories. Um this the new zoning or the new um the new state guidelines that allow um uh mass timber or glue lamb have allowed clearly allowed this project to get to 11 stories uh in a way that's financially feasible. Um so for me the 1500 was initially um and still is. That's a lot. I mean that you're putting a lot of units on um on this property. I think probably vanilla zoning if you look at adjacent stuff you're talking about 74 dwelling units per acre and it's 10 acres 740 is vanilla but then you've

161got complete communities you've got density bonuses etc. So I can see how they're getting there. Um [clears throat] but it's it is a lot. Um I will also say um the community has shared some valid concerns. Um one of which is about setbacks around annex one and this the proteia project does as currently designed encroach particularly from the west on the west side. Um, and so I would say if we're if we're going to move forward with this, I have several things that I would add on, but one of them is no more encroachment than 70 ft on any side. Um, and nothing blocking from the front, but Proa current none of the projects I think blocks from the street side, a normal street side. Um, one of the things that has that as I

162sort of made peace with all three of these projects, um, one of the things that I that occurred to me, it is true that 11 stories is startling and I think the community has a right to kind of be surprised by that um, and to be concerned by that. I think when you actually look at what it what it does to take what what towers do to take housing off the square footage is to allow the placemaking and so the you know if you have more of a Texas wrap situation more traditional that that a lot of the square footage is taken up by housing or by parking and so if you actually look at the the the community facing amenities and the open space that's created or the community spaces um as well as

163the first floor amenities um you know retail and other amenities the for better or worse those towers do allow a lot of that square footage to open up and to become a site of placemaking which for me is very important come out of you know Jane Adams and you know really thinking about what the impact of um of social housing affordable housing is on a community so that's important to me to to think about the placemaking um I would say uh let me just jump jump here. Okay. And uh I would say for me a couple of things that I would say are important. We heard a lot of concerns through this process and tonight and I'll just like not to throw the city under the bus, but the sports arena project was a bit

164of a bait and switch. And so I think there's a lot of concerns that you get a project which promises a lot but then comes back and um and unwinds that uh subsequently. And um so for me any term sheet that we developed on this thing I there would need to be clear parameters about changes that can be made to the project and if a project exceeds those parameters design parameters density parameters it not that they would come back to the board because if it just comes back to the board it's clearly just going to rubber stamp because nobody wants the headache of having to recirculate but if it exceeded those parameters we would have to recirculate to say no you're not going to game this thing. this is the project you get if not

165as painful as recirculating or reinitiating the process that would have to be it because we do not want this to be a bait and switch. Number one. Number two, um we saw with some of our other projects um we see uh problems around financing, problems around technical problems and you see a project stalled out and then we're not able to claw that back. So to the extent that a project early on in the process where they haven't put a lot of investment into it but that it stalls out and it cannot it can't finance it or whatever it is, we have to have a mechanism in the term sheet that allows us to claw that project back and and and reissue the RFP because I do not want to be stuck for years having a

166project that cannot deliver. Um I said the setbacks I have some enduring concerns about the 120% AMI. I say that not because we didn't as a board indicate that 120% AMI was okay because we said we're going to need middle income for teachers and frankly I think that our because we're trying to we're using individual salaries to estimated it. We have seen in LA Unified and a lot of other projects when they had 80% AMI teachers did not qualify in large numbers and they were predominantly for classified employees. I think that's in part because as a child of divorce and a divorced single dad myself, I am a skeptic of the institution. But a lot of our teachers have have taken that option to marry and I wish [laughter] them I wish them the best

167of luck and but but it means that they are they have they're immediately blow through that. I mean, if their spouse makes more than 40 50k, they're they're no. So, and I think a lot of teachers have um so I my guess is and we heard from SDA tonight that in fact they believe that to be true that that the 80% AMI won't will not do for many of their employees. And furthermore, I have a specific issue with the 120 AMI because and this is why it's important for us on this site to have the 100 AMI, the 110 AMI. There are other sites in which the commercial street site that if you look at the and thank you for this chart and the multif family averages there are other sites in which the surrounding

168rents are 100% AMI. So there's really for us to offer teacher housing or [clears throat] housing for staff at 100% 110% AMI. There's already apartments they can get near commercial or Cardinal Lane. So, if we're going to have a site which uses subsidies to attract to to incentivize uh teacher housing, this is going to be the site. I mean, we're going to have this and Ballard Center probably going to have to incentivize that. So, it to the extent we can negotiate on one 20% AMI, I say it's a problem because it's actually worse than market rate in certain sense in a certain sense because it is market rate here. If you look across the Winslow, the average is around 120 at the lower room reaches. It gets up to 130 for two and threebedroom, but

169it's basically 120 125 AMI except it has a limit. So if you go over it, you're no longer qualifi you're not qualified. So the 120% is actually a little bit worse than market rate in certain sense. So if we can negotiate on that and for instance get that to where it is a subsidy comparable to the 110% AMI I understand the need to cross subsidize it but but I am concerned about the 120 and I think certainly in the future and I hope in the term sheet 110 is really where we're talking about limit above 110 for all of our sites unless we have some site like on the coast where the prevailing you know rents are 160 150 um I I've gone on too long here. What what I would say is also I

170am personally not interested at this point in time. I'm God bless senior housing. I'm I I think it's great for seniors at this point. We have expressed the desire as a board to house our staff and um and so I don't think that's right for this project. So I would my motion would be to to have that. Um, and I would also say in closing, and this is really my final what what I'd like to say in terms of arguing for this, um, the question ultimately isn't isn't with regard to each site what we want from that site. It's is there a better place for these units? Because the reality is we as a society, as a community are going to have to build additional units. So if this and honestly if I'm thinking about

171all of our sites on offer, actually Ballard Center is another site that's like that's where we should build. I mean if you close your eyes and we're like where should we put our teachers? Where should we put our classified employees? Where should we put San Dieagans in general and you like you put your finger on a map it would literally be right here. Amenities rich, transportation rich. I remember talking to Hassan Acrada f four years ago and going, "Hey, could we get uh a transit stop on the purple line underneath, you know, normal street?" I mean, this is really this is where we would put it. We would put it under Ballard, which is also amazing. Um, so for me, if you ask the question, is there a better place to put our staff or

172to put San Diego? No, this is it. Um, and so for me, there's a lot of things that are concerns, but with each with each competing concern you have to ask yourself. Okay, so that's important. Is it worth kicking a hundred people out of their homes? That's really the question that you get to. And for me, as long as we've satisfied some of the terms I've laid out here, um, and we've preserved annex one, we've preserved those setbacks, um, and we have those community facing amenities, maybe if we could also, uh, get a slightly larger dog park. It sounds like that was a very popular option. But that's those that's what I have to say. Thank you for bearing with me for that. >> Thank you. What? Oh, yeah. Yeah. [laughter] Okay. Um, I don't

173have I I'm in support first of the motion and I'm also in support of the um uh the things that we want to see in the negotiations. Um, I don't have anything to add to that other than um to re-emphasize uh this project is um a dramatic impact on this community. Um and so to continue to make sure that as we negotiate the design, um we're thinking about what this project does to this community in addition to all of our goals of uh you know providing affordable housing uh to our employees and that means ongoing conversation with um people in this in this community I think is important and I absolutely support what Trusty Patterson is saying about the uh the design impacts near annex one and near Bernie Elementary. we I I I think

174we really need to take a look at and I also am very much in support of Trusty Hayes suggestion that um we sacri we're willing to sacrifice revenue for affordability. I mean, I think we've been clear about that the whole time in terms of prioritizing affordability over revenue, and to the extent that there's opportunities uh to uh improve the affordability of this project, provide more of a gap between what our employees would pay and what they could get out in the market. Uh and if part of that is negotiating over um reduced revenue to the district, I'm I'm I'm in support of that. Um, with that, what trusty Whitehurst Pain? >> Let's just put that on the table and think about it. So, >> okay. >> That last piece. Okay, put it on. >> Okay.

175Without any further comments, questions, suggestions on the motion. Trusty Her >> point of clarification um for Trusty Patterson because I agree in terms of if uh we see well to the the bait and switch point >> um yes right if as we start negotiating or as this gets underway it becomes clear that >> what's going to be developed is significantly different from what we've approved. um how do what mechanisms do we have um to address that? And I guess the point of clarification is do you want to specify the categories for which you would want to set specific threshold criteria um or are we asking um that staff come back to us with those? So whether it's um number of units, whether it's um AMI levels, green space, parking, whatever. Um but I think that's

176a conversation we need to have. And then to be really clear and really explicit that if something shifts more than I don't know 10% or whatever it is from from what we have here, um then this is the process because it is it is a serious concern I have. >> Do you want to speak to that Lee? >> Yeah. So, um yeah, no, these are great question. These are I mean, and I'm writing all this down. Um yeah, [clears throat] there are a lot of trade-offs is what you know and and um and as we negotiate things, you know, these tradeoffs and to try to get um some of the things that the board wants to improve the proposal and align it with um with, you know, our needs. Um um we will need to

177bring this back. you know, this is this is just you're only authorizing us to begin the conversation with Prot Malik. Um the board will have multiple other opportunities to see this project. The community will also be a part of that because these will be open public meetings. So, it'll be all, you know, done transparently. And of course during the process of you know that of you know of making those tradeoffs and having the negotiations with the developer we'll have some community conversation and and daylight you know kind of where we're going. Um we do need to do some study. We need to study the parking situation. You know what our parking needs are. This what I'm hearing from this board. We're going to need to get some data on um on our um household incomes

178and make sure that we our data aligns um in and household family size, look at the unit size. So, there's we're going to need to gather a little bit more data in and then we'll enter into those negotiations and and see where those tradeoffs are. Um and um um and then we'll be coming back to the board to check in with you and you know, we can bring the term sheet back. We have a term sheet, a a joint occupancy, well, we have a ground lease, long-term ground lease, and a joint occupancy agreement. So, there's multiple um uh agreements that the board have to approve in addition to I mean, there there have been some changes in state law around >> SQUA >> um that that exempt certain kinds of projects and we're going to

179look at the how SQA aligns with this, but there may be some we do have historic buildings here and things like that. we need to look at, you know, kind of do an analysis based on understanding the project and see what what if any uh SQL requirements apply to the project. So that's another thing that this board might have to consider and um so there's there's definitely opportunities. This is not the last um point of conversation and um we can certainly come back and um give you an update and check in um to see uh you know um to to share where we are with the discussions and the the project development aligned with your direction here um in the future. >> Thank you. Yes, trustee. I I want to go back to transportation because

180I've listened to everybody talking about vehicles and so forth. Um, and I I have had the experience of living here for two years when I first came to San Diego. For those who think that I'm not living in my district, when I first came here, didn't have a vehicle. My parents drove my sister and me here, dropped us off. my school was Roosevelt down the street and we thought I can get there, not a big deal. Um, and then the first week I got a car and now we're up to five or six vehicles at home. Um, because that's the way San Diego is. But we actually gave it a try. We wanted to try it. So, let's look at it from the other side. When I went to Hamburg, Germany, everybody uses the public

181transit. Let's push from the other side and see whether or not we can't get Todd the city hall and all all those folks to start beefing up the question about the five point out here the uh circle we need to do something about that regardless of what's going on Dr. Bula we talked about that if there are issues that our students are facing related to things like transportation we can drive that from our side noting that it is an issue um and and it doesn't need to wait for this and and the rest of them we need to do something about that now but I think that if we can start pushing now from our side because more people are thinking about do I have to drive I I'm afraid to drive at night now

182you know let's Let's start pushing this idea that we don't have to have a thousand or whatever the number is for transportation for vehicles. Thanks. >> Thank you. >> Yes, Ba. Yeah, I think Trusty Whitehurst Payne brings up a good point, not just with parking, but I don't think we want to tonight get too in the weeds and too specific because the whole point is yes, we chose the proposal we're looking at, but there are a lot of questions and there's going to be more that are going to come up and there's going to be things probably that we learn along the way that we don't know tonight. So, I don't want to get too much in a corner and say we're going to do it exactly this way, we can't do this or we

183can't do that. I think you know keep the parameters open so there's conversation and you know as we talked with the developers there's a lot of room for flexibility around what we want to do and this is just kind of the start so I think we're getting probably a little bit too in the weeds tonight and I think those are things that are going to come up as we move forward. >> Okay. Yeah. Trusty Hazer. >> Yeah. Just to close the loop on on the questions and appreciate the ongoing data collection. Um, I guess my request would be that before we're presented with a term sheet, um, that you come back to us with the findings of the data and your recommendations for shifts to this project based on those recommendations and ensure it aligns

184um, with the board's desire. And um, offer an opportunity for the community to pro provide feedback. And um just a quick technical question is do you have the capacity to do that data collection or and if not can you come back to us ASAP with a request to fund that piece of work because I think it's critically important. >> Uh no we can certainly um utilize our um our real estate and we also have contracting ability through we can get bring [clears throat] consultants in to help us uh gather data in that regard. But yes, certainly I like the idea of bringing that back and sort of confirming uh and and to the extent that there are trade-offs, you know, we we will bring that back too. So if we're giving it'll be if there's

185give and take or we need to do give and take, it'll it'll be to I think trustee Person's concerns. We want to make sure that you know that that all that gets you know wrapped into the discussion as we do as we go through the term sheet. Yeah. Can I also just say one last thing in reg relation to that which is these project proponents seem like nice people but I don't want to hear from them until we're done. So can can we can we maintain the same um instruction to the project proponents to communicate with you and you and Andra rather than the board until we actually it comes and is approved at the board level. Is that >> we can certainly do that? Yes. >> Like maintain the firewall that we've had in

186place, but yeah. >> Okay. Got it. >> Thank you. I want to understand there's a lot of um requests right now that staff is taking notes and we're going to bring. I'm assuming that all of these asks apply to everything, not just this particular one. Like all all of the questions that you're posing are good questions to pose about all the projects. I'm just I'm just kind of holding because if we talk about the next project and you ask similar questions, I'm assuming we can come back with the same thing like like the ask right now that we maintain the firewall. I'm assuming we're doing that for all of the projects like we're making some big statements right now about data about certain questions. My assumption is that it carries out throughout. >> There's several

187of the asset I think will carry over. Some are particular project but for instance >> established parameters that if exceeded it would have to recirculate. Um established benchmarks and financing and technical benchmarks that they don't meet them it gets clawed back. >> Yes. >> Um and then also I think in terms of the firewall maintaining the firewall until we've actually awarded the contract. I think that those three would carry over. >> Okay. And then the piece around um the survey, I want to work with our labor partners because we're asking some pretty personal information about household income. And so I think it would it would help us to be in partnership with them while we do that. >> Okay, we've got a motion in a second and uh supportive moving forward with the proaya project.

188Uh trustees win and or please vote. All other trustees, please vote. Okay, that is unanimous. Thank you. Thank you to all the proposals. [applause] >> Um, do we want to take a five minute break before? Yes. Okay. Yeah. party started again. >> Okay. We will now consider item C3, presentation of proposals to construct and operate affordable workforce housing and joint occupancy at 21101 Commercial Street, the former Irving Street warehouse site. We're going to hear two proposers on this property and we are going to ask Trustee Wyn to draw who goes first. >> [laughter] >> No, wrong one. >> Oh, wrong one. Sorry. Yeah. Oh my gosh. [laughter] >> We're going to do this all over again. Yeah. Started from scratch. Yeah. >> All right. Decro, please come and present. You've got 10 minutes. >> Thank

189you so much. >> Go forward. Thank you. >> Good evening, um, board members and staff. My name is Fifthia McCaulay. I'm the chief real estate development officer for Dro Corporation. We're a 36-year-old nonprofit affordable housing developer, and we're very excited to be here. I'm very excited to present to you this evening. Um, DRO is joined on this project by AC Martin as our architect and Bernard's Construction as our general contractor. I see. I am supposed to advance I'm not sure as our general contractor we have skilled expertise in leadership our team with has the most curated ex expertise to deliver the commercial street project's leadership has critical statewide recognition leading major funding programs and have and one of our staff person has personally secured over 250 million of ASIC funding and have decades of experience

190in affordable housing lending development and transactional closing spheres. AC Martin is a nationally recognized architectural firm with a wealth of experience in similarly scaled affordable and workforce housing. And our team has extensive experience delivering complex projects and Bernard's construction in particular has direct familiarity with San Diego Unified School District construction projects. The commercial street project has 86 affordable units for district staff plus one manager unit. This con project consists of the unit mix actually 41bedrooms, 24-bedrooms, and 22 three-bedroom units. This is a family project. This this configuration is in direct response to the district's employee housing need survey. Units with high quality amen amenities will be attractive to staff such as in-unit washer dryers, walk-in closets, and dishwashers, and disposals. Our project will serve our project will serve residents making between 30 and 80% of

191the area AMI and is with and is 100% affordable with an average income of 60%. It's completely reserved for district employees as an again family oriented housing. All proposals were required by the district to include certain joint occupancy proposals and we're thrilled to include a 4,800 square foot childcare facility. It will be on site and it be operated by a nonprofit that we'll select. This is this was not only in alignment with the district's request for the site, but including a joint tenency proposal was a hard requirement for all proposals, and we're happy to be the sole responding team that included a proposal meeting this threshold requirement. Our joint tenency use is programmed to include indooroutdoor play areas and dedicated dropoff zones as well as separate entries for the residential area. Our commercial street projects

192will include worldclass design and amenities for district staff to enjoy. residential lobbies and community rooms. A second floor courtyard play space for families to enjoy. A rooftop deck offering views of San Diego and Bay and downtown. The architectural character responds directly to the surrounding industrial contact with brick accents, corrugated metal, and textured stucco while being inviting with ground floor art space that's planned, warm colored, and with durable materials. Our site is also well parked. We've talked a lot about parking today. We have 43 underground parking spaces. There'll also be uh access from below and on-site bicycle parking as well for construction. Just to give you an overview of our of our financing, our total cost is $63 million and will be funded through tax credits. Uh DRO is 36 years old. We've been doing tax

193credit financing for a really long time. This is our business. We're a nonprofit affordable housing developer. Again, our financing, as you can see from the slide, will consist of LITC um that are will work with the state and apply for MHP, which we actively apply for also a construction loan and construction bridge loan. And lastly, in terms of our financing, our proposed 99-year grand lease, which I know that you've seen, we put together an analysis to show what the year 1 payment would be. It's 26,000 and will year-over-year it'll increase by 2 and a.5%. Our estimated total revenue to the district is a little a little almost 11 million over the lease term and we're open to capitalizing in paying part of the ground lease upfront should the district require that. I'm going to pause

194and let my colleagues at AC Martin give you a little bit more details about the design. >> Yes, >> hello. Good evening. Kyle Peterson AC Martin talk a little bit about the project and orient you guys to what we've conceived with DRO. So, as you can see, the site is currently occupied by Comm 22 affordable housing project on the south. Um, and our site's on the north on commercial. And you can kind of see how Comm 22 creates this courtyard that's open to the north. And that for us represented an opportunity to kind of share space and daylight and address certain areas of the project that have to deal with grades and access to to warm sunlight and air for open space. Our approach was to kind of bifrocate the site in half. The right

195hand side is the childcare center that Theoa was referencing. It's protected. It's got its own dedicated dropoff zone, its own entry plaza off of the sidewalk. And most importantly, the playground area to the south shares that open space with COM 12 22 onto the south with direct sunlight access and and open air environment for children to play in a protected area. The lefth hand side is dedicated to the residential. It's the low side of the site. So entry to parking is coming off of 21st Street, the low end to um mitigate and reduce the amount of um excavation needed for the project and it also has a corner entry plaza for the residential portion of the project. our approach for the ground floor. You can see how these uses come together and we're exploring, you

196know, really playing up that entry plaza for a warm homelike [snorts] environment for the families to come home to, as well as really provide that that space for children to play in a protected and secure area, but yet have access to the natural daylight. on up on the podium level. This is where we have a community amenity space for uh recreation space for the families as well as an outdoor courtyard that shares u an opening shares the courtyard with com 22 out of the south. And on the top floor of the building, obviously the views to downtown up on the hill are fantastic and to the water. So, we've kind of optimized that corner space for a roof deck area for the families to go um enjoy the view and and be with each other.

197For the project, as FAA mentioned, you know, we're we're kind of um playing up on the industrial character of the neighborhood, utilizing a lot of the corrugated metal panels and brick materials, that type of texture that you see in this area, and and really making sure that these projects read residential, expressing the verticality and the open space with the balconies. A lot of the attention you'll see in the rendering is focused on the ground floor. We feel like dedicating the upgraded materials, the art, all the common amenity spaces on the ground floor help activate the street. And for some of the indoor spaces, these buildings are very designed very well. Uh very light and warm and welcoming. This is a home for for the families of the district as well as a safe and inviting

198place for children to be as well as the outdoor space. Roof decks are fantastic, capitalizing on the views as well as having outdoor play area that aligns to the needs for families. So, this is our conceptual rendering of the project on commercial. And you can see kind of how all these elements I just spoke to come together in a really nice project. Fronting the street, activating the street. There's ample daylighting and glass as well as art closely focused that corner. We think that these entry plazas will make a great addition to the neighborhood. noise. >> Um, well, thank you so much. We are excited to talk with you and to answer any questions and thank you so much for the opportunity to present our project. >> Thank you. Fantastic. All right, board members, questions. You

199want to go first? Trusty Hazen. No. No. No questions. >> Trusty Patterson. Yeah, >> sure. Yeah, I'll just ask um some very basic questions here. Um so this is a bit of a comparative question here. >> Sure. >> So um presumably this looks like a five over two. Is that right? >> I'm sorry. >> This looks like a five over two. Is that >> Yes. It's a it's a podium project. Yes. So, um, when I when I'm comparing this to the other project, I don't they're not in front of me. They will be very soon. And I'll ask how are they able to make pencil uh, you know, presumably a steel reinforced concrete building as affordable housing, but presumably that's what kept you from going higher than that to have more to have additional units

200is just the cost of moving to >> Correct. Exactly. This is something that we've done before. Uh we worked with AC Martin on our brine project in Lincoln Heights uh just east of downtown Los Angeles. It's a podium and it's also uh about the same density around the same size site. Uh it's actually 97 units 96 um affordable and one manager's unit. Very similar uh to this particular project. So the idea was to utilize not only the the space that was available but to really have something that was balanced and also as we know the higher you go the more expensive it is. So in our estimation we kept it very reasonable and stuck with what we know how to do already. So thanks for the question. >> No other questions from board members. >>

201Yeah. I guess along those lines, do you see a way to make this pencil, if you were to add more units to make it comparable to what we see in the other proposal? >> My understanding is that the other proposal, the project is almost twice that size, if our twice the size of our project. >> I I think that for us, we'd like to stick with what we know works already. Um, in terms of also being able to provide the number of bedroom units, I think that would be a different design. I'd have to defer to my um, colleagues in uh, construction and architecture to confirm. >> Um, early on in the process, we actually working with Bernard and DRO did study a 503 configuration that actually had another additional level of residential units. And

202what the what that pushed is more parking further into the dirt, more subterranean on a site this small with ramping. You start to build a lot of parking ramps and not a lot of parking spaces. And so it became very expensive and my I'm not I didn't run the perform. That's not my gig. >> So you could do the units but not sufficient parking essentially. >> Yeah. Essentially the added cost, the juice wasn't worth the squeeze. >> Yeah. Thank you. >> Okay. All right. Well, thank you so much, Decor. Thanks for that presentation. Great. And we will now call on Oh, you want to uh Good evening, President Bar and the uh board members. I am Katr Leoglu. I'm the CEO and co- I'm the founder CEO and owner of Mira investments. We are a

203San Diego based 100% affordable housing developer. Formed the company 8 and a half years ago, but combined between myself and my president uh we have like 56 years of industry expertise. uh so far secured financing more than billion dollars more than thousand units and we consider ourselves uh experts in financial engineering and how to finance these projects. So would like to Bob do you hear the slide? Okay. You know, um we wanted to start with the end in mind. Uh we wanted to kind of highlight the main substantial difference between our proposal and our competitors. I will get into that. Uh basically the RFP uh kind of emphasize the maximum optimal number of units uh financing certainty and the maximum optimal potential economic benefits to the district in a long-term sustainable basis. So there are

204many inconsistencies in the other proposal which I will get into that. I'm an expert in financial engineering and we've been doing this for a long time. Um there are a couple of points I need to address probably because uh there was some misunderstanding in our proposal. I mean we did design a 6,000 square ft child care center for the specific use of district use. However, though in prior meetings, maybe we there was some confusion. We came up with a potential business model. Maybe you could choose to subcontract out those child care services while owning the premises uh and co-use the overall place with us. So if you look at uh the comparator's proposal, they are offering you $29,000 a year rent in terms of economics over the course of 99 years. And if you look

205at their net present value using 5% discount rate, it makes $900,000. If you look at ours, ours is like $18 million. but we kind of used your uh instructions for the secondary presentation. So, our combined offer in today's dollar is $40.7 million. And I would like to address Mr. Pearson's uh concerns about cost and uh affordability. Bob, can you go to the slide where we have the tower project? Yes, stay here. This project is 318 unit. It's already in our community. It's the same development team. It's the same general contractor. Uh we already did get financing for this project. It's 22tory highrise. It's 4% federal tax credit combination with state tax credit. So we went after Kalfe mixed income program taxed. This is already done, secured. We're almost about to pull the permit and we

206expect to close on the construction financing May or June of this year. So, this is twice as big as this project in addition to so many other projects that we have been financing. Once we get on a deal, our success rate is 100%. To finance these projects. So, the devil is in the details. The regulations are ever changing. Now the u 50% test requirement is really 25% for the sidlac tax exam bond applications and and there are a lot more bonds available which was a challenge for very large projects. Therefore, we had to get creative about our tower project is to use KHFA financing. Our competitors financing does not make sense. They say that they are going to average 60% AMI and they use $20 million MHP assumption, $12 million IIIG financing assumption. If you

207look at the last five years of those projects, applications awardees, they typically target extremely low AMIs, deep targeted AMIs, and you need to have a special needs component in the project. Further limiting, we think that that that financing cannot happen with the it just it just doesn't make sense with the averaging 60% AMI overall project. last five years you can look at yourself uh this publicly available information average AMI for the projects that are receiving those funds are 30 to 33%. So that also means that there are additional two steps in terms of gap funding that you need to apply to get to the point of the third tax and tax exam bond finding. Mira investment is a minorityowned bipac for-profit developer. So we have right to compete under the bipok pool which is the

208number one priority for state tax credit allocation. Our financing we can go after the exact same financing model like we did for the tower project in terms of mixed income calf. However, we wanted to show a simple straightforward financing just relies on tax exe and bond financing 4% tax credit and state tax credits. 120 million for 177 units. We are offering 177. Bob, can you go to the uh slides? Yeah, the AMIs and all that. Yeah. Yeah. So we are offering 177 total units and then you know our experience our grassroot research maybe you guys don't know me personally but we do a lot of work in our community. We are 100% focused on our town and we are offering 177 units AMIs ranging from 30 to 80% AMI and we have studios onebedroom threebedrooms

209and if you look at your own data analysis almost 60% of your population is what we're targeting among all your potential tenants and we are offering you $7.5 million upfront. prepaid lease payment and 35% of the free available cash flow. So, we're we're kind of like hedging your position money up front as we close on the construction financing and also gradually increasing incredible economics for the school district. And why we can do that? Because guess what? I'm the decision maker. I like to share. And you know our goal is uh really commitment to the production of affordable housing units. I mean there's a substantial real difference between those two offers. I mean we can go into the other details. I'm going to allow uh my president Bob Cummings speak a little bit and then our

210architect Matthew from Joseph Wong and Associates JWDA and level 10 who's going to be our general contractor. There was a finding that we don't have any experience supposed about the union contract. That's not true. We signed the MOU. We know what that means. Our level 10 is a unionized general contractor and we're making the commitment that whatever the requirements are not only we are going to work with the local uh subcontractors of course we are going to commit to do anything everything for the labor union contracts and our financing model and the cost as you can see 600,000 plus per unit includes uh state prevailing wages and labor union contract contract cost for the construction with very conservative assumptions and we do have flexibility we can sit down and say listen the economic conditions change

211we give you 50% of the cash flow can we reduce the upfront money maybe then I ask very a little with state credits and um and we did really put a lot of thought into the maximum number of unit with certain financing plan and and the maximum economics for the district and now is Bob Cummings >> Bob Cummings I'm President of America. I I'll seed my time to our architect, but I will say Kashad said 58 years experience between two of us. That's in San Diego. Uh I'm actually a proud graduate 1977 in San Diego Unified School District program. So I'll introduce >> I was born. >> I'll Matthew with JWDA our architect. >> Thanks. I'll just say very briefly Matthew Gaiman principal with JWDA architects in San Diego. We've a San Diego based architecture

212firm for the last 49 years. We were founded in 1977 and our work is wholly focused on providing housing in Southern California and primarily San Diego. We have developed expertise in building high-rise affordable housing projects. And I think uh in the neighborhood you can see St. Terresa of Kolkata Villa over 400 units for Father Joe's 15th in commercial 140 units. 16th in market, 136 units uh in this neighborhood. Every project that we look at, we try to maximize the opportunity and so we look forward to uh doing that on this project as well. Thank you. >> Thank you. Thank you so much. Okay, board members questions. >> Jesse Patterson. Well, I'll just say I mean I'm I I I'm impressed that you can have 100% affordable and get that many stories out of it. Is

213it It's steel steel reinforced concrete. Is that what you're Is that what it is? >> Right. >> Wow. Okay. >> I mean the numbers the numbers speak for Right. Right. It's a function how we approach the financing actually. Uh and then our track record speaks for itself in in regards to that. >> Um I don't know if there are other board member questions. I I had a question just I I know that there was an issue. Oh, I'm sorry. Go ahead, Trusty Asen. Yes. I >> I'm just curious. I think uh to trustee Person's point trying uh to understand can this really pencil right it's it's significantly different from from what we heard before and and and does this work and how um can you just share a little bit more about similar uh sized

214projects projects that might be similar in scope um >> yeah sure >> I I know you've spoken a little bit about that but >> to help us um understand your expert expertise um and the feasibility of of what you're proposing. >> Yeah, we did probably like more than 25 projects in the last eight years, but uh I would like to we we did list some of Bob you >> and I guess like specifically similar unit numbers. >> So we did we did just actually finished and 100% leaves up 167 unit uh large family project is called Vista Lane one. You can please feel free to visit our site and then we have 100 unit already finishing. So combined we did like uh complete community. So it was going to be 267 units but we faced

215it with six eight months difference. So we did we finished 167 units 100% leaves up just recently. We are finishing 100 unit project next to it. So combined it was 267 unit project and um we did finish uh Valencia point 102 unit project on uh you know southeast San Diego again and then we are currently under construction for 111 unit alcom Royale in Oceanside. uh we finished and 100% leaves up approximately 100 units in Imperial County >> and on a similar size site in similar >> absolutely and then as you can see our tower side tower project it's very competitive I know I know it sounds very challenging I think your concerns and questions are very valid but it's a function of uh the financing plan and the approach because we do use private private

216equity we do use I don't know if you're familiar with we do securitize sometimes leftover uh cash flow they call it subordinate seab bond so we have ways of bringing in very creative uh private uh capital as well into the deal so uh yes we did have several project experiences similar size not only financed them completed them 100% leaves them up. >> Uh can I can I ask about the uh the childcare facility? So I think the >> Well, we I'm sure Go ahead. >> Sorry. Yeah. No, so the question is does your proposal is it clear that the district would own? We made it very clear in this presentation and I'm saying that you will own the child care center and then you could choose to do whatever you want to do with it.

217You can subcontract out to someone else at a lower cost or you can operate yourself. Yes, it is the fundamental requirement of the RFP that has to be a joint use occupancy and we're sorry if it wasn't very clear in our initial write up but it's pretty obvious and we do commit that you will own it 100%. >> Okay, thank you. Any other questions board members? >> No. Okay, thank you so much. >> Thank you. Thank you very much for the opportunity. >> Absolutely. >> Okay. Uh and do we have any public comments? We do not. Okay. Wow. We should invite back some of them. [snorts and laughter] Um same thing. We'll start with a motion and uh and then if there are uh things that we want to make sure uh we're asking our

218staff to put into the negotiations. Go for it, Trusty P. I'll make essentially the same motion for the same reason. The plain language of RFP says the most affordable units. Our definition of affordable was no more than 30% of the income of our families. I'm going to make for the sake of having some on the floor. I'm going to make a motion for the Murka project um as most responsive to the RFP as as written plain language. >> Okay. Thank you, Trusty Patterson. We've got a motion and we've got a second uh for the Murka project. Um questions, comments from board members. >> Yes, Trusty Hay. >> It's so question um for Lee and Drew is really uh speaking to some of the questions, you know, that I that I just asked uh the America

219team, which is about the the feasibility of of the financing of the construction proposal. Um, we are looking I am looking to you for your expertise. Um, and so do you have any concerns about the feasibility of what's proposed here? Um, and being able to get the project funded and completed on schedule. >> Okay. Well, this is kind of an interesting uh quandry that we're in here. So, Bridge Housing had Comm um and they were one of the proposers and they could not make this pencil at all. They they walked away from this particular building because they they couldn't make it pencil. Um and so then we received these two proposals. Okay, here's the two proposals. Okay. And um the you know the the Kaiser Marston and Lassar reviewed and scored the proposals. They they

220they they pro they you know they scored Decro Dro uh 95 and they scored Miraka 80 um because they had some concerns about the completeness of the proposal. And then we had um the committee after looking at it they also had some concerns um so um about the proposal uh but primarily in the in the world you know the joint use issue the joint occupancy issue was was the was sort of the and it you know and I think it was an honest mistake of Miraka you know so I'm not like I'm not I you know at this point you know if the board wants to to to award to Miraka. We can certainly work with them and it sounds like they're committed to um making that change which will get us back to a

221joint legit to answer your question. Is it feasible? >> And I think as you speak to um >> right the the LAR um that review which was looking at >> I think financial feasibility um and right that they scored an 80 versus 95. Can you speak specifically to that? Because again, this isn't my area of expertise knowing does this pencil is it feasible? And so I'm really looking to you to say yes, we believe we can move forward with them and get it done or we have significant concerns. >> Well, they they did have some concerns. It seems it, you know, it it it feels a little bit too good to be true. If it is true, then we're going to be leaving a lot on the table. Okay, that's the thing. I mean, that

222that's my concern. my I'm just being honest, speaking from the heart here because it's it's definitely higher density and much more revenue. Um so if they were able to deliver what they promised, you know, but it just feels it there were concerns about about the um the financing and that's and and that's and the the ability to to do the project, but it is a completely different type of project. it goes back to like a type one or type two construction which is much more expensive to build. Um this this pro the the DRO project feels like it's it's it's obviously not providing as much revenue because it's it's barely, you know, it's barely it's just above breaking even, you know, when you balance it all out with tax credits. So, it felt more believable.

223This one felt a little bit more of a stretch. if if it's if they have a way of doing it and it and it is true, you know, wow, that's that's pretty amazing. But I just that's that's my personal and bas based on what I've read and what I saw in the Kaiser Marson analysis and >> um so >> how quickly could you ascertain the feasibility? So I guess my question is um is there additional due diligence? Could we find out? Because I think to your point, I don't want to leave anything on the table and if it really is possible, we want we want to explore that possibility. And my question is, how long would it take to know? Is this something that over a few months you could figure out and come back

224to us and say, "Yeah, we think it's really a go or it's not going to work." I mean, if you if you decide to prove the the Miraka proposal, which is on in the on the table, we will certainly do our due diligence and come back to you very quickly to determine whether it's real. And and frankly, I you know, I I trust the these guys. I mean, JWDA, they've been around for a while. I'm not saying that they're it, you know, what they >> Yeah. But it's not about trust. It's about making sure that it it can be done. And so I think the next step is for staff to go do a deeper dive in due diligence. So if you want to advance this proposal, we will dig into it, do our due

225diligence. And um I honestly hope that they that it is it is what they say it is. You know, I want them to succeed with this because it's a great proposal, you know. Um I also want to thank the the DECR team as well because I think they put forth what I thought it was a pretty well thoughtout proposal as well. So, um, I'm we're happy to dig in and do our due diligence and come back to you with it and and know, you know, like if it isn't real, then we're going to know right away because because there's a lot of upfront revenue potentially as well in this in this particular proposal, which I think is rather appealing. Yeah, >> I I would support that. And I know I said we don't want it

226to be eternal, but uh my church is down the street from this um one block north on uh 31st in L Street and uh I mean not one it's long you're on 20 21st and so I know the area >> and I know this we always say that uh downtown is in it's coming in it's taking property the values are going up. they were very cheap. The values are going up, but it almost feels too good to be true, if you will, uh, at this point. So, I I would like to take the time to do a little bit a dig I mean dig a little deeper because we got into it with the daycare renting it out at a low price and then it went way up and we're still at this low price

227because of the contract. And so, it would help us to really know what the potential what's coming uh and whether or not this is real so that we don't get stuck with something for a 99-year lease that we can't get out of. And yet on the other hand, I mean, I think it's prudent for us to really dig a little deeper. Makes sense. >> Trusty, >> if I can just [clears throat] say, I mean, look, I take the project proponents at their word to to and they have buildings that are standing and they've built them apparently. So um I would say you know when I express surprise I just traditionally um having spent a lot of time in the space once you go to type once you get above seven stories you're talking about substantially

228more cost. So that's surprising to me. What I would say is if we apply the three the three things we established in the previous one which is >> established parameters if they exceed those have clear mechanisms to withdraw and recirculate or re reissue the RFP. Um, in this case I might I might actually amend that to say actually if staff cannot uh reach an agreement that they are confident with a term sheet that they are confident with that we immediately go to I think we're all all so happy um with the DRO project so that essentially we we in the same motion we say if it doesn't work out with them we go automatically to the dcro And then also establish um financial and technical benchmarks and and timelines where if they're not able to

229you know generate the revenue or the capital or acquire it in a timely manner that actually it also then defaults to give DRO the option to develop term sheets >> and I would second that amended motion. >> Yeah. Vice President [clears throat] >> and I would also support that I think we need to to maintain what you know what are our priorities what did we set down and it was the you know highest density the most opportunity for our staff and even I mean it it's not even really close the number of you know it's like like very different I mean it's like twice as many so even if we weren't able to get all of those if we were able to drop it a little bit it would still to me seem like the

230better deal. Again, if it's realistic, um, you know, if if the if Decra was a little bit higher, then that, you know, that might be different conversation, but there's just such a drastic difference between the two. I think we really, you know, I mean, need to since it's, you know, they're telling us they can do this, like try to go with the one that makes more sense for the district and then of course have that flexibility to um change if, you know, if we need to as far as plans. >> Okay. Any other comments from the board? So we've got an amended motion which is as we we move forward with uh with MRCA as the staff does its analysis um if staff gets to a point that you determine murka is not feasible we

231automatically then start the process with dro yeah yeah okay um trustees win and or please vote all other trustees please vote Okay, motion passes unanimously. Thank you board. Thank you proposers. Thank you everybody for sticking with us tonight. Yeah, thank you. >> Yes. >> Richard, can you adjourn the meeting? Can you adjourn? >> Adjourn. First.