Though City Council Holds on Jeffries Road Apartment Complex Decision, Neighbors Voice Their Concerns During Public Hearing

Big Bear Lake, CA — At the onset of yesterday evening’s Big Bear Lake City Council meeting, it was announced to a packed Hofert Hall that the agenda item pertaining to the affordable apartment complex on Jeffries Road would be held until Council’s June 28 meeting. Though no action was to be taken, per a request from the developer National Core of Rancho Cucamonga, to hold for two weeks, neighbors of the project waited through a Forest Care presentation, City and Improvement Agency budget approvals, PowerPoints by city staff and other items, to address Council during the June 14 Public Hearing for the affordable housing project, which remained on the agenda. Eleven community members—from Linda Carpenter, owner of the adjacent Alpenhorn B&B, to 62-year resident Richard LeRoy to new resident Monica Kesslar, who closed escrow in the neighborhood just weeks ago—politely contested and questioned the proposed project, especially given traffic impacts as it is across the street from Big Bear Middle School, home to Big Bear’s only football field. Residents on Pennsylvania Avenue voiced concerns that, given the new affordable housing complex The Crossings on Knickerbocker, that they would be “sandwiched” between two affordable housing projects, thereby subject to increased traffic and likely reducing their home value, when it was yet unclear whether the City would need this many affordable housing units, particularly the over 50 units proposed for the nearly three-acre parcel on Jeffries, currently home to 12 cabins. The Jeffries Road and Pennsylvania Avenue residents pointed out that they were not against affordable housing in theory, but were not pleased with the three-story design proposal for the Jeffries project (especially as compared to the look of The Crossings), in addition to the loss of trees, the impact of density, and the threat of a potential 299 additional residents on an already bustling street. City Council’s Improvement Agency, chaired by Bill Jahn, was not in a position to comment on the project as, having earlier decided to hold the item, they did not have the most recent specifics from the Planning Commission’s June 2 decision. The Public Hearing on the affordable apartment complex, and Conditional Use Permit consideration, will be readdressed on June 28 and, as Jahn pointed out, “The [Improvement] Agency has not made any decision on this project, and don’t know that we will on the 28th.”