Jackie Krentzman is a Bay Area-based writer and editor.

Last summer, Harvard University released its 2023 State of Housing Design report, highlighting 113 projects across the country that creatively addressed issues of affordability, social cohesion, sustainability, aesthetics, and density. The vast majority were the usual suspects, large cities. But one stood out both for its size and the fact that it had two projects chosen: Santa Ana.

The report recognized two affordable housing developments in this predominantly Latino city. Santa Ana Arts Collective, a five-story office conversion project for artists, opened in 2020 as Orange County’s first adaptive reuse project. The second, La Placita Cinco, preserved businesses in a strip mall while adding 50 affordable housing units, a large zocalo, and an indoor community space.

Paul Eakins, the city’s public affairs information officer, says the report is proof that Santa Ana’s vision of neighborhood-specific projects is working. The numbers back him up. Santa Ana has developed more affordable housing than any other city in Orange County. It reached 74% of its state-mandated housing goal of 3,137 units less than three years into the current housing cycle, putting it on pace to exceed the requirement for the second cycle in a row.

Strategic planning helps reduce siloed thinking

Santa Ana officials began laying the groundwork for this development renaissance over a decade ago when it began updating its General Plan, last revised in 1982. The new plan, dubbed “Golden City Beyond,” made the city’s land use codes more expansive and streamlined the approval and building process while maintaining neighborhood cohesion and open space.

The plan identifies five focus areas along major travel corridors for increased density and growth, minimizing the impact on well-established, lower-density neighborhoods. It also makes sure that projects are not developed in silos by incorporating cross-departmental, strategic planning that addresses public safety, climate, water, infrastructure, and transportation impacts.

“You can’t build units in a vacuum,” said City Manager Alvaro Nuñez. “More units mean more people, which means other city services must be upgraded to accommodate growth.”

It’s a big shift for the city. Minh Thai, executive director of the Planning and Building Agency, says the city used to take a piecemeal approach to planning. “Now we are planning together, which sets the long-term blueprint for the city,” he said.

The new plan jumpstarted affordable housing development. Over the past 10 years, the city has directed over $60 million in financial assistance to 18 affordable housing projects. The funding comes from a variety of state, federal, and local sources — including Santa Ana’s inclusionary housing ordinance. Developers who do not provide affordable housing in their projects must pay an in-lieu fee to support the creation of new affordable housing.

Nuñez also attributes Santa Ana’s success to the fact that the city continued to work with developers while redoing its General Plan. “We didn’t say, let’s pause while we fix this and wait until it is perfect,” he said. “We figured out how to do both at the same time.”

One big benefit of the new plan for builders is that the changes provide certainty in both pricing and timing. The plan clearly outlines the types of land uses permitted in the five development focus districts, their future growth potentials, and the city’s expectations and vision for each district. This helps developers decide where and how they can invest. The general plan also certified a program environmental impact report, which addresses potential environmental issues at the planning phase and helps streamline the review process for individual projects within the plan area, reducing delays, costs, and risk of a legal challenge.

“If the developer can easily understand here’s what I can do and how fast I can do it, they are then able to digest [it] and what it’s going to take for them to be able to make a project happen,” said Nuñez. “So, the pitfalls of development are absent, making it a hundred times easier to develop their business plan and decide to move forward or not.”

The city also added multiple touchpoints with developers, where staff share expectations and provide guidance on critical issues and community concerns.

“For major projects, we walk the development community through our development process, including community expectations and the ins and outs of the public engagement process,” Thai said. “We even talk about local governing priorities and nuances to help them best navigate potential challenges with confidence.”

Developers who work with Santa Ana say they’re appreciative of the city’s commitment to easing the way for their projects. C&C Development has built several projects with the city over the past 30 years, including the 70-unit Depot at Santiago.

“Santa Ana does an excellent job facilitating the development process through the initiation of various specific plans throughout the city,” said Todd Cottle, principal at C&C Development. “These have provided for a high degree of certainty, which helps us to successfully obtain our entitlements. We also appreciate the framework set forth in the specific plans which enables our architects to exercise their creativity, which in turn allows us to bring forth dynamic projects with lasting impact to the residents of Santa Ana.”

Beyond housing

Santa Ana’s development renaissance goes well beyond housing. In 2023, the city issued over 9,500 building permits, for a record construction valuation of $772 million. In just six years, development in Santa Ana has added approximately $23 million in ongoing tax revenue for city services.

The city is in the early stages of its largest ever development, Related Bristol, a 41-acre “urban village” with up to 3,750 market-rate residential units, commercial space, hotel rooms, senior care units, a grocery store, acres of open space, and underground parking. The project is slated to open in stages over the next 10 years and will direct millions of dollars toward affordable housing projects throughout the city.

Steven Oh, executive vice president at Related California, lauded the city for quickly moving such a complex project along. The firm is one of the state’s largest developers and has previously completed two smaller, affordable housing projects in the city. Oh says city leaders were motivated in part by the simultaneous expiration of nearly 100 existing retail leases on the project site, a declining 50-year-old shopping center, and a growing number of tenant vacancies.

“This prompted the city to focus its full attention and resources on expediting the entitlement process, including the completion of the environmental impact report, specific plan, and development agreement on a tight schedule,” Oh said.    

Another landmark project made possible by the new approach to development is the South Coast Technology Center. Developers will turn three outdated office buildings and a vacant land parcel in south Santa Ana into a modern industrial campus. City officials expect the project will generate 687 permanent jobs and 555 one-time jobs associated with its construction while increasing the production of goods and services in Santa Ana by $256 million annually.

The upshot of all this development is a virtuous circle, creating more housing, commercial, and industrial development, along with jobs and tax dollars for the city.

“We are moving at a record pace to build not only new housing, but new developments of all kinds,” Eakins said. “And in the process, we are bringing along a host of community benefits, from creating more green space to creating more jobs and putting money back into the city funds to continue to improve the lives of all Santa Ana residents.”