NEWSY BITS It’s settledSeattle's engaged in a debate right now: Should the city limit the number of apartment units allowed to be converted to condos each year? There were 2,352 units converted there last year, compared with 2004's 345. Time to crack down. Hey Seattleites, cast your eyes toward San Diego, where a lawsuit settlement approved Tuesday by the City Council will allow no more than 1,000 conversions annually. Sound generous? Put that number in context: Between Jan. 1, 2004, and Dec. 31, 2006, at least 18,500 San Diego apartments have become condos (conversion opponents believe that number, provided by the city, might be higher). The settlement puts an end to a lawsuit filed by attorney Cory Briggs on behalf of the Affordable Housing Coalition of San Diego. Briggs argued that the city needed to study the cumulative impact conversions have had on the people they displaced and the environment in which they were occurring. With the settlement, Briggs drops his demand for a study. “We think that as long as the city keeps [conversions] under 1,000 per year, there aren't any significant impacts,” he said. The settlement, provisions of which must become law within 30 days via a City Council vote, also requires the city to survey all residents of a proposed conversion. There was a hearing in 2005, Briggs said, “where dozens and dozens of people came in and said, ‘Look what this does to me.' Now we just want a formal written survey that the Housing Commission reports on and summarizes every year.” The city also must pay $75,000 into a trust to cover legal costs—Briggs had help with the case from Ann Menasche, a disability-rights attorney from nonprofit Protection and Advocacy Inc. A fourth provision buys developers additional time to complete building improvements required under city law. The way it is now, developers must apply for a final permit within three years of getting initial approval to convert a building. Under the settlement, they can get that permit as long as they guarantee the improvements will eventually happen. It makes sense, given the cooling housing market. “It doesn't force them to do the improvements at the end of their three years,” Briggs said, “because, otherwise, they'd have to kick tenants out.” —Kelly Davis |