The project seeks to enhance potential development within the City of Torrance's Housing Corridor Overlay (HCO) by identifying green and sustainable utility infrastructure to support new housing development in underutilized areas. The City Council approved an HCO study in 2023 as part of the City’s most recent housing element update to help meet the City’s 6th cycle RHNA numbers. The HCO allows housing and mixed-use development at a variety of income levels to be permitted by-right in seven areas throughout the city. However, the HCO study only examined utility infrastructure at a high level; further investigation is required to achieve development-ready design specifics. This project will allow the City to conduct a detailed Assessment on the existing infrastructure within the HCO and provide recommendations on essential improvements, housing incentives, and green design for developers to reduce housing costs and streamline development. After the utility infrastructure improvement opportunities have been identified and detailed, the finalized Assessment will be adopted by City Council as an amendment or addendum to the HCO with the goal of minimizing barriers faced by developers in designing and planning infill development within the HCO, resulting in increased housing production in these critical areas. Ultimately, these efforts will ease the cost burden and necessary infrastructure evaluation requirements for developers, thus expediting the review and construction of housing projects. Furthermore, the assessment will result in increased cross-agency collaboration and coordination among developers, public utilities, and the City within the HCO, further creating efficiencies to streamline housing construction in these areas. The project seeks to align with the goals of affirmatively furthering fair housing (AFFH) by facilitating development of housing affordable to a broad range of income levels within the HCO, where there are higher concentrations of nonwhite populations to expand access to other portions of the city, most of which are identified as either high resource areas or highest resource areas by the California Tax Credit Allocation Committee (CTCAC) and the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD). The Consultant shall document all project deliverables in an organized fashion and deliver them in an electronic format at the end of the project, along with an Excel file documenting the completion of all deliverables and documenting their locations. All deliverables shall be provided to the City of Torrance Planning Staff in PDF and Microsoft Word format. The HCO is applicable to seven separate geographic areas within the City (refer to Exhibit 2 -1 in RFQ document). These areas were selected due to their proximity to commercial areas, adjacency to primary City corridors, and access to public transit lines. For the purposes of contextually and sensitively responding to the unique characteristics of these areas, different sub-areas have been established to inform development approaches. Details and locations of the three sub-areas are described further in the RFQ document.
