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The Rodney Fernandez Gardens dedication welcomed elected and city officials as well as unions and other partners of developer Cabrillo Economic Development Corporation, which created 90 units of affordable housing on a 6.5 acre parcel between Main and Santa Barbara streets just east of Dean Drive. |
Rodney Fernandez Gardens: 90-unit CEDC apartment complex dedicated
December 16, 2011
By Peggy Kelly
Santa Paula News
Bob Borrego had mixed emotions about being honored with his name on a building, recognition that “usually doesn’t happen until you die... but I’ll take it!” he said Friday at the dedication of Rodney Fernandez Gardens, home to the separate childcare facility bearing Borrego’s name. The Gardens dedication welcomed elected and city officials as well as unions and other partners of developer Cabrillo Economic Development Corporation, which created 90 units of affordable housing on a 6.5 acre parcel between Main and Santa Barbara streets just east of Dean Drive.
Started more than six years ago, the project underwent various stops, starts and lawsuits when in 2007 the City Council rejected its original design for 150 units, citing density, safety and other issues.
Cabrillo sued the city, and after years of wrangling - and hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees for both sides - a deal was struck and the scaled down project was approved in 2009. The $38 million project will generate $16,000 directly to city coffers, PILOT (Payment in Lieu of Taxes) funds that are equivalent to the city’s annual share of property taxes that CEDC is legally exempt from.
Vice Mayor Ralph Fernandez said the process - and even the contentious times - were worth it and shown by the amenities available to families living at the complex. “It’s something special for the community and Santa Paula... a place that holds a lot of future” for its residents.
Rodney Fernandez, who recently retired after leading the nonprofit CEDC for three decades and in honor of whom the CEDC board of directors named the project, said the dedication was “the third happiest day of my life... the first was when I was born, the second when I married and this is the third. Today is a very special day in a lot of ways.”
Fernandez, a city resident, said the complex is “one of the finest examples of Santa Paula as a community” and much support for its creation had come from the community, which remained active in their advocacy. The project - “the best that Cabrillo has ever done” - will benefit families and children housed in a safe and healthy neighborhood, which in turn will benefit from the energy they will invest in their surroundings as well as their higher disposal income.
Deacon Al Guilin gave the invocation and dedicated the Jess Victoria Community Room, named for the late Main Street merchant who was involved in various causes.
The one- to three-bedroom rental apartments are available to low-income and farmworker individuals and families. Martin Hernandez, aide to Supervisor Kathy Long, said, “They are much more than just four walls and a roof... Cabrillo puts heart and soul and energy into what they do.”
The complex had various two-story Craftsman-style buildings around the playground, basketball court, community center and courtyard that feature an oversized barbecue and seating. Units range from 699 square feet for the one-bedroom to 1,160 square feet, the largest unit that holds three bedrooms; and rents range from $509 to $850 for one-bedroom apartments, $605 to $950 for two-bedroom units and $697 to $1,200 for the three-bedroom models. All rents are based on household income and federal guidelines.
