Rue Ferrari Expansion Project

Expand the existing Rue Ferrari Site (Caltrans owned)

Location: The Rue Ferrari site is in District 2 bounded by Rue Ferrari on the east, Bernal Rd on the south, and US 101 on the west. Attachment 4 provides an aerial map of the site. The size of the area anticipated to be used for an expansion depends on the specific alternative pursued. If expansion is limited to the existing EIH site perimeter, an additional one acre of under-developed area can be utilized. If the project is expanded beyond the existing perimeter, roughly four acres of vacant land is available on this site.

City Evaluation: Part of this site (leased from Caltrans) is an existing 118 bed EIH. As a result, the site is already deemed viable from the standpoint of access to the site, utility connections, and no site based fatal flaws, etc. The site has good potential for expansion both within the existing perimeter of the EIH facility (e.g. within the fence), and/or on the remaining undeveloped land to the south and north of the existing facility. The most practical expansion alternative will depend on various factors, including:

• Negotiations with Caltrans on a lease amendment or potential purchase of site
  

• Number of additional units/beds desired, or able to be physically accommodated, considering progress towards the overall unit/bed goal (e.g. 400), and being able to effectively operate the site, serve the clients, and remain a good neighbor
  

• Immediate EIH use of, or retention for future uses, the undeveloped portions of the site.

The final alternative would be determined from an assessment of the factors mentioned above, through negotiations with Caltrans, and exploring various design and operational alternatives. For planning purposes, the Rue Ferrari site can accommodate an expansion up to 100 additional units/beds. The overall site has the physical size to achieve capacity beyond 100 units/beds (if the undeveloped land is included). However, from an operations standpoint, up to 100 is being counted for this site currently.

Expanding a current site has the advantage of an operational economy of scale for the Housing Department. It limits the number of separate individual sites in the overall EIH portfolio enabling existing management, site supervision, and other existing operational resources to be leveraged, requiring a smaller proportional investment to manage and operate the additional units/beds and serve the clients than would be required for a completely new site.

Conclusion: Develop various design alternatives for the Rue Ferrari site, with the goal of expanding by up to 100 beds.