Council Approves Pilot Program to Redistribute Unused Housing Capacity Along University Avenue

The City Council on Tuesday approved a pilot program that lets developers transfer unused housing units from one parcel to another along University Avenue – a move city officials say could help make long-planned housing projects viable.

The University Avenue Density Transfer Pilot Program applies only to parcels within the University Avenue Specific Plan area, which ranges from Park Avenue to the 215 Freeway.

The city council unanimously supported the project.

“One of the biggest things I’ve noticed over the last five years is the challenge of being able to see some of these sites move forward, so I hope that this pilot project could be a creative opportunity and solution to see us bring housing online,” Councilmember Clarissa Cervantes said at the meeting.

Riverside began considering a housing density transfer program in the early 2020s when the newly-adopted housing element recognized that such a program could add more housing for Riversiders, assistant planner Clarissa Manges said at the meeting.

The program creates two ways to move residential development rights: through a city-run bank or through direct transfers between property owners.

Through the bank method, eligible donor sites can deposit unused housing units and eligible receiver sites can later withdraw them. For direct transfers, a donor and a receiver site negotiate an agreement and formalize it through a recorded document.

The University Avenue Specific Plan allows up to 6,819 housing units – but the staff report says fewer than 10% of that capacity has been built.

Most parcels in the corridor can serve as donor sites, with the exceptions of fully built residential parcels, parcels without residential capacity and most Housing Element opportunity sites.

City-owned surplus parcels and Housing Element sites can serve as receiver sites.

The city will supply the bank with residential capacity from surplus parcels.

Projects involving affordable housing will also need an affordable housing agreement.

Staff cited several regional cities – including Fontana, Eastvale and Palm Springs – as running similar programs.

City staff will return in about a year with a report on how the pilot is working and whether it should be expanded or made permanent.

There were no public commenters on the project at the meeting.