By Robert Haugh

The Council approved the BAREC/Agrihood development by the Core Companies. It’s 165 affordable senior apartments, 160 multi-family mixed-income apartments, and 36 townhouses located at 90 N. Winchester Boulevard/1834 Worthington Circle. It’ll also have an urban farm.

The Council increased the retail requirement from 2,400 to 5,000 square feet. They also required that 20,000 square feet of the public area will be used for “placemaking” community activities for at least 52 events per year.

A lot of credit goes to Project for Public Spaces who have been working the City for over a year on placemaking.

Kudos also to Kirk Vartan who has been working on making this a viable development and “agrihood” since 2006. He pushed for more retail with an opinion piece on this site recently.

Other News:

• The El Camino Real Specific Plan item was moved to February 5 and turned into a study session.

• A moratorium on scooter and bike share companies has been extended to December. City staff says they’ll try and have an ordinance ready before then. City Council wants it sooner rather than later.

• The Wilcox High School football team got honored by the Council. The Chargers are the CIF Div III State Champions. The Council got a cool helmet autographed by the team.