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The City Council Tuesday is set to approve three affordable housing projects totaling 231 units—nearly double the number developed in Berkeley over the last five years. 

Funding the three projects, Oxford Plaza, Ashby Lofts and University Avenue Senior Homes, however, required the city to exhaust its housing trust fund three years into the future, meaning Berkeley is unlikely to entertain new affordable housing projects until around 2008. 

Also on Tuesday’s agenda, the council is scheduled to vote on a plan to reduce auto lanes on a stretch of Marin Avenue and decide whether or not to send a planned five-story apartment complex and restaurant back to the Zoning Adjustment Board for reconsideration. 

“We’re very happy that the city has found a way to fund all three affordable housing projects,” said Ryan Chao of Satellite Housing. 

Satellite, which had asked for $1.9 million from the city to help fund an 80-unit senior housing project on University Avenue near Sacramento Street, appeared to have lost out on city funding last month after the Housing Advisory Commission voted 5-4 to recommend two similarly priced competing projects: Oxford Plaza, a 96-unit project set to rise beside the David Brower Center on Oxford Street and Allston Way, and Ashby Lofts, a 55-unit building slated for West Berkeley. 

With only about $4 million in its housing trust fund, the city had to stretch resources to fund all three projects. Not only is the city committing trust fund revenues for the next three years for the developments, but it is also counting on receiving $300,000 a year from a bond refinancing program by the city’s redevelopment agency and at least $200,000 won by Rent Stabilization Board in a recent court settlement.  

If that funding doesn’t materialize or the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development reduces grants to the trust fund, the city would then use up to $500,000 from the general fund reserve to back the projects. 

The proposal before the council would solve a political battle over which projects received limited city funding. Initially, the housing commission’s subcommittee recommended holding off on Oxford Plaza, only to see a majority of the commission and several members of the council push for the development because of its connection to the Brower Center. 

Nonprofit-housing developers need city money to leverage state funds needed to build. The city’s financial commitment, however, doesn’t guarantee that the projects will get built, Berkeley Housing Director Steve Barton said. 

“It’s perfectly possible that one or two of these projects will lose out in the tough competition for affordable housing money,” he said. 

A new state law will likely force the council to send a five-story restaurant and condominium development, known as the Tune Up Masters project, back to the Zoning Adjustment Board. 

When the ZAB approved the 25-unit building with 32 parking spaces on University Avenue and the corner of McGee Street, it gave the developer a 25 percent density bonus for including affordable housing. 

However, city staff and the ZAB were unaware that a state law enacted in 2003 allowed only a 10 percent bonus for condominium projects offering affordable units for those earning between 80 and 120 percent of the area median income (AMI). 

Robin Kibby, a resident who lives near University Avenue, raised the issue in her appeal of the ZAB ruling. 

Under a 10 percent bonus, the building would decrease from 25 units to 22 units and possibly lose a portion of the fifth floor, which several neighbors argued made the building too tall for the avenue. 

If the project is returned to the ZAB, city staff is recommending either that the council direct the board to compel the developer to sell the affordable units for less than 80 percent of AMI, thereby triggering the 25 percent bonus or allow the developer to build the current project by granting concessions based on financial necessity. 

The council is also scheduled to vote on a plan to reduce auto lanes on a stretch of Marin Avenue—a popular access road for North Berkeley commuters heading to I-80. Last week, the council delayed a vote on the plan after hearing from 42 residents who split on the plan’s merits.