Arcadia council reaffirms home‑rule authority as staff brief council on possible conversion of 401 E. Santa Clara into behavioral‑health facility

Arcadia city staff briefed the City Council on March 3 about a potential conversion of the Extended Stay America at 401 East Santa Clara Street into a licensed behavioral‑health facility with residential care, and the council adopted a resolution reaffirming its land‑use authority.

Lisa Flores, a city planning staff member, told the council the presentation was informational: the city has not received a formal application. Drawing from the applicant’s state grant materials, staff said the proposed facility would include roughly 100 residential beds, 16 chemical‑dependency beds, and about 185 outpatient slots, and the applicant anticipates opening in 2027 if approved. Flores said the downtown mixed‑use (DMU) zoning where the site sits does not allow medical clinics or residential care facilities by right, though supportive housing is allowed elsewhere in the city. “As of today, there is no formal application and no land‑use determination has been made,” Flores said.

Staff also flagged potential fiscal effects if a hotel is removed from taxable visitor use: the city currently receives about $273,000 annually in transient occupancy tax from the property and could see property‑tax changes if a nonprofit obtained a welfare exemption. The presentation included data on medical calls to local hotels; staff said the Extended Stay location had a higher number of calls than other hotels.

After the briefing Councilmember Michael Kao moved to adopt Resolution 7,677, described in staff materials as reaffirming the council’s authority under Section 807 of the Arcadia City Charter. The motion stated the item was informational and recommended a finding that the discussion was not a project under the California Environmental Quality Act. The council voted on roll call to adopt the resolution, with the motion passing 5‑0.

Kao said the council’s action was intended to make the city’s land‑use authorities clear to residents and applicants while preserving the council’s home‑rule prerogatives. Staff emphasized that the resolution and the informational discussion did not deny treatment facilities citywide and that other parts of Arcadia allow residential care; the point of the resolution, Flores said, was to reaffirm how local zoning decisions are made.

The council did not consider a formal development application, zoning change, or permit at the meeting. If an applicant files, the council and planning staff said a land‑use process and public hearings would follow.

Authorities and references noted at the meeting included the Arcadia City Charter (Section 807), the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), and Proposition 1 funding for behavioral‑health projects cited in the applicant’s grant materials.