Proposed 88-unit affordable housing complex and daycare headed to Salinas City Council.

Salinas City Council is set to consider an affordable 88-unit multifamily housing building with a daycare center at 200 Casentini St.

Milestone Housing Group, acting on behalf of the Housing Authority of the County of Monterey, is seeking approval to develop a 4.59-acre site at the Casentini Street location that would include 87 affordable multifamily apartments and one manager’s unit spread across five three-story residential buildings. Plans also call for a 2,400-square-foot leasing and amenity building and a 4,335-square-foot daycare facility, creating a total of seven buildings.

“There’s roughly going to be space for 40 children at the daycare center,” Aaron Barger of Milestone Housing Group said during a Salinas Planning Commission meeting on May 20.

The residential units will include 24 one-bedroom units, 24 two-bedroom units and 40 three-bedroom units with 152 parking spaces, plus onsite amenities including a community room, a fitness area, a computer room, a basketball court and a tot lot for children up to 9 years old. The project offers units for households earning at or below 60 percent of the average median income and with an overall average affordability level of approximately 49 percent of the average medium income.

The planning commission voted unanimously to recommend approval of the project.

“I always wondered what we were going to do with that open land there and it’s nice to see they are building a daycare canter,” Commissioner Mars Racomora Jr. said. “We’ve got to start building in the city of Salinas, because we do have problems here for housing.”

City officials determined the project is exempt from further environmental review under the California Environmental Quality Act, citing provisions for infill development, phased projects and construction of small structures.

The City Council is scheduled to consider the proposal on Tuesday, June 16 at 4pm.