A low-income housing project for seniors and people with disabilities near downtown that sat in limbo for two years while under city review now faces another hurdle.

Construction is underway on the Owens II, a 50-unit apartment building on 16th and Exchange streets operated by the Northwest Oregon Housing Authority, which also owns the neighboring Owens-Adair Apartments. But a new legal challenge filed by neighbors Brian and Margarita Colonna asks Clatsop County Circuit Court to halt the project and review the city’s handling of a building permit city staff issued in early December.

The Colonnas own a house directly across from the Owens II and have fought the development of the apartments, saying construction poses a risk of landslides and damage to neighboring properties.

In their court filing in late December, the couple claims their “property interests would be seriously damaged by the actions of the city.” They focus in on a city staff decision in November to add a condition of approval to the project for a parking adjustment. The housing authority has to get approval for the parking adjustment before the issuance of a temporary certificate of occupancy on the building.

Last session, the state Legislature adopted a housing package backed by Gov. Tina Kotek intended to address the state’s housing crisis. The legislation directed local governments to reduce barriers to housing development, including adjustments for parking.

Because Astoria does not have a procedure in place yet for adopting these types of land use waivers, they are following the state’s statutory procedure, City Attorney Blair Henningsgaard said.

The housing authority is essentially gambling that the parking adjustment will be issued at some point in the future, Henningsgaard said, but it’s a pretty safe gamble.

“The requirements for denying (the waivers) are kind of draconian,” he said. “There’s little or no chance that we’ll be able to deny their parking waiver.”

Henningsgaard said he expects the city will contest the Colonnas’ legal filing.

Brian Colonna told KMUN the couple is taking the next step available to them by going to Circuit Court.

“It’s the only way we seem to be, you know, forcing the city to address the issues,” he said.

It’s not the path they want to take, he added, but: “We’ve been trying to get answers for two years and just basically been ignored.”

For Brian Colonna, addressing parking after construction is “putting the cart before the horse.”

The couple also argues that the city’s procedure for reviewing the housing authority’s parking adjustment denies the public any notice or right to participate.

In the court filing, the couple’s Portland attorney, Jeffrey Kleinman, argued that the city’s approach means the Owens II could be “constructed and completed without the required parking variance. Then, should the variances not issue, the project would not receive a certificate of occupancy and would necessarily remain unoccupied indefinitely.”

Parking — specifically, a parking garage — was one of the points of contention for the Colonnas earlier in the city review process. At the time, the design for the Owens II project included a subgrade parking garage.

After the city denied a grading and erosion control permit because of landslide concerns, the Northwest Oregon Housing Authority redesigned the project and replaced the parking garage with a utility basement that will require less excavation. The city approved the grading and erosion control permit in July.

The Colonnas appealed the city’s decision to the Planning Commission and the City Council, which both sided with city staff, clearing the way for construction to start.