MIDDLETOWN, Calif. – A south county housing and commercial development that was sidelined during the recession has reemerged and is once again moving through the planning process.
The Valley Oaks development is a mixed-use senior development that Santa Rosa-based Kimco Development Corp. is proposing to build on 150 acres at 18196 and 18426 South State Highway 29, Middletown.
The Lake County Planning Commission will hold a hearing on the development's final environmental impact report at 9:05 a.m. Thursday, May 28, in the Board of Supervisors chambers on the first floor of the Lake County Courthouse, 255 N. Forbes St., Lakeport.
The planning commission approved the project's draft environmental impact report, or EIR, in 2009, as Lake County News has reported.
“Everything was moving along great – except the economy,” said Community Development Director Rick Coel.
Coel said developer Ken Porter decided to put the project on hold until the economy improved.
Now, Porter has come back with a similar plan to the one he previously proposed, according to county Planner Keith Gronendyke, who is overseeing the application.
“The applicant wanted to have it moved forward,” Gronendyke said.
The plan as currently proposed would have 380 homes – built in six phases – along with a senior housing/assisted living facility, public open space, trails and park facilities, and a 31-acre commercial area fronting Highway 29, Gronendyke said.
It's essentially the same project as before, except with two changes, said Gronendyke.
Those changes are that the project will now be limited to residents age 55 and older, and Caltrans is considering a roundabout at Hartmann Road and Highway 29 rather than a signal. Those changes required some updates to the conditions of approval.
Porter confirmed to Lake County News that Valley Oaks, as currently envisioned, is to be a senior development.
However, he was unwilling to offer any further comment at this time, stating that until the project is approved he has no specific plans on moving forward.
District 1 Supervisor Jim Comstock said he thinks the Valley Oaks project is a good one, and ties in well with plans for the south county.
He also believes the move to having Valley Oaks be a senior community is the right one.
“There is no need for more single family homes right now,” Comstock said.
Coel said Kimco has worked out agreements with Hidden Valley Lake to let Valley Oaks residents use the golf course.
He said Valley Oaks promises to be the first mixed development the county had had, with both residential and commercial aspects, as well as a care facility and trails system, and undergrounded utilities.
“It’s kind of exciting,” said Coel.
Coel said the project is well thought out, and is more modern and akin to the types of developments seen in the rest of the state.
With the development's commercial component, it will offer south county residents more shopping options. That, he said, is a way to capture the commercial leakage from the south county, where much of the sales tax money goes to other areas in nearby counties.
“It's ambitious. I hope the best for him,” Coel said of Porter.
Concerns about the development from some corners appear to have been addressed.
“The Sierra Club has had a number of concerns about Valley Oaks, which we have been following for more than 10 years, but as it has evolved those concerns have largely been met, and we are now generally supportive of the project,” said group representative Victoria Brandon.
Brandon, who toured the site last week, said the project as it's now proposed is compatible with planning guidelines and smart growth principles.
She said it includes innovative protections for wildlife habit and “green” building features, such as high standards of insulation, energy star appliances, solar available on all houses, semi-prefabricated construction to minimize waste and low water native-plant landscaping.
Kimco also is proposing what Brandon called “really creative rerouting” of part of Coyote Creek to avoid the necessity of widening to meet 100-year flood standards that would have resulted in a lot of tree removal.
Coel said Coyote Creek is likely different than it was originally due to the dam and a lot of erosion that has taken place over the years. “It doesn't look very natural.”
He said the development's plan for moving the creek “will fix a lot of those problems,” and will include a linear trail system along the realigned creek.
The process will require a lot of permitting from state and federal agencies, including the US Army Corps of Engineers, and will require amending the area's flood map, Coel said.
The US Army Corps of Engineers' Sacramento District reported that it is evaluating the Valley Oaks permit.
The agency said the project would result in impacts to 1.25 acres of Coyote Creek and 0.067 of an acre of seasonal wetlands.
As it's presently conceived, Brandon said, Valley Oaks “is likely to be an asset to the community.”
She added, “Unless some undesirable last minute changes have been introduced, we expect to express support at the May 28 Planning Commission meeting.”
At its Thursday meeting the commission is set to hold a public hearing on the project's final environmental impact report, as well as a general plan of development, rezones and a general plan of development for the project, as part of the work of certifying the final environmental impact report.
However, Coel said that, while the commission can move forward if it chooses to do so, he would be surprised if they did.
That's due, in part, to the fact that the commission has four new members since it last heard the project. As such, none of those newer members were involved in reviewing the draft EIR that the commission approved in 2009.
“Normally, a draft EIR and a Final EIR are heard by the planning commission within a few months, so there is continuity,” Coel said.
“There’s such a volume of information to go through,” that it would be a challenge for the commission to get through it in such a short amount of time, Coel added, explaining that commissioners have had the staff report for only a few weeks.
Coel said his goal was to have an initial meeting to walk the commission through the project and hear from Kimco Development.
Ultimately, it's up to the planning commission about whether or not it should certify the final EIR, but Coel said that a sample motion to do that isn't provided in the staff report for this week's meeting.
“It has a potential to be very nice,” Coel said of the project. “It's just got to be done right.”
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Updated Valley Oaks housing project gets back on planning track
- Elizabeth Larson
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