Despite a room full of angry residents and over 40 letters of protest, the Turlock Planning Commission on Thursday recommended approval of a new housing project on the north side of town near Turlock Junior High School.
The project is a proposed housing subdivision that will be built on approximately 13 acres of land at 1601 W. Monte Vista Ave., bordered on the east by Walnut Road, the west by Four Seasons Drive and the north by Snowbird Drive. The land is currently used as a strawberry field with a seasonal fruit stand.
Bright Homes submitted a plan to build 114 single-family homes on two adjoining lots — one designated for medium density residential zoning and the other community commercial. The project came before the Planning Commission as the developer requesting to rezone the community commercial lot to residential and a number of deviations from the city’s building standards for medium density residential, including a reduction in lot sizes and minimum setbacks. Bright Homes is also seeking to have the roads inside the development smaller than the city’s standards, which would make them private roads and maintenance would be the responsibility of the neighborhood’s homeowners’ association.
To reduce noise pollution for the residents of the proposed development, Bright Homes will put up concrete block walls along Monte Vista Avenue, Walnut Road and Four Seasons Drive — but not Snowbird Drive.
“We really appreciate the time that we spent working with staff, and what we really feel like was a very collaborative manner to come up with a product that we're really proud of and a project that we think will serve the needs of the city of Turlock and will be actually a great addition to the community,” said Laura Erickson, Bright Homes’ chief operating officer at the commission meeting.
Multiple community members spoke against the housing project at Thursday’s meeting. The residents’ main concerns included: the proposed single point of entry/exit to the development that would be located off Snowbird Drive — the narrowest and only residential street bordering the development; the impact of the smaller lot sizes on emergency response vehicles; and the added traffic to the already busy streets that are near the junior high school.
“I'd love for you guys to drive it just to just see what it feels like,” said community member Tim Torres to the planning commissioners. “And to think about 228 more cars driving by and how hard or easy it would be to move in and out of that area. And I hear that there was a traffic study. I'd love for a traffic study to be done by a third party, an independent party…I feel like there's a lot of smoke and mirrors.”
Turlock Development Services Director Adrienne Werner told the commissioners and public on Thursday that the traffic study done on the property found that the proposed housing development would generate approximately 1,100 daily vehicle trips, which is far fewer than the estimated 4,000 daily vehicle trips that would be generated if the property remained zoned for commercial only and businesses were to come in.
“I am all for Bright building homes. We love our community. I agree with the people that spoke that the streets are very narrow. In the morning, there's increased traffic with the junior high, and when I come home from work turning onto Four Seasons, sometimes I wait quite a while because there's no traffic light. So we definitely need a traffic light, and definitely need another entrance. There's no way that (it would work), like everybody said, those streets are very, very, very narrow. There's a lot of children. I'm concerned about the senior community, because they do walk a lot…and cars don't stop. They drive very fast. So I'm all for the project, as long as they meet some of the things we definitely need,” said community member Sue Unruh.
After more than two hours of public comment and responses to questions by city staff and Bright Homes representatives, the Planning Commission put forward a resolution to approve the project as a planned development, including the rezoning, with three amendments to their original plans. The amendments include: A secondary entrance from Four Seasons Drive; modifying Snowbird Drive to accommodate a parking lane in front of the new homes; and the city adding a 4-way stop sign at the Snowbird and Snowmass intersection. The resolution was passed with a 6-1 vote, with Commission Ray Souza opposing. Souza said he was in support of Bright Homes building a housing development at that site but wanted them to bring back revised plans to the commission following the public input.
The project is set to go before the Turlock City Council for final approval at their 6 p.m. Feb. 11 meeting at City Hall. The meeting is open to the public and can also be viewed on the city’s Youtube page.
