Affordable Housing Sites Revised, Leading to Disappointment and Relief

The list of Danville's potential affordable housing development sites got a little shorter Tuesday night, causing relief and disappointment among about 50 residents who filled the town meeting hall.

The Town Council and Planning Commission met to discuss possible sites to meet state requirements for affordable housing as part of the 2030 General Plan. They removed from consideration a site near and part of a site near the Crow Canyon Executive Park. The Borel/Corrie site near Camino Ramon and Highway 680, however, was enlarged by 2 acres. 

A total of 14 sites, made up of nearly 30 acres, will now be included for review in the upcoming Environmental Impact Review phase, set to begin Friday and last for seven months.

Additional revisions were needed as a result of updates and developments following the on Feb. 15.

A few days after that meeting, John Moore, owner of Crow Canyon Executive Park at 1320 El Capitan Dr., told the Town that a redevelopment deal had been finalized for the property, and asked that the property be removed from consideration. 

Moore said the five story office building will be renovated as a medical office complex, consistent with its current zoning.

Although the council removed part of the property from the list, they said two acres on the lower west end of the property, that do not yet have firm plans, should continue to be studied.

They also said they would contact the owner of the property next door, to possibly include that property as well.

The Crow Canyon Executive Park site accounted for 15 to 20 percent of the acreage on the list of proposed sites, said Kevin Gailey, the Town’s Chief Planner.

The Town needs ten acres, with 20-25 units per acre, to satisfy state housing laws and address a shortfall in its Regional Housing Needs Allocation requirements, he said.

Gailey says the need for more sites is not expected to diminish, especially in view of the conditions of SB 375, California’s Sustainable Communities Planning Act of 2008, designed to help California combat global warming by reducing the vehicle miles an average family travels.

Gailey says having more sites than necessary now, as the Town undertakes the current Environmental Impact Review, will prevent additional and costly studies, later.

Neighbors from the Crow Canyon Heights neighborhood were disappointed by the decision to continue the study of the Crow Canyon Executive Park.

They said they were concerned about possible traffic and crime that could come into their neighborhood with rezoning.

John Moore says that he "received a lot of calls" from concerned neighbors, and the Crow Canyon Heights and Crow Canyon Country Club Estates homeowners' associations, who he says "really didn't want to see (a) high density residential development" on the site.

Moore says he believes there is a "low probability" that any part of his property would be developed into higher density housing.

The medical group that he has entered into a partnership with, plans to redevelop the site as a "one-stop" medical services complex. Plans include facilities for surgery, rehabilitation, and cancer linear accelerator treatment facilities, including the portion of the property the Town wants to continue to study. 

Also, Moore says, the five story building with ample parking, located less than one mile from San Ramon Regional Medical Center, is expected to make the new medical office complex a highly desirable location for doctors.

Residents of the neighborhood surrounding a proposed site at 317 Ilo Lane, off of West El Pintado Road, were concerned about what higher density development would mean for their site. About 100 residents signed a petition presented to the council Tuesday night, to remove the property from the study.

Nearby , which also owns several other properties in the neighborhood, also sent a letter to the Town on Feb. 28, lodging their opposition.

Residents at the meeting who live near the church, said their neighborhood has already been taxed by years of development policy and the church's construction and expansion plans.

Lifelong Danville resident, Gary Soto, who has owned a home on Ilo Lane for 40 years, said changes to his neighborhood leave him feeling as if he lives in “an open shoe box, closing in on all sides.”

Residents were also upset that they did not receive notice that the site near the church was being studied.

Jerry McHugh, a neighborhood homeowner who organized the petition effort for the Ilo lane site, said he learned of its inclusion when he attended the Feb. 15 meeting to support nearby Elyse Lane neighbors.

Officials said notices are not delivered to residents at the early draft stages. However, after the Environmental Impact Review phase is completed, residents will receive notices about public hearings to evaluate each site’s merit for development.

Town officials clarified who the affordable housing was designed to serve, and the income levels that will be required to qualify, in response to residents' concerns at the meeting.

Outside the meeting, neighbors approached McHugh to congratulate him and thank him for his efforts mobilizing the community to oppose the inclusion of the Ilo Lane site in the housing study.

McHugh said he is “very pleased” with the decision.

He said neighbors were motivated to act because of “a big uncertainty factor” about how re-zoning the neighborhood for higher density development could impact the neighborhood.