GALT, CA (MPG) - The Galt City Council approved five measures at its Dec. 2 meeting that enable another residential project to move toward construction, but not before expressing concerns about aspects of the project and adding an additional condition.

By a 3-1 vote, Councilman Tim Reed voting no and Vice Mayor Paul Sandhu recusing himself due to his family’s proximity to the project site, council approved the Sheffield Subdivision Project located in the city’s Northeast Area Specific Plan (NEASP) along East Stockton Boulevard. The project, slated to include 65 new single-family residences, is situated on 9.5 acres of land northeast of Ashboro Lane, east of Stockton Boulevard, south of Deadman’s Gulch and west of Canyon Creek Park.

To authorize the project, council passed resolutions changing the site’s dwelling unit density in the city’s General Plan and the NEASP along with holding the first reading of an ordinance rezoning the site. Also approved were the Initial Study and Mitigated Negative Declaration for the project and the Tentative Subdivision Map.

Like the adjacent residential subdivisions, Sheffield is currently designated low-density under the General Plan and allowed six dwelling units per acre under the NEASP. Council’s actions changed the site to medium density under the General Plan and increased the dwelling units per acre to eight in the NEASP, with the ordinance changing the site’s zoning from Low-Density Single-Family Residential (R1A) to Medium-Density Residential Planned Development (R2-PD).

“This allows single-family units but also duplexes,” Community Development Department principal planner Kristyn Bitz told the council during her presentation.

“This project, however, will not be building duplexes,” she added.

In unanimously approving the project, the Galt Planning Commission added two conditions: one prohibiting duplexes and the other prohibiting two-story houses on Lots 1-11, limiting these to single-story housing only. Lots 1-26 run west to east along the subdivision’s northern boundary.

The Planning Commission also modified the R2-PD development standards by increasing the maximum lot coverage from 50% to 60%, decreasing the minimum lot size from 5,500 square feet to 3,825 square feet, the minimum street frontage from 55 feet to 45 feet, and decreasing front setbacks from 20 feet to 12.5 feet and side setbacks 5 feet to 3 feet, the latter for houses built under one of the two housing plans.

The density changes allow the development a gross density of 6.84 dwelling units per acre. Project developer FDC Nor-Cal Corporation of Sacramento is proposing lot sizes ranging from 3,825 square feet to 7,170 square feet.

Access to the site from East Stockton is via Saner Street, a new, 48-foot-wide roadway running west-east the length of the development’s northern portion before turning south to connect with Lyonia Drive. An interior roadway, Sobey Street, connects both directions of Saner Street.

The project also includes construction of a missing portion of Lyonia Drive east of Trellis Lane, providing a through connection on Lyonia between East Stockton Boulevard via Ashboro Lane to Cedar Flat Avenue. The nearby South Deadman’s Gulch Trail will also be extended along Sheffield’s northern and eastern boundaries.

 

Courtesy photo

Public comment at the meeting revolved around the increasing housing density and traffic issues arising from adding 65 new homes to the area. Craig and Cindy Yuhas, who live in Park Ridge north of Sheffield, urged the council to keep the site low density while also limiting lots 1-16 to one-story construction.

Area resident Karen Valencia expressed concern with impacts to traffic on East Stockton Boulevard and Highway 99 from the development, which she said was already “horrible,” and expressed concern about the proposal to remove protected oak trees on the site.

In written comment on the project, resident William Flaherty urged limiting houses on the north near Need Court to single-story construction as well as keeping the site zoned low density, expressing concern about the impacts from what he termed “low-cost housing” would have on nearby property values.

“Not only would there be lower valued homes; the proposal is to add up to 65 homes which the current surrounding roads and infrastructure cannot handle,” Flaherty wrote.

Project applicant Aaron Ross-Swain addressed Valencia’s concerns about trees, noting of the 27 onsite, 18 would be removed while nine, including an oak tree near Valencia’s home, would be retained.

“As lot plans develop, there might be enough space to save additional trees,” he added.

Council members also had concerns about tree removal as well as traffic impacts, not only outside the development but inside as well, voicing frustration at times that more information wasn’t presented to address both issues prior to seeking council approval.

Council also sought more information on lot sizes and the developer’s commitment to building only single-family units in the subdivision, a requirement they suggested adding as a condition for any future sale of the project but were told by Interim City Attorney Frank Spledorio was not legally feasible.

In council comments, Mayor Shawn Farmer agreed it would be preferable to keep the area zoned for low-density housing, but he acknowledged “the reality is, that’s not being built these days.”

In expressing his support for the application, Farmer noted a review of the real estate site Zillow indicated houses in the area were being advertised from $800,000-$900,000 and more, putting housing out of reach for many people.

“If somebody can’t find a place to live in Galt, that’s a quality-of-life problem for me,” Farmer said.

In the end, council approved the project with the added condition requiring the developer to install traffic-calming measures on Saner Street, selecting the appropriate measure from a city-approved list.