[creamcityleo79]

DISGUSTING! DISGUSTING! DISGUSTING!

Vineyard to sprout homes
A large suburban community is taking shape gradually in the fields of southern Sacramento County
By Ed Fletcher - Bee Staff Writer

Published 12:00 am PST Friday, March 2, 2007
Story appeared in METRO section, Page B1

Stuart Helfand walks his property in the largely rural Vineyard community, an area that mostly missed the last housing boom, in part because of infrastructure needs. Density remains an issue, but Helfand - a member of the local planning council since 1979 - says developers should stick to the community plan. Sacramento Bee/Lezlie Sterling


Cows -- not cars -- are more likely to be found on the properties surrounding the intersection of Excelsior and Florin roads in the unincorporated area south of Sacramento.

Sacramento County officials, however, have been slowly clearing the way for a vast new suburban community with more than 20,000 homes, along with new parks, schools and shopping centers.

In recent years, 3,000 suburban-style homes have joined the ranches and large lots that dominate the area known by the county as the Vineyard.

The Vineyard has been in the works for more than 20 years. The first land-use plan for the 37-square-mile area south of Highway 16 and north of Calvine Road was approved in 1985. More detailed plans followed.

Now, individual subdivision designs within Vineyard Springs and North Vineyard Station go before the Board of Supervisors almost weekly.

Plans for the property around those two areas, commonly referred to as "the gap," are still under environmental review.

Developers hold the rights to build thousands of homes on 11.2 square miles targeted for housing, provided that needed new roads, drainage systems and water requirements are met.

The area largely missed the last housing boom, partly because of infrastructure needs. That isn't likely to recur the next time the market heats up.

County officials said they can't say when those homes will materialize. Market forces will have a lot to say about that.

But the development's design and density are criticized by some who say the building pattern now taking shape reflects old neighborhood design, not today's standards.

Peter Detwiler, who teaches a graduate course on state land-use policies at California State University, Sacramento, sees the pattern of development as an opportunity lost.

"It's more of the car-oriented sprawl development. It probably represents 1980s thinking," Detwiler said. "A quarter century later we think differently about land use."

While the area will have a mix of housing sizes and types, several Vineyard subdivisions will offer more elbow room compared to other developments under construction and in the pipeline. Whether that is a good thing is debatable.

Some, such as Detwiler, say it doesn't make sense to build half-acre and 1-acre lots so close to the urban core.

Supervisor Roger Dickinson said he voted against the plans for Vineyard Springs and North Vineyard Station.

"Personally, I think we made some very serious mistakes in planning," said Dickinson.

He said the street pattern forces people to use major thoroughfares to reach stores, schools or other amenities.

The pattern of development almost guarantees the area will not be served by light rail, despite the fact that unused train tracks cut diagonally through the area.

Regional Transit's master plan calls for a light-rail line along the Central California Traction Railroad -- although more recent plans never identified money or set a timetable for the line.

Future extensions will be one of the questions on the table as RT embarks on an update of its master plan, said Mike Wiley, RT's deputy general manager.

Approved plans for the Vineyard call for three to five units an acre around the train tracks.

To support a light-rail stop, Wiley said, lots of residences should be within walking distance -- 30 to 50 units an acre.

Board Chairman Don Nottoli said he thought the rail corridor might be more suitable for a dedicated bus line or a walking trail, not light rail.

He added that while the board has been wrestling with density issues, all in all the project is turning out "pretty well."

Stuart Helfand, who raises fowl on 4 acres there, has been a member of the local planning advisory group since it was formed in 1979.

He said he wouldn't have a problem with developers building smaller town homes at higher densities but objects to developers asking to add more single-family homes to subdivisions already starved for green space.

He said the old guard wasn't thrilled about growth in the first place, and now that there is a plan in place, developers should stick to it.

"The developers are coming in and saying they want to change everything. They want more density and we are saying no," Helfand said.

He said the current zoning was designed to gradually decrease density so new homes could blend in with existing residences.

"The Vineyard has always been a rural area," said Helfand. "We don't want to be a Marconi or an El Camino avenue."