Solano County Supervisors consider new English Hills subdivision

Supervisors consider new English Hills subdivision

By Ian Thompson

VACAVILLE - English Hills residents, concerned that a proposed upscale rural subdivision will threaten their water supply, are asking the Solano County Supervisors to turn away the development.

Plans to build a 32-home gated subdivision on rural land north of Vacaville goes before the Solano County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday.

The subdivision, located on 80 acres at the southern end of Dove Creek Trail next to Sweeney Creek, is the first of its kind to be put among the farms and ranches of English Hills.

The developer proposes to put in a private park next to a pond already on the site. Developers also propose to extend Dove Creek Road further south to Cantelow Road, which involves putting in two new bridges.

The supervisors are being asked to rezone the 80 acres from agricultural to rural residential uses, which allow for the building of one house per every two-and-a-half acres.

“It concerns me that we are having a subdivision built here,” said Cantelow Road resident Judy Neal. “This is just not the place for that.”

Neal worried not just about this proposal, but for the precedent it will set, maybe prompting other landowners or developers to put up similar projects out there.

One of the landowners to the south is already planning to go to the Supervisors later this year asking that his land get a similar rezoning.

Sandy DeGeorge, whose land lies on the project's east side, is concerned about how the subdivision will affect the well water supplies of the surrounding homes.

DeGeorge doesn't so much argue against the subdividing of the land itself, but of what she calls “a pretty irresponsible use of water.”

“The development plans to use an existing irrigation well to recharge a stock pond to use it for recreational purposes,” DeGeorge said. “There are many people who rely on their private wells which draw from same aquifer.”

“They don't have a right to negatively impact the rest of the community,” DeGeorge said.

She is also worried about clustering of the proposed home, which means the septic tanks will also be clustered close together, increasing the possibility of contamination.

The Solano County Board of Supervisors meets at 8:30 a.m. Tuesday in the Solano County Board of Supervisors chamber at 675 Texas St.