Planners OK Senior Apartments

Planners OK Senior Apartments
By Jennifer Gentile/Staff Writer
TheReporter.Com

The Vacaville Planning Commission granted the necessary approvals Tuesday night for a 60-unit senior apartment building.

If the City Council is also supportive, the three-story, 43,750 square-foot complex would be built on a parcel of nearly two-acres, adjacent to the Lemon Tree Mobile Home Park. The planned site is on the west side of Lawrence Drive, about 325 feet south of Orange Drive.

Referred to by staff as Vacaville Senior Manor, the complex will feature 60 one-bedroom units, a common recreation room, laundry facilities and 66 parking spaces.

City Planner Eric Luchini said the project originally was approved in the spring of 2004, but that approval expired in May of 2005.

"I think (the commission was) happy to see the project come back," Luchini said, adding, "They thought the use was good and thought it would fit well with the neighborhood."

In comments Wednesday, Commission Chair Dan Broadwater said, "I think it's a good project and it's something that's needed."

A staff report explained that some mobile home park residents were concerned about the visibility of the park from the apartment complex. In response, "The applicant has designed the apartment complex with a setback of 40 feet from the property line adjoining the mobile home park," rather than the normal 70, and has proposed adding mature trees as a way to break the view.

In other action, three amendments to a development agreement are now endorsed by the Planning Commission. The agreement between the city and the Miller-Sorg Group, Inc., concerns the Moody property, approximately 36 acres to the south of Alamo Creek and to the east of Leisure Town Road.

The proposed amendments would grant a two-year extension for the start of phase one, allow a second developer to request a housing allocation increase under the Planned Growth Ordinance and open the possibility of a reimbursement mechanism other than a benefit district.

Jennifer Gentile can be reached at vacaville@thereporter.com.