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::: COMMUNITY NEWS Developer submits plans to build 64 homes on Escuela school site Published
Wednesday, December 4, 2002 River West
Investments submitted a tentative map to the county planning department
about three weeks ago, said Sheryl Lenzie, south area project
manager for the department. River West’s application has been deemed incomplete and the planning department has requested additional information from the developer. Lenzie said she was surprised by the application to develop the property. The 14 acres has been designated as a 4-acre park site and a school site in the master plan for the community “at least since 1973,” she said. Although the site is zoned for single-family housing, the proposed development would require an amendment to the master plan and approval by the Sacramento Board of Supervisors, Lenzie explained. The Elk Grove Unified School District is still interested in the site for an elementary school, although plans to purchase the property were put on hold after an agreement with the Rancho Murieta Association to provide access to the school over the private streets of the community proved controversial. The RMA is now pursuing a plan to improve Stonehouse to make the county road the public access for the school. In October, the RMA received a letter from the Operating Engineers Training Center agreeing to do the road improvements as part of its training program. The association is in the process of lining up private funds for materials and other costs of the project. Last week, Brian Vail, president of River West Investments, explained why the company decided to develop the property. “We waited and we waited and waited. … We held off for two years while (the school district) said they were buying it. … I finally just submitted my application, the same one I’ve been talking about for a year. “My discussions with (Constantine I. Baranoff, the school district’s assistant superintendent for facilities and planning) were basically that they were going to proceed forward with the school site to the extent that they could get access through the gates and not Stonehouse. That was denied by the association, so that they then decided that they did not want to proceed with the school site at this time.” Vail said he gave the district additional time when Baranoff expressed optimism about the plan to have the Operating Engineers trainees improve Stonehouse Road. “Some of those discussions were supposed to take place within the next few weeks,” Vail said. “I gave them a couple months. And 10 phone calls later, with no return phone calls, I submitted my application. … I’ve paid money for the site and what am I supposed to do? Hold it because someone might want to put a school on it sometime?” Vail said the proposed lots are about 60 by 110 feet and the density is close to the 5-unit-per-acre zoning. By way of comparison, The Residences of Murieta Hills, a development proposed by Murieta Holdings for property on the other side of Escuela, has a density of 1.7 units per acre. On the tentative map submitted by River West Investments, a horseshoe-shaped road loops around the proposed subdivision, with two points of access on Stonehouse Road. The development does not link to Rancho Murieta's streets. Vail said a homebuilder is prepared to buy the property when the tentative map is approved. RMA President Mike Schieberl, who is leading the effort to improve Stonehouse Road, characterized Vail’s application to the planning department as “hedging his bets” and possibly a way of “putting more pressure on the district to make the commitment” to purchase the school site. Schieberl commented, “It’s a hard job to develop a piece of property to where you can sell it. … It’s not an easy process. ... None of this is going to happen soon. … If the district doesn’t buy his land, he will have wisely used his time.”
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