Latest Citrus Heights news briefs include an update on local home sales, a vehicle crashing into a Citrus Heights home, the city set to get a new mayor, two homes catching fire, and the death of a well-loved local resident.
Car crashes into Citrus Heights home; driver suspected of DUI
A car driving on Old Auburn Road smashed into a home at Argo Drive around 3 a.m. Friday morning, with police believing the driver to be under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Video from a KCRA news report shows a red, two-door Honda at the scene after it apparently smashed through the front door of the home and went through a hallway and into a bathroom, before coming to a halt.
According to the news report, the passenger of the vehicle involved had given his keys to a friend he thought was sober. No injuries were reported by anyone inside the home, but the driver was taken to a hospital due to injuries sustained in the collision. Police told KCRA that the driver would be subsequently arrested on suspicion of DUI. (See news video)
Citrus Heights set to get new mayor, vice mayor
Mayor Jeff Slowey will pass his position on to one of his other four colleagues serving on the Citrus Heights city council, following a scheduled vote to select a new mayor and vice mayor during the council’s upcoming Dec. 14 meeting. The five-member council votes in a new mayor and vice mayor from among its ranks each year. Slowey will have completed his third term as the city’s mayor, having served a one-year term as mayor in 2007, and again in 2012.
Owner of popular Citrus Heights Pumpkin Farm passes away at 76
Leonard Roy Shymoniak, the 76-year-old owner of The Pumpkin Farm on Old Auburn Road, passed away peacefully on Nov. 13, 2017, according to an obituary published in The Sacramento Bee last week. Shymoniak was born in 1941 in Alberta, Canada and married Leonne Jeannette Willis in 1968. The family moved to the Sacramento area in 1972 and bought the 16-acre farm on Old Auburn Road, which soon became The Pumpkin Farm. His three children helped run the seasonal October attraction, which opened in 1974. A memorial service will be held Dec. 11 at 1 pm at Holy Family Catholic Church, located at 7817 Old Auburn Rd. (See obituary)
Hoarder house on Old Auburn Road catches fire; mobile home destroyed
A boarded-up home on the 7600 block of Old Auburn Road caught fire around 2 a.m. on Wednesday, with items piled inside making it difficult for firefighters to gain access. According to a news report on KCRA, the fire started in the rear yard and then spread to the house. The news station also reported that neighbors said the home has been “nothing but a problem” with squatter issues. In the past, the home has had junk piled outdoors on all sides, but some exterior cleanup was performed earlier this year. (See KCRA coverage)
Two days later, KCRA also reported on a separate fire at a mobile home park in Citrus Heights, which left one residence completely destroyed Friday morning. The home was located in the Stonegate Mobile Home Estates on Sage Street, near Interstate 80. No one was injured in either blaze.
Data: Citrus Heights home sales slowed during October; but prices still up vs. last year
Monthly home sales in Citrus Heights dropped from a total of 146 homes closing escrow in September down to 97 closing escrow in October, according to the most recent data reported in The Sacramento Bee. Compared to September, median home prices increased by 3.3% in the city’s 95621 zip code, but dropped by 2.6% in the 95610 zip code.
Compared to October 2016 prices, latest year-over-year comparisons show prices are still up compared to 2016, with the 95621 zip code, which covers the western half of Citrus Heights, showing home sale prices up 12.7%, rising from an average of $279,500 in October last year up to $315,000 this year. In the 95610 zip code, which covers the eastern half of Citrus Heights, home sales were up 4.3%, rising from an average of $317,500 last October up to $331,000 this year. The Sacramento Bee’s report included data for sales of detached single-family homes and also included price comparisons of homes sales of all zip codes in the Sacramento region, through October. (See full report)
