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Tag: Watt Communities

  • Guest Opinion: proposed Citrus Heights housing has flood, fire risk

    Development, Watt Communities, Citrus Heights
    An updated map showing a 261-home development proposed off Arcadia Drive in Citrus Heights. // Image credit: City of Citrus Heights

    Guest opinion submitted by Norman Hill–
    When I saw the latest map of Watt Communities‘ proposed 261-home development off Arcadia Drive in Citrus Heights, immediately two major concerns for public safety came to mind. I believe the city should take advantage of the early stage of this development to require two changes to address the public safety challenges.

    The changes are:

    1. Make sure there are no wood roofs or wood siding.

    2. Make sure the foundations raise the dwelling units above the 200-year flood level.

    The first concern is fire safety. The recent devastating fires in Napa and Sonoma Counties should have set off alarms in the minds of local planning officials. Communities that were supposed to be fire safe burned to the ground. Coffey Park in Santa Rosa was an urban setting away from wildland dangers, but it was reduced to ashes and foundations.

    Norman Hill, Citrus Heights
    Norman Hill

    The Sacramento Bee ran an editorial last month saying that given the experience with these fires, we should all focus more on prevention. A fire captain who had been deployed to the Wine Country fires told me how the construction and materials in a house will help or hinder firefighters during a firestorm. Houses with wood roofs and siding will catch fire quickly and be almost impossible to defend in a conflagration. Houses with fireproof roofs and stucco siding will resist the flames long enough to give firefighters a chance to save them.

    The proposed houses should use fireproof roofing and stucco or brick siding in order to protect the buyers who will live in the homes. Changing the plans early will minimize the costs of these protective measures.

    The second concern is flooding. The Sentinel’s Oct. 12 article about the proposed development said that housing would be set back from the creek leaving open space within the 100-year floodplain, but from my experience working in the field of environmental and natural resources law with the State of California for 40 years, I know that the currently calculated 100-year flood level provides only illusory safety.

    Related: New map shows proposed 55-acre housing development in Citrus Heights

    If built as shown on the map, the houses will flood. To protect the buyers and future residents, the housing units should be raised at least to higher than the 200-year flood level by raising the foundations or other means.

    The 100-year flood is a flood estimated to have a 1-in-100 chance of occurring or being exceeded in any given year, but experience has shown that the hydrology used for the 100-year flood estimates was too limited. In the past 70 years, the Sacramento region has been hit with storms that have continued to set new records. The 1951 flood set a record. That record was surpassed in 1964. The 1986 flood eclipsed all prior records. Then, the 1997 flood was 20 percent greater than the 1986 event.

    These records were not included in calculating the 100-year flood levels, and these records show that our area is exposed to more serious flooding than we previously thought. Climate change is also expected to bring even more extreme weather events.

    In Citrus Heights, our main flooding concern is with our creeks. With the impervious roofs, driveways, sidewalks, roads, and parking lots, rapid runoff now makes our creeks rise faster and crest higher than in the recent past. A short, intense rain can put the creeks over their banks. Storms with less rain than a 100-year storm can put flow levels well-above the calculated 100-year level in our creeks.

    The damage caused by Hurricane Harvey in Houston should be a reminder of how expensive flood damage can be. If flood waters get into a house and cover the floor, the floor and most furniture will be ruined. Mold will set in. Dry wall will need to be replaced. And flood damage is often not covered by insurance.

    We should minimize the exposure flood damage for this new housing. Using higher foundations for new housing along creeks seems to be the cheapest and easiest way to keep flood waters out of new housing and to protect future residents from flood losses.

    Yes, we need more housing to serve our region. But we also need to protect the people who will live in that housing. By accepting these changes now, the developer may minimize the costs of making the changes and may smooth out the approval process for this project. Public safety needs to be considered.

    Norman Hill lives in Citrus Heights and is a retired natural resources and environmental lawyer with the State of California. He also held positions in the Department of Water Resources and Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

    Have a different perspective on this topic or another local issue? The Sentinel welcomes letters to the editor and guest opinion columns on local issues from Citrus Heights residents. Click here to submit one.

  • Watt Communities proposes huge 261-unit development in Citrus Heights

    Watt Communities proposes huge 261-unit development in Citrus Heights

    A map outline showing where a proposed 261-unit development would be built in Citrus Heights. // Courtesy, Google Earth. *Boundary lines reflect tentative subdivision map submitted by Watt Communities. Accurate within 20 feet.

    Updated Dec. 28, 12:55 p.m.–
    A 55-acre housing development and open-space park has been proposed to replace the golf course on Arcadia Drive in Citrus Heights, located near Sunrise Boulevard and Greenback Lane.

    The 261-unit housing proposal, submitted to the city by Watt Communities last month, includes 76 new single family homes, 72 “cluster units,” and 113 “alley loaded units.” The development would be situated with Montage Apartments on its northeastern border and Arcadia Drive and the Citrus Town Center to the southwest.

    Kevin Webb, Northern California division president for Watt Communities, said the housing is planned to be spread out into three general communities, with a large swath down the middle remaining undeveloped due to a 100-year flood plain associated with Arcade Creek. He said cluster units are proposed to feature a master bedroom downstairs and be targeted towards seniors, while other units would be targeted towards first-time home buyers and new families.

    Webb said prices will range from the “high 2’s to low 4’s,” with sizes ranging from 1,400-square-feet to 2,500-square-feet. All homes would be governed by a home owners association.

    A tentative subdivision map submitted to the city shows proposed homes being accessible through two entrances on Arcadia Drive, as well as an entrance on Fair Oaks Boulevard and an emergency access route connecting to Sunrise Boulevard.

    Apart from one connector road through the middle, Webb said there “will be no construction going on” in the flood plain area. He said 25 of the 55 acres would be given to the Sunrise Parks and Recreation District — which would be set aside for “multi-use trails, passive park facilities, and associated improvements,” according to the city’s planning division web page.

    [Document: see proposed site map]

    The large development is rare for Citrus Heights, which is almost entirely built out as a city.

    Nick Lagura, an associate planner with the City of Citrus Heights, called the proposal’s location “the last large development site in the city.”

    The acreage is being sold by Ted Mitchell, whose family purchased 160 acres in Citrus Heights for “1500 gold pieces” over 100 years ago, according to Webb. Mitchell, now 90 years old, still owns a significant amount of acreage in the area, including the land where the Citrus Town Center sits.

    Watt Communities has worked with Mitchell in the past, purchasing property from him on Antelope Road in order to build the recently completed 46-home AutumnWood development in Citrus Heights, near Interstate 80. Webb said discussions with Mitchell about the project began about a year ago, with the proposal officially being submitted to the city last month.

    Colleen McDuffee, planning division manager for the city, said the proposal is in its early stages and will need a full environmental impact report. She estimated the city council voting on the project “probably in 2018.”

    Community questions
    Addressing a handful of questions raised by residents at a neighborhood meeting at city hall earlier this month, Webb said the development would not include low-income housing, although he said prices would be “affordable.” McDuffee also confirmed the city does not have low-income housing requirements for new developments in Citrus Heights.

    Other questions included “where are the grandkids going to park?” “what if there was a fire?” and if the units would be so close you could “reach your hand out and touch the next house.”

    Webb said spacing between homes would differ from lot to lot, with the goal to “make more use out of less space” without becoming too crowded. He later told The Sentinel that density is planned for 8 to 13 units per acre, while in comparison he’s built up to 18 units per acre — which he said becomes too dense.

    For parking, Webb said the development is planned for one-and-a-half parking spots per unit, meaning a 30-unit community would have 45 parking spots at the street — in addition to two garage spaces.

    “We’re over-parking the project,” said Webb, comparing the development to some in Southern California with limited parking. “We’ve done it wrong before, so we want to be careful.”

    Discussion was also made about a comment by Councilman Bret Daniels who said during the meeting he was concerned about the “riff-raff” associated with the bus stop on Arcadia Drive. He noted the proposal called for homes facing outward towards Arcadia with only a three-foot wall separating them from the street, rather than facing the homes away from the street.

    Webb responded that facing the homes outward would “help prevent crime” and give a more welcoming look, rather than facing the homes inward and having a tall wall along the street — as is the case with the AutumnWood development on Antelope Road.

    Asked about similarly designed communities in the area for comparison, Webb referenced KB Home’s Marquee development off Fair Oaks Boulevard. He also said AutumnWood has similar home elevations as the new proposal.

    Webb said the project is currently at the community feedback stage and he expects the project will undergo significant changes prior to being presented to the planning commission.

    What do you think about Watt Communities’ proposal? Have your view published as a letter to the editor: click here.