Del Webb takes delegation to Sun City Lincoln Hills
Seeing is believing. That is perhaps the one thing that
delegates from Hollister took away from their visit to Sun City
Lincoln Hills, just east of Sacramento.
Del Webb takes delegation to Sun City Lincoln Hills
Seeing is believing. That is perhaps the one thing that delegates from Hollister took away from their visit to Sun City Lincoln Hills, just east of Sacramento.
Del Webb, the developers of a proposed senior housing project in Hollister, shuttled a group of Hollister residents up to Lincoln Hills as part of a marketing blitz designed to woo voters into approving the project.
From the moment the 10-person delegation stepped foot onto the chartered bus they were given information designed to make them feel more comfortable with the project. Still it was seeing the high-end state-of-the-art facilities and meeting the people from the community that really seemed to sell the delegates on the benefits of such a community.
Tom Cosgrove, who lives in Lincoln Hills and serves on Lincoln’s City Council that talked passionately about how much they love their community and what makes this Del Webb community shine.
Cosgrove drove down to Hollister and rode back to Lincoln Hills on the bus with the delegates, toured the facilities with them and rode back to Hollister just to drive back to Lincoln Hills.
Part of the reason Del Webb representatives may not have had too much difficulty selling the delegates on the look of Lincoln Hills was that the majority of the ten were on board with the project from the start. In fact, two of the delegates – Dee Hone and Nenette Corotto – appear in the Sun City Hollister promotional video.
The delegates included YMCA Executive Director Lou Bettencourt, Hollister Downtown Association Executive Director Brenda Weatherly, local artist Shannon Grissom, Nenette Corotto, Councilman Brad Pike, Dee Hone, Ralph and Madeleine Beaudoin, and Al and JoAnn Semenza.
At Lincoln Hills, The delegates first toured the 68,000 square-foot Orchard Creek Lodge recreation facility, which features a variety of rooms dedicated to specific hobbies, interests and classes on everything from basket weaving to computer programming. The classes are all offered free of charge or with minimal costs; one class had a $2 charge.
The costs of the facilities and programming are covered through an assessments fee homeowners pay annually, about $100 per month. A ballroom and a restaurant are also located at the facility and are open to the public for weddings. There also is a state-of-the-art fitness center, with four swimming pools – two exterior two interior – hobby and craft rooms, a billiards parlor, and multi-media room with plenty of space for social activities. There is also a wellness center staffed by health-care professionals.
“This feels like a resort,” said Madeleine Beaudoin, one of the delegates.
The residents contributed to the design plans of the project, and chose many of the amenities they now enjoy. There was only one card room and the residents wanted two, so now there are two.
Delegates also toured the 40,000 square-foot Kilaga Springs Lodge – the other major center at Lincoln Hills that features an additional fitness center, an indoor pool and spa, a library, a presentation hall, more multi-purpose and craft rooms, a cafe and a day spa.
What the delegates didn’t see on their tour of the community was an actual house. Ironic, since there were homes as far as the eye could see, yet there were zero houses open for touring. Sun City representatives explained this was because Sun City had sold all their available units, including the model homes.
The day started with a three-hour bus ride to Lincoln Hills. During that time, representatives from Del Webb, including Mike Serpa, vice-president of Del Web, Wendy Elliot, land acquisitions and entitlement for Del Webb; Annette Giacamazzi who is doing the public relations campaign for the ballot measure Del Webb is putting before the voters in November; and Tom Cosgrove who lives in Sun City Lincoln Hills – all talked about what they envision for Sun City Hollister and what has come about with Sun City Lincoln Hills.
“We haven’t plotted out the community yet; we don’t know the exact layout, but we do know that there would be a golf course, trails and a rehabilitated waterway. And that one-half of the project will have some sort of open space,” Elliot said.
One of the largest misconceptions people have of the project is that seniors won’t support local schools, Cosgrove Said. This was the same sentiment people in Lincoln had before Sun City opened there, he added.
“One of the ways Lincoln Hills volunteers have supported our schools is through the S.C.H.O.O.L.S. (Sun City Helping Our Outstanding Lincoln Schools) program. Through this program volunteers help out an average of 200 hours per week in local classrooms as tutors. They’ve especially had an impact at the high school level. We have college professors tutoring math and geography teachers helping with geography,” Cosgrove said.
As far as bond initiatives went, the community had not had an opportunity to test the theory yet, since they haven’t had to pass any school bonds, he said, but with the amount of support they receive from the seniors it would likely not be a problem.
Ruth Erickson was concerned about whether the Hollister ballot measure, Measure S, will open the door for other developers to come into the community if Del Webb get the measure passed.
“What this ballot measure is going to do is open a door for the process. This does not approve a project; we still need to go through all the regular processes. This is just asking the public ‘Do you think this is a good idea?’ Should we continue the conversation?” Elliot explained.
There was a question about how Sun City differentiates itself from other developments. Serpa said that the confidence they have in this project comes from looking at what they’ve done in other communities.
“Most developers won’t tell you to call any city they’ve gone into and get their opinion. It’s always a real good story,” Serpa said.
Beaudoin was concerned about educating voters. It was explained that Giacamazzi is organizing the public relations campaign and during the next 10 weeks there will be a full-on campaign.
Erickson is also the president of the Hollister Airman’s Association. She was especially concerned with the challenges such a development would present for the airport.
“The airport presented a special challenge, but we’re hoping to work with the airport group to work out the specific difficulties. We had a similar situation with a development in Anthem, Colorado. There is a senior community next to a similar airport there,” Serpa said. “We will get critics and opponents that worry that we would build right next to an airport, but we plan on leaving about 120 acres closest to the airport alone. We will not develop housing there.”
Erickson was still skeptical.
“In Watsonville, the city didn’t listen to the airport and now they’re in the midst of lawsuits. Encroachment happens so often, in the end the airports have to close. It’s better just not to build houses next to airports. It’s like the developer that builds next to a dairy then complains that the cows smell.”
Upon arrival delegates were greeted by Lincoln Hills public relations staff and given the tour of the facilities. The delegates made quite an entrance as the bus nearly took out the front entryway as it crashed into an overhang, smashing the windshield.
There was a lunch in the solarium following the tour.
Later in the day, there were presentations from several members of the city of Lincoln.
One of the interesting details observed was how much parking is reserved specifically for golf carts. Judy Bennett, a Del Webb spokeswoman, said that some of the golf carts even have headlights and license plates so they can drive on the streets of Lincoln and residents of Lincoln Hills can shop in town without having to get a car.
Sun City Lincoln Hills citizens are heavily active in the community. Leaders from the police department, school district and city officials all commended the work that the seniors have done in Lincoln.
Lincoln Chief of Police Brian Vizzsusi and Lieutenant Paul Shelgren talked about the Citizens On Patrol program that has been implemented at their police department and estimated that volunteers from Sun City work roughly 18 hours per day and put in an average of 200 hours per month at the department. The volunteers help with patrolling the city, organizing neighborhood watch, helping with outreach programs.
“When Del Webb announced that they were going to have 10,000 new residents I was skeptical. But from day one this project has embraced the city. I can’t say enough about these volunteers. It’s 100 percent positive relations,” Shelgren said.
The neighborhood watch groups at Lincoln Hills are incredible, said Vizzsusi. There are no major crimes and no impacts on police services, Vizzsusi said.
“The volunteers worked a total of 12,485 hours last year. Because of their service, the police department saved $200,000 and that’s not counting what they saved the fire department and other volunteer services,” Vizzsusi said.
Economic Development Manager for the city of Lincoln, Steve Art, echoed the same sentiments. He said that the citizens of Lincoln Hills have only raised the quality of life in the community.
“What they have done for the community is take an active role in making Lincoln a better city,” Art said.
And it’s not just some of the seniors that volunteer.
“There is one of everything that lives here,” Bob Romness of the Lincoln Volunteer Center said. “If we need a firefighter, there’s a firefighter. If we need a doctor, there’s a doctor. If we need a rocket scientist, there’s a rocket scientist,” Art said.
He said that the volunteer center was created with the specific purpose of getting people involved with the community and that is exactly what they have done.
Perhaps it was Sandy Frame, one of the originators of the S.C.H.O.O.L.S. program who put it best. “People here don’t wanna sit on a porch and rock, they want to stay active.”
The delegates were all impressed with what they were presented with.
“[I was most impressed with] all the people who didn’t have a vested interest in the project, but spoke in favor of Del Webb,” Grissom said.
Weatherly agreed. “The community involvement was impressive.”
Bettencourt said that it took a visit to the development to open his eyes to the project, but he was most impressed by the usage of the amenities.
“As far as a facility, you can build a facility but that doesn’t guarantee people will use it, but to see people actually using it was encouraging,” Bettencourt said.
The financial stability of the project was encouraging to Pike.
“They practiced what they preached. If it comes to fruition it would bring more quality of life to Hollister,” Pike said.
But whether this is a community that Hollister is in favor of, only time will tell. Developers know they have an uphill journey.
