San Juan Bautista council members are bracing to officially approve the largest development in the Mission City’s history.
Council members at their March 17 meeting are set for the second and final reading of an approval on an 85-unit subdivision and an expansion to the “urban growth boundary” in the quaint city of 1,900 people, according to City Manager Roger Grimsley.
Council members at their February meeting approved the project set for the northern part of the city, near the Creekbridge Homes development, in a 3-2 vote. The city’s planning commission previously approved the project, while the two dissenting council members worked with the city manager on language, to make the project more appeasing to those officials, before the next vote.
Up for debate among officials has been the amount of fees paid by the developer, Bob Fulton of Walnut Creek. The total fee amount is at $2.7 million, Grimsley said. Those fees would go toward such costs as infrastructure, parks, and police and fire services.
The developer will build the project in seven phases over three years, Grimsley said.
Also included in the decision is the expansion of the urban growth boundary. The urban growth boundary established in the 1998 general plan update designates residential areas in the city, which also includes some agricultural designations within its limits outside of the urban zone, Grimsley has said.
The project would expand that urban growth boundary by 28.3 acres. Additionally, the change would bring five existing homes—currently within an agricultural designation—into the urban growth boundary, Grimsley said.
The Christopher family known for its garlic production owns the property where the development would go.
The city also recently approved a 27-lot subdivision, while the largest existing development in the city is 35 homes approved in 2000, Grimsley said. It would continue a trend set between 2000 and 2010 when San Juan grew by 20 percent, the largest jump in the county.
