Large audience attends Elk Grove zoning administrator meeting for affordable apartment project
While these open meetings at Elk Grove City Hall rarely draw an audience, yesterday's session drew over three dozen participants
The city of Elk Grove conducts zoning administrator meetings on an as-needed basis. These meetings substitute for planning commission meetings for minor design or planning items, and yesterday's was only the third of 2024.
While these open meetings at Elk Grove City Hall rarely draw an audience, yesterday's session drew over three dozen participants. The intense interest was for minor design changes to a supportive affordable housing project on Elk Grove-Florin Road, just south of Calvine Road.
The Coral Blossom project is an outgrowth of the controversial Oak Rose supportive housing project, which was first proposed in Old Town Elk Grove but rejected by Elk Grove Mayor Bobbie Singh-Allen and her city council. That rejection spurred a fair housing lawsuit filed by California Attorney General Rob Bonta, which led to Elk Grove paying over $10 million to the Oak Rose developer, Long Beach, Calif.-based Excelerate Housing Group, to relocate the project to Elk Grove-Florin Road and rechristened as the Coral Blossom supportive affordable housing project.
Elk Grove automatically approved the Coral Blossom project under California Senate Bill 35 conditions. Interestingly, Singh-Allen rejected the Old Town Oak Rose project, saying it did not qualify for Senate Bill 35 approval. This prompted the attorney general's lawsuit, which claims to this day that the city broke the law.
The 30-minute meeting was conducted by Elk Grove's innovation czar Christopher Jordan and attended by city attorney Jonathan Hobbs, planning manager Antonio Ablog, development services director Darren Wilson with senior planner Kyra Killingsworth, who made the brief presentation on the design changes. These typically are conducted by Jordan with a recording secretary.
"Staff believes they meet the [SB35] criteria," Ms. Killingsworth said. "It must be multi-family."
The three-story complex will be on a 2.2-acre site with 81 one-bedroom units and 33 parking spaces. Residents will have on-site supportive services. There were three speakers during public comment.
One speaker, Ms. Liz Marshall, made pointed remarks directed at the mayor and city council, saying they pitted one neighborhood against another, creating winners and losers. Marshall suggested the north Elk Grove neighborhood, which will facilitate the Coral Blossom project, was the loser.
"The city of Elk Grove has shown extreme bias by putting one neighborhood over other neighborhoods," she saidAdditionally, Marshall reminded city staff and the audience that while the city crafted the $10 million taxpayer-funded settlement with EHG, the attorney general's lawsuit is still pending.
Marshall's entire commentary can be seen in the video below.
"SB 35 does apply to [Old Town] Oak Rose. The city attorney is on record saying it does," Marshall said. Marshall added, "I'm counting on Rob Bonta to holding his ground and suing the city regardless of the stupid request by the mayor [Bobbie Singh-Allen] based on 'it's moot.'"
After hearing public comments, the minor design changes were approved. One change was allowing the street setback to be 33 feet instead of 40 feet. Following the meeting, most audience members who live on or near Silverberry Avenue, which backs up to the project, convened in the lobby to discuss further strategy.
One participant said they are considering an appeal to the Elk Grove Planning Commission, which requires a $2,500 filing fee and is a necessary step before a lawsuit could be filed.
After Jordan had delivered his decision as the zoning administrator, Marshall made additional comments.
"It's permanent support housing, that's what it is, right? Just what you think, for people who are chronically homeless, that's what it's for," she said. "You can paint it another color; when you paint a turd blue, it's still a turd."
