Neighborhood groups appeal 332-unit East Sacramento apartment project

The Abridged version:

• The Sacramento Planning and Design Commission on Feb. 12 voted 10-0 in favor of a new six-story apartment complex planned near Alhambra Boulevard.
• Two groups are appealing the decision, which will send the project before the Sacramento City Council for additional deliberation.
• The project has seen significant debate as neighbors complain about the size of the project while others say it would alleviate the city’s housing crisis.

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(This story has been updated to reflect the appeals that were filed with the city of Sacramento on Monday, Feb. 23.)

Opponents of a dense apartment project planned in East Sacramento are taking their case to the Sacramento City Council.

The city’s Planning and Design Commission on Feb. 12 voted 10-0 in favor of a new 332-unit apartment complex planned on the long vacant Mary Ann’s Bakery site. Project plans would see demolition and redevelopment of most of the city block bounded by Alhambra Boulevard, 30th Street, C Street and D Street.

The Casa Loma Terrace – East Sacramento Neighborhood Association filed an appeal against the project on Monday. Another group by the name Citizens for Positive Growth and Preservation also filed an appeal through an Irvine-based attorney with the firm Brown Rudnick LLP, according to the application. Each appeal requires $1,045 filing fee, according to the city.

The move will send the project before the council for an additional public hearing on the project.

Project plans detail a six-story apartment complex, a six-level parking garage and a new coffeeshop on the ground floor of the apartments. Much of the brick facade from the historic Mary Anne’s Bakery building would be kept on the exterior of the building.

Group says project will ‘irreparably damage’ neighborhood

The planned apartment complex continues to elicit strong feelings from residents in the area.

Both groups allege that the project does not comply with height restrictions in the neighborhood. The project is proposed at a height of 68 feet, while zoning in the area currently has a 35-foot limit, according to the application filed by Citizens for Positive Growth and Preservation.

The citizens group also cites that the project would cause “significant impacts to cultural resources” in the Casa Loma Terrace neighborhood where it is located.

The Planning and Design Commission hearing included 90 minutes of public comment. Even before the hearing, the city received 40 letters voicing both opposition and support for the project.

The Casa Loma Terrace – East Sac Neighborhood Association formed largely in reaction to the planned apartment project.

In a letter, the group’s president Carl Seymour cited concerns over traffic and the size of the building.

“Overall, this project will not preserve the neighborhood scale and character — in fact it will egregiously and irreparably damage it,” Seymour wrote.

City’s discretion limited

State housing laws have limited the ways cities can vote down proposed housing projects, in an attempt to remedy California’s housing crisis.

Leslie Walker, with the city attorney’s office, reminded commissioners that housing projects that comply with the city’s general plan and zoning laws can only be denied on the grounds of health and safety concerns.

“The commission has little discretion to deny the project unless it can make those health and safety findings,” Walker told the commission at Thursday’s hearing.

Commission Member David Nybo, who lives in East Sacramento, said he’s seen numerous projects proposed near Alhambra Boulevard receive heavy opposition during his long tenure on the commission. Nybo has held stints on the Planning and Design Commission dating back to 2013.

“Every single time people have come forward and they have said ‘This is going to ruin East Sacramento,'” Nybo said at last week’s meeting. “So far it hasn’t, and I don’t think this project is going to do it.”

Felicia Alvarez is a reporter at Abridged covering accountability. She’s called Sacramento home since 2015 and has reported on government, health care and breaking news topics for both local and national news outlets.