NATOMA STATION COMMUNITY MEETING - Please see our Facebook page as well - Natoma Station Community Organization
Date: Wednesday, June 22
Time: 6 pm to 8 pm
Place: Folsom Community Center meeting room, 50 Natoma Street.
This will be the final Natoma Station Community meeting with City Planning staff and Cresleigh Homes, the developer proposing a General Plan Amendment with a rezoning of two lots on Iron Point and Willard Drive before the project is reviewed and voted on at the July 6 Planning Commission meeting. If passed at the Planning Commission meeting the re-zoning and project will be reviewed and voted upon by the City Council, date to be determined.
What we know about the proposal based on information we’ve gotten from the developer and City Planning staff:
1) These two lots are currently zoned Commercial which would accommodate office space, shopping, restaurants, etc. The proposal includes 1) rezoning the graded, flat lot behind Safeway to R-3 - apartments to accommodate 276 units and 2) rezoning the currently forested and rugged terrain on Willard to R-1-M small lot single family residential to accommodate about 40 small lot homes. See Map.
2) Several members of the Natoma Station Community Organization Board met with the developer and other interested neighbors to walk the lot on Willard. If the rezoning is approved, the developer plans to clear-cut the forest and grade the site, creating a flat lot at an elevation above the rooftops on Bayline Circle. The tree line shown in the photos below would be replaced by a steep retaining wall, fence and new rooftops. The developer plans to transfer portions of the property below the retaining wall to several homeowners on Bayline Circle. This is land the developer does not want to re-plant or maintain. Therefore, there would be no screening of the retention wall, fences or rooftops unless homeowners who receive land transfers take it upon themselves to provide irrigating and planting, something that some may not be able to accomplish or afford. Some of the homeowners would receive relatively flat, usable land, others will have the proposed new homes backed up to their yards and/or be faced with a steep, bare hill/retaining wall.
3) The apartment complex being proposed behind Safeway would be “industrial” or “mid-century modern” in design, something the developer believes is appealing to young Intel workers. The project has proposed interior walkways and garages for each unit.
The Natoma Station Community Organization Board is requesting that a greenbelt between the retaining wall and fence and existing homes be developed and maintained as it serves to provide a visual aesthetic for our area, mirroring the Humbug-Willow Creek Parkway. This can be accomplished through the retention of viable trees and/or re-planting native trees to screen the proposed retaining wall, rooftops and fence.
If you cannot attend this meeting but would like to express concerns and support for retaining a viable greenbelt please submit comments to:
Steve Banks, Planner
City of Folsom
50 Natoma Street,
Folsom, CA 95630
sbanks@folsom.ca.us