The first project presented was New Faze development’s request for at least 68 HEU’s for to complete the number of HEUs needed for Phase 1 of the Jackson Hills Golf Course. New Faze Vice President Marty Tuttle urged the commission to allot the balance of the HEU’s needed for phase one of the project. He stated “At this point we feel we do deserve a hearing before your elected officials particularly with the amount of invested resources.” Tuttle then gave the presentation for New Fazes proposed affordable housing project Miners Vista, located at 305 Scottville Drive. The project consists of 30 apartments or condominiums in one building with an additional 15 separate condominiums.

Up next was the presentation of St. Patrick’s Park proposed by St. Patrick’s Catholic Church. Project representative James Buell explained that the proposed project, located off of New York Ranch road, consists of 20 condominiums, 74 town homes and cottages, 48 single family residences, 8 suites of neighborhood retail, 36 medical services office suites, 30 suites for medical support services, research and development, and the Amador Catholic Center with an auditorium, worship space, youth center, meeting rooms, parish offices and a rectory. Buell explained that the project incorporates everything that the City of Jackson has expressed they would like to see, mixed use, solar power capabilities, traffic sensitive, pedestrian and bike trails, parks, etc.. Murray Lind of Reynan and Bardis Communities presented Creekside at Jackson, a development of 400 single and multi family homes on 227 acres on the north side of French Bar Road. Lind stated that the developers have talked with “the ACUSD to provide a K-8th school and park site.” Concerns over the same infrastructure issues associated with Jackson Hills were brought up by members of the public.

Next was Charlotte Laughton’s request for 40 HEU’s to develop 20 single family homes and 20 affordable housing units on 21.91 acres on the south side of French Bar Road. Laughton was not present to explain her project and very little information had been submitted. After a quick break the Commission got down to eliminating the projects they felt were not fitting to Jackson and Laughton’s project as well as Miners Vista was immediately ruled out. The commission then seemed divided among the remaining projects with Garibaldi and Sexton okay with allocating the needed HEU’s for Phase One of Jackson Hills and then dividing the rest among St. Patrick’s Park or Creekside at Jackson. Butow and Carleton seemed to feel that the latter developments or just St. Patrick’s Park were more deserving.

After discussion Jackson Hills was eliminated and the commission discussed Reynan and Bardis’ proposal and the St. Patrick’s Catholic Church project. Butow mentioned that it was particularly difficult because the church’s request was larger than the units they had to allocate and it appeared to be an all or nothing deal. Planner Peters explained that a portion of their property could actually be exempt if they make a deed restriction locking it in as affordable housing. Under California State Law and the City’s adopted ordinance, affordable housing projects in the very low, low, and moderate range are exempt. This meant that St. Patrick’s would only need 86 HEU’s for the remainder of their project. It was decided that St. Patrick’s proposed project most closely met the City’s criteria for ideal development. The commission voted to allocate 86 HEU’s to St. Patrick Park with the understanding that 94 of their units will qualify under the Affordable Housing Act. The remaining 20 HEU’s, were allocated to Creekside at Jackson. The recommendation will appear before the Council next Tuesday.