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Last November, the Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors approved a controversial Spieker Senior Development residential care facility in the Seven Hills Ranch area of unincorporated Walnut Creek, just west of Heather Farm Park.
But they couldn’t approve the route by which the developer wants to get there, which includes a small slice of land off Kinross Drive that belongs to the city of Walnut Creek.
The Walnut Creek City Council will discuss the matter in closed session at 3 p.m. Tuesday, before the public meeting starts at 6 p.m.
The council will discuss whether they want to sell the land to Spieker and, if so, at what price and what other terms they may want. There likely won’t be a public announcement of what their conditions may be until a later date.
The developer has said Kinross, off Ygnacio Valley Road, is the best ingress, both when constructing the 354 housing units within 30 single-story buildings. They also plan an 85,000-square-foot medical center, a multi-story clubhouse, a recreation building, a maintenance building, and a parking garage on the 30-acre site.
But the neighbors fought vehemently against the project, which would require removing 353 trees and extensive grading of hills, essentially transforming the area’s landscape. The area is private property and zoned for housing.
The group Save Seven Hills Ranch collected about 4,000 signatures against the project, citing increased traffic, the effect of four years of dust and noisy construction on nearby Seven Hills School, lack of emergency access, and lack of public benefits.
Opponents also complained the project doesn’t meet local affordable housing needs and would remove too much wildlife habitat.
Nevertheless, the Board of Supervisors unanimously approved the project, saying it provides desperately needed senior housing to the area.
Among the concessions required in the county approval was a financial assistance program whereby the facility operator would establish an annuity of $2 million toward subsidies for lower-income households that would not otherwise have the financial means to live in the facility.
Spieker will also pay $3 million over 10 years to county parks, trails, or open space in the Walnut Creek area. Spieker has said security concerns preclude it from allowing trails and public access to the site, but the company would dedicate 2.4 acres along the site west boundary for public purposes.
County staff said traffic projections for single family housing on the site would be higher than what would be generated by the Spieker development. Staff said the county projects 166 single family homes could be built on the site, not including extra attached units that could be added.
The developer has discussed constructing an emergency egress toward Heather Farm Park and likely has at least one other option for ingress. But Kinross is probably best equipped for the main entrance and exit.
The council on Tuesday will likely instruct city negotiators to open talks with Spieker. The matter won’t be decided until there’s a public hearing at a later council meeting.
