Questions Raised on Senior Housing Plan

After listening to Wood Ranch residents alternately praise and slam a plan to build affordable senior housing in the area, City Council members say the project’s developer must answer neighbors’ concerns before the proposal moves forward.

The council wants assurances that the proposed 148 apartments, planned for Country Club Drive near Wood Ranch Parkway, would indeed be reserved for senior citizens.

Council members also want the developer to reach an agreement with the local homeowners’ association ensuring that the complex would not change the balance of votes in the association.

The council’s hearing on the project drew a vocal, at times emotional, crowd to City Hall on Monday. Some residents told council members that the project would fill a desperate need in a city short on affordable apartments for senior citizens.

“We can’t take care of them now,” said Cliff Snowden. “We’d better get busy on senior housing. We need it, and we need it now.”

But others complained that the project, proposed by developer AMCAL Multi-Housing Inc., would take up land that the shopping center next door may one day need for expansion. And they worried that the apartments, once built, could eventually be leased to anyone, not just seniors.

“There’s no guarantee this will remain senior housing,” said Edward Jakowczyk.

Councilman Bill Davis said that if the city approves the project, the city’s affordable housing agreement with the developer will specify that the project remain senior housing.

Similarly split sentiments derailed the project once before. In April, the Planning Commission deadlocked on the proposal. With one commissioner absent, two commissioners voted for approval while two said they wanted senior housing built elsewhere in the city. Davis and Councilwoman Barbara Williamson appealed the denial and brought the project before the council.

The council is scheduled to consider the plan again at its June 2 meeting.