The final plot of land in New California Hills may finally get filled.
Jerome Township Trustees approved the application for the thirteenth and final phase of the development that first saw homes in the early 1970s.
“One of the issues we ran into with this development is it is so old, a lot of documentation has been difficult to find,” said Mark Spagnuolo, zoning officer for the township. “We are perceiving based on the history of a 40 or 50-year old development that everything is going to be held to the same standards that we currently have at New California.”
The 20 acres of land on two parcels is located behind the Jerome Township Division of Fire.
Evergreen Land Company, the site’s developer, is looking to put 38 residential lots for single-family homes on the land.
“We will add two roads coming off the existing New California Drive that will end with cul-de-sacs,” Spagnuolo said. “We will also add two retention ponds to hold some of the surface storm water runoff.”
He added that the land was originally zoned for a park and a school but the Jonathan Alder School District sent a letter to the developer saying they didn’t have an interest in using the land for a school.
“We explored a variety of solutions. We looked at multi-family, apartments or possibly putting patio homes back there,” Spagnuolo said. “We also looked at duplexes or twin singles and things of that nature but decided to do something similar to what was already there.”
There is a planned density of 1.873 units per acre.
A portion of the land would cut into the existing tree line that backs up against the rear of the wooded homes on Monteray Drive, Tioga Springs Circle and Sierra Woods Circle—this caused some concern for existing residents.
“My biggest concern is just maintaining the green buffer that’s in the spirit of the rest of the woods,” said Brandon Sweaney, a resident in New California. “And I understand the rear setback, but the rest of the (New California) Woods development there is far more green space, green buffer between the homes.”
Allen Shepherd of Evergreen Land Company said the developer would be willing to work with the homeowners.
“All of New California Hills has a 25-foot setback, most of the Woods has been 40 feet so we accommodated that design and added 40 more feet back there,” Shepherd said. “We’ve gone to the extent of the higher-end subdivision which is New California Woods and raised it.”
He said that Evergreen bought the land in the mid-1990s and at the time, it was zoned to have 12-14 units per acre so the company has worked to get that number significantly lower.
One of the proposed retention ponds would go right behind the fire station and across from the existing park. This also caused some safety concerns with a lack of a barrier.
The developer said this would be addressed as well in the final development plan.
Township trustees voted 3-0 to approve the planned development application.