By Mike Hazlip—
A developer has submitted an application to subdivide a five-acre parcel on Old Auburn Road near Sunrise Boulevard, with plans initially calling for development of 20 homes on the lot and an adjacent parcel but now with reduced plans for just four single-family homes.
An email sent last month to residents of the Sylvan Old Auburn Road Neighborhood Area asked for nearby residents to submit public comments about the proposal to the Citrus Heights Planning Department. A document circulated with the email shows four parcels running in a north-south direction with frontage along Old Auburn Road. A creek that intersects the lot has a setback, limiting development, according to the document.
The proposed parcel map for the property at 7828 Old Auburn Rd. shows lots ranging between roughly 41,000-square-feet to just over 55,000-square-feet. The owner is listed as NB Companies, LLC with Nan Lin as developer.
In an interview last month with The Sentinel, Lin said he originally planned to build about 20 homes at 7820 and 7828 Old Auburn Rd., but he said fire officials blocked the plans unless he added a bridge over the creek to connect Auburn Boulevard and Pennington Way to accommodate heavy fire vehicles.
“To build a bridge that size is a significant cost, you’re talking about a couple hundred-thousand dollars,” Lin said. “That would just kill the project’s margins and it doesn’t make sense for a developer to do that. On the other hand, California is short in housing, we’re developers and we want to accommodate the housing crisis and we have the ability to build homes and here comes the fire department just killing projects.”
Lin said fire officials told him the number of homes along Pennington Way and Vista Ridge Drive is already at the maximum allowed, preventing his company, Kaizen Capital, from building any homes south of the creek without a second exit point.
His only option is to build four single family homes on four parcels that will extend from Old Auburn Road back to Pennington Way, something Lin called “a waste of space.”
Captain Parker Wilbourn with Metro Fire said in a Nov. 3 phone call that he empathized with the need for more housing, but said fire officials have to put safety first in approving any plans. Asked whether a bridge was required by Metro Fire for the original 20-home plan, the captain said no development plans for the property had been formally submitted to Metro Fire, meaning no formal comments had been made.
Wilbourn later submitted a statement jointly issued by Metro Fire and the City of Citrus Heights about the property:
“The applicant submitted a tentative parcel map and was provided a project review letter that requested additional information about how the southern portion of the property would be used. Depending on what is proposed and where the project could require a bridge per Sacramento Metro Fire standards,” the statement said. “Once additional information is provided a determination will be made. Sacramento Metro Fire and City staff look forward to assisting the applicant through the development process.”
The subdivision proposal is currently under review by the city, according to the latest status update on the city’s online projects map.
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