October 17, 2022 — The City of Ukiah and a private developer spoke to a citizens group last week about a variety of plans to increase housing stock in the Ukiah Valley.
Plans for a housing project on 171 lots at the south end of town are getting closer to breaking ground. And the city is updating its general plan for 2040, with an eye toward land use, infrastructure, and agriculture, among other elements. A new state law and a focus on accessory dwelling units are meant to make it easier and more affordable to build more housing within city limits. Jesse Davis, Planning Manager with the City of Ukiah, and Jake Morley, a developer with Guillen Construction, spoke about their work at a meeting of the inland Mendocino County Housing Action Team on Thursday morning.
The proposed project, Bella Vista, has been under consideration in one form or another for about a decade. It is a modification to a proposed subdivision formerly called Gardens Gate, a nearly fifty-acre property just outside Ukiah city limits, on South State Street. A map of the proposal shows that it is centered between Gobalet Lane and Plant Road, and extends west near Oak Knoll Road and Oak Court. The lot sizes range from about 3,500 square feet to just over 18,000 square feet. The plan includes four point four acres of open space, and a roundabout at South State Street and Plant Road. It is in the Willow County Water District.
Jake Morley calls himself the “paper project manager” for Guillen Construction, which means he’s been coordinating the studies and other preparatory materials for the development agreement with the county. He said 39 of the 171 lots will be age-restricted to people 55 years old or older; and that ten percent of the balance of the lots will be dedicated to moderate-income housing. He said the homes for seniors will be between a thousand and 1250 square feet, with extra wide hallways and bathrooms, and the larger homes will be between 1400 and 1800 square feet, to accommodate more residents. He said Guillen has been working through the studies for the project for the last three years, and “we’re hoping to be before the (Mendocino County) Planning Commission by the end of the year, and Board of Supervisors by the start of the year. Then off to PG&E to go through their process, and start moving dirt, hopefully in spring or the end of summer of the following year.”
Morley said he couldn’t predict exactly how much the homes will cost, as the costs of building fluctuate, but said he expects them to be affordable for people in the community.
Morley added that Guillen Construction was planning another subdivision called Vineyard Crossing, just north of Ukiah, but, “we’re giving it a long, hard look right now…that fragmentation of water doesn’t really lend to making sure we have a project. So that’s kind of where that sits right now.”
In addition to updating the general plan, the city is working to consolidate the water districts in the Ukiah Valley and update the city’s “sphere of influence,” the areas on the edges of town where it can provide various services and annex land. The city is not planning to annex the Bella Vista property at this time. Davis, the planning manager, hopes the items about water district consolidation and the sphere of influence will be ready to bring to the CIty of Ukiah Planning Commission in more detail on October 26, next Wednesday.
Davis focused on smaller-scale approaches to building more housing within the city, to fill what he calls the “missing middle.” This includes accessory dwelling units, cottage court developments (defined as a group of small homes “arranged around a shared court visible from the street”); duplexes, triplexes, fourplexes, and other kinds of second units. “And that’s where we see the potential for infill to really be expanded in the city of Ukiah,” Davis said. He added that the city has three pre-designed sets of plans for accessory dwelling units, which are supposed to help homebuilders cut down on the costs of adding a living space to a property. The plans didn’t generate much interest when they were first introduced, but in the last year, Davis reported, “We now have two developments that are utilizing those plan sets to help expedite the plan review and move projects forward, here in Ukiah.”
A new state law, SB9, is another strategy that is supposed to increase residential developments. Davis explained that SB9 allows R1, or small residential properties, to be subdivided to accommodate four residential units, in a number of combinations. The city is using SB9 to allow a property owner to build an accessory dwelling unit on a lot that already has three units, which, prior the law’s passage last year, was a non-conforming usage for the city’s R1 code. The law has a number of restrictions, including a requirement that the owner live on-site, and a prohibition on short-term rentals. “It’s a very extensive law, that a lot of jurisdictions are still feeling out, including the county,” concluded Davis, a former county planner. “Because, as these laws are passed in Sacramento, they have to be means-tested by the local jurisdiction, to see how they are applied.”
If you’d like to review the current draft of Ukiah’s general plan, you can visit City Hall at 300 Seminary Avenue, or visit ukiah2040.com.