Plan for 40 senior apartments riled up a Riverbank neighborhood. How did panel vote?
A plan for 40 senior apartments in Riverbank ran into fierce protest from residents of nearby single-family houses.
The Riverbank Planning Commission voted 4-1 on Tuesday night to recommend that the City Council deny the project. It would be on two acres along Pocket Avenue, east of Roselle Avenue about a mile south of downtown.
Opponents said the apartments would generate too much traffic and not fit into their lower-density subdivision. A project representative responded that the six buildings would be just one story each and the renters would drive less often than younger people.
The debate arose amid a shortage of affordable housing in Riverbank and beyond.
“I agree that senior housing is much-needed in our city,” subdivision resident John Keller told the commission. “However, building at the Pocket Avenue location would set a bad precedent, which will not be beneficial to our small community nor to the city of Riverbank as a whole.”
Keller said 117 residents had signed a petition against the project as of Tuesday, and no one he approached was in favor.
The City Council has not yet scheduled the matter. It involves a general plan amendment and rezoning that would allow high-density housing on the two acres. The specific design, rents and other details would be determined later. The project is market rate, not subsidized.
The application came from Mahesh Khatwani, a Burlingame-based developer. Realtor Randy Brekke of Modesto represented him before the commission and said he plans to be an investor himself.
“Increasing the density, yes, but we’re geared entirely to seniors,” Brekke said.
Old barn and house on site
The site is part of the Sterling Ridge subdivision, created in 2005. Some of its houses are still being built. The neighborhood is bounded on the east by railroad tracks that carry several freight and Amtrak trains a day. A masonry wall partially conceals them. Harless Park provides a strip of greenery along the wall.
The proposed apartment site now has an old barn and a single-family house. They would be demolished to make way for the project.
Residents said traffic from the apartments would increase the risk to children walking in the neighborhood. They also noted that the area does not have easy access for seniors to transit and other services.
Brekke said an engineer has determined that the apartments would not add much traffic. He said an example of this type of project is on Prospectors Court, about half a mile to the southeast, where one-story apartments sit amid houses.
“It appears to coexist very well in that community” Brekke said.
Commissioner objects to ‘major change’
Planning Commissioner John Dinan made the motion to recommend denial to the City Council. “I believe this is a major change to an existing residential neighborhood,” he said.
Commissioners Steve Link, Benjamin Reuben and Joan Stewart also voted against the project. Natasha Basso supported it. None of them elaborated on their reasons.
Riverbank has had a surge of home construction recently, mostly in the Crossroads area at its south end. It would grow even more to the west under the Riverwalk proposal, which would stretch to McHenry Avenue. Farmland preservationists are fighting the plan.
One speaker Tuesday noted that Riverwalk would have a senior housing portion with far more units than the Pocket Avenue proposal.
