Commission sees plans for The Farm at Alamo Creek

The Vacaville Planning Commission was presented with initial plans for The Farm at Alamo Creek subdivision in southeast Vacaville.

No decisions were made by the commission Tuesday, but the city is looking for comments to address in the Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for the project.

“It’s going to be a really nice project for that area of town,” said Amy Feagans, the city’s contract planner on this project.

The Farm at Alamo Creek would add 768 residential units of varying styles and sizes from large single-family homes to medium to high-density housing, 7.6 acres of neighborhood commercial uses, 35.5 acres of parks, trails, a year-round pond, a private clubhouse and pool and agricultural buffer, a detention basin and other stormwater improvements and pedestrian and bicycle trails to connect the neighborhoods, parks and other open space.

The 215-acre project site is bounded by Leisure Town Road on the west, Elmira Road on the south, Hawkins Road to the north and the city’s agricultural buffer to the east.

The property is within the city’s sphere of influence and urban growth boundary, but currently outside of city limits.

This is just the start of a long process, Tom Phillippi, project engineer, said.

“I will tell you in my 40-year career I’ve never been as excited about a project as The Farm at Alamo Creek,” he said.

He is working with Sausalito-based planning firm SWA Group, which was involved with The Cannery in Davis. Several elements from that project would be incorporated into the Vacaville project.

Phillippi said he is personally very excited about the Play 4 All Park, which the Vacaville Rotary has been working on for about four years.

The developer plans to donate 7.5 acres to the Play 4 All nonprofit organization for the park, which will have a rubberized playground surface and a special swing for children in wheelchairs.

Overall, 33 percent of the property will be dedicated to parks and open space, Phillippi said.

Commission vice chair Jan Aldrich said with all the new houses coming on Leisure Town Road, they will need a grocery store.

Phillippi agreed, but said the two sites designated for commercial in this project are too small for that size of store.

Commissioner Robert Macaulay inquired about General Plan policies on greenhouse gas emissions and how this project would meet those requirements.

He also wanted analysis on how the project roads would be connected to the rest of the city, as well as what would happen to the city’s land use mix if the developer changed the plan and swapped medium density housing for low density.

Phillippi said if they are lucky, the first shovel of dirt would be turned over a year from now, but 2019 would probably be a more realistic groundbreaking date.

Vacaville resident Helen Booth said families are getting smaller and thought the city should have more smaller houses.

“It just seems like the houses are humongous, they’re huge,” she said.

She asked the commission to think about senior residents who might be looking to move and downsize, as well as account for more wheelchair accessibility.

People who are interested in commenting on the proposed EIR may send comments to Amy Feagans, Planning Division, 650 Merchant St., Vacaville, CA 95688 or email comments to CommunityDevelopment@cityofvacaville.com.

Comments may also be made by phone at 449-5140.

The comment period opened June 28 and will close July 27.