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Developments on hold: What's up in the northwest?

BY JENNY SHEARER, Californian staff writer
jshearer@bakersfield.com | Sunday, Jul 6 2008 12:00 PM

Last Updated: Monday, Jul 7 2008 7:22 AM

Nearly 6,700 new homes could one day occupy farmland in western Rosedale.

But just when that will happen is unclear because county planners and developers are still hammering out concerns about traffic, air quality and changing ag land to homes.

A deflating economy has caused Fred Kruger, a managing member of Beech Street Development LLC, to put a project on hold. The land is near a parcel Bakersfield College owns, and Kruger’s plans include a 20-acre commercial site, apartments and housing for seniors.

“I guess until the economy gets a little bit healthier, we’re using it for farmland,” he said.

Escrow closed about a year ago, but nothing’s advanced with the land.

“I really don’t have a choice. We have a substantial amount of money in it (and) the county has doubled our fees,” Kruger said. “So right now, we’re just in ‘survival mode.’”

Kruger’s not alone.

In March 2007, Kern County called a timeout on several proposed housing developments in the northwest because roads and infrastructure weren’t in place.

The county recommended developers do one of three things: withdraw their applications; suspend them until the Metropolitan Bakersfield General Plan Update was finished and adopted; or move their environmental impact reports forward, knowing planning staff weren’t going to recommend their projects for approval.

WHAT'S UNDER WAY

The developers behind Northwest Communities, which encompasses four sites, decided to go for it. County supervisors approved one site from Soper Homes in April, and the other three parcels may be considered by the board in September.

But opposition from existing neighbors to adding proposed smaller-lot homes among their more rural properties was significant. A lawsuit challenging the environmental impact report used for one of the sites has been filed, and it could entangle the three remaining parcels.

Neighbors’ attorney Richard Harriman said the parties will meet in mid-July to discuss a possible settlement.

PENDING PROJECTS

Eight of 15 other western Rosedale projects are on hold or off the table.

“Where is the revenue stream going to come from on projects that are further out to build what’s needed?” said Ted James, county planning director. “And will it be built within a timeframe that will not aggravate the road conditions?”

The Rosedale sites involve converting farmland to denser land uses, which requires amendments to the General Plan, which covers land-use issues. In addition to a new General Plan document, there would be an environmental impact report to support it.

But the update’s adoption is about a year away.

The environmental report would provide a framework for developers to base their projects, said Lorelei Oviatt, a division chief with county planning.

“We could use the General Plan EIR rather than having people pay for individual” reports, she said.

Without identified regional solutions, though, some residential developers are being asked to pay hefty impact fees; in some cases, more than their competitors. That strikes some in the development community as unfair.

ROAD WOES

Solving the county’s roads problems is a two-part puzzle, said Craig Pope, roads commissioner. The first is figuring out how to improve roads around the proposed projects, mostly paved farm roads that are close to major thoroughfares or arterials that can move traffic around.

The second piece is more complicated, though. It’s the cumulative impacts of building homes throughout the metro area, reaching west to Enos Lane and north to 7th Standard Road. If that swath is filled in solid with homes, Pope said, the arterial system won’t work.

“The cumulative impact is the one we’re struggling with, to not degrade our travel system,” he said.

But the bigger infrastructure picture keeps changing, said Larry Moxley, spokesman for the Northwest Communities developers.

“We never have a clear-cut path to what it is we’re trying to solve. Local developers and new housing cannot solve the problem of the last 40 years of not doing the right thing. That’s part of the bottleneck,” he said.

Attempts to solve those crunches haven’t been successful. Voters defeated a proposed half-cent sales tax, and its passage would help the county receive state funds for road improvements.

The public needs to become engaged in shaping how the community — and our infrastructure — grows, Pope said.

“It can’t be a government-driven thing. It has to be from the community .... We can create that vision that we want,” he said.

Developer Dave Packer has a proposed site in Northwest Communities and is a partner on a second site, Hopkins Development, which is on hold. Soils and topography studies have been started for the Hopkins project, he said, and those can be used when the project moves forward. He hasn’t yet commissioned a traffic study.

“It’s changing by the day,” Packer said. “We could do one today, and next month, they could have a whole new model.”

Although the market has slumped, Packer is optimistic its tough conditions are weeding out investors who might have jumped in to make a quick profit in better times.

But as mitigation measures and fees are being changed — and those fees are added on to a home’s price — developers like Packer are re-evaluating their projects’ economics.

There’s “so much of a burden being placed on the new projects,” Packer said. “It’s really, it’s going to change the affordability of what Bakersfield has been about.”