An image of the areas that could be developed into the Summer Villas at Sheldon Road project in Elk Grove. Courtesy of the City of Elk Grove

ELK GROVE, CA (MPG) - The Summer Villas at Sheldon Road project – which goes before the Planning Commission Nov. 5 – would set a precedent for development here, a former planning commissioner told the Elk Grove Citizen.

“Big time,” said George Murphey, an Elk Grove Planning Commissioner for 17 years. “Big projects like this, they spawn a lot of issues.”

Murphey, too, is the chairperson for the Sheldon Community Association, he said.

The association advocates on issues from Bradshaw Road, north and south to Bond and Calvine roads, east and south to the city limits, including the Sheldon Business District, according to the website for Save Rural Elk Grove, which says it is “dedicated to transparency regarding the Summer Villas proposal and land use changes in the Sheldon area of Elk Grove.”

Save Rural Elk Grove includes the Greater Sheldon Road Estates Homeowners Association, too, which the website says advocates on issues “in Rural Elk Grove bordered by Elk Grove Florin Road to the west and Bradshaw Road to the east.”

The Greater Sheldon Road Estates Homeowners Association has refused to meet with the project’s developer Bryan Wilson and his team for more than a year, following an initial public outreach meeting, Wilson said.

“We requested follow up meetings to get their input for ways we could keep our project consistent with what their vision of the rural area is,” Wilson said.

And “not in my backyard,” is what the group has communicated to Wilson, he said.

Murphey is opposed to the project.

“Absolutely,” he said.

The General Plan says lots are to be a minimum of two acres. 

“You look at the project, it’s far from two-acre minimums,” Murphey said.

About 70 acres could be developed, according to a city map of the project area, which means 35 homes could be built on two-acre lots.

Wilson’s proposal calls for up to 499 single-family, single-story homes, according to a city webpage dedicated to the project. That’s a big deal to Murphey.

The site is the last developable land in the Rural Area of Elk Grove, Wilson said.  

“And so, by developing it,” he said, “you're going to stop any future growth because there are no other pieces to grow in the Rural Area.”

Building this project, Wilson said, will prevent affordable housing and apartments, for example, from being built there.

The homeowners in the Rural Area have the right to farm and raise animals, Murphey said.

“I can tell you when you put urban development up against farmland or farming or crop-raising you get conflicts,” he said. “You get odors, noise, dust, spraying concerns.”

But Wilson said his team built a subdivision across the street that has the same zoning.

“And all people did was they built mansions,” he said. “Not a single person wants an animal. Not a single person wants, you know, a farm life.”

The cost of those homes was in the millions of dollars, Wilson added. So, they are unattainable for the average person, he said.

The proposed development, Wilson said, is a higher-end 55 and older community. The builder is unlikely to build 499 homes, he said, “because they want to do a bigger, nicer product.”

Wilson said the homes might be 2,000 square feet and larger.

With senior housing, there is less traffic, Wilson said, and a third of the Elk Grove population is 55 and older, according to a study he cited.  

Murphey’s main concern is the project’s lack of adherence to the General Plan. If the city approves a General Plan amendment for this project, “then behind that comes a rezone and behind that there’s a bunch of dominoes,” he said.

It might change greenhouse gas emissions, vehicle-miles-traveled and have population-inducing effects, he said.

“This is the camel’s nose,” Murphey said.