CHICO — In a nearly five-hour-long meeting Thursday, the Chico Planning Commission voted 5-2 to send the Valley’s Edge development project forward to the Chico City Council.
The commission will be recommending that the City Council approve the details of the project and certify the Environmental Impact Report, allowing for the development to go forward.
Commissioners Rich Ober and Bryce Goldstein both voted against sending it forward.
“Because we have the ability to shape this project as a special planning area, we should require it to help solve our deficit of low-income housing,” Goldstein said.
Goldstein added that she didn’t see the need for seniors to be secluded from the rest of the homes in Valley’s Edge.
“I have personal concerns with designating about half of the project for seniors only,” Goldstein said. “I don’t quite understand including seniors with the entire project because age diversity is important. Especially for people to be able to live near their elders and for elders to be able to live near their children or their grandchildren. I understand the need for having a large amount of it but not the land use being separated that way.”
Ober said he was concerned with the greenhouse gas emissions. During the meeting, it was shown that the development would make it impossible for the city of Chico to meet its emission goals for 2040 and 2050.
“If this project went anywhere else, or virtually anywhere else, it’s a terrific project,” Ober said. “It just doesn’t fit there because of the impacts, both on the two failing mitigation elements: aesthetics and greenhouse gasses as well as the impacts we’ve talked a lot about tonight and we’ve heard an awful lot of very articulate and data-driven presentations tonight from people who know what they’re talking about.”
Ober said he believed it would be irresponsible to ignore the environmental impacts that could not be mitigated and urged a no vote.
Commissioner Paul Cooper supported the development project citing the need to grow to allow for more affordable housing.
“We have to grow; we have to expand,” Cooper said, adding that greenhouse gas emissions will also increase due to building north where there are fewer places to shop and residents will need to travel further to get to resources. “I think Bill (Brouhard’s) project is beautiful.”
Commissioner and Chair Toni Scott offered her support for the project, saying that the plan aligns with the necessary requirements of a special planning area.
“We have before us a plan that fully aligns with where we said in our general plan that we want growth to happen,” Scott said. “So we had years and years of discussions on where the areas are in Chico that we are going to put the houses that we need. This falls right within one of those five special planning areas. This is where we said that we as a community, and maybe not each and every one of us individually, but this is what was passed, this is where we and the community want to grow.”
Scott said the project has been done thoughtfully in its 14 years of planning.
The item saw a particularly large turnout with only standing room available. A total of 45 attendees submitted comment cards and each was given two minutes to speak.
Most speakers criticized the project and aired concerns about water scarcity, drying wells, environmental impacts, its status as a homeowners association and the lackluster affordable housing in the project.
Maggie Scarpa, who sits on the Butte Environmental Council, said she thinks the project would put Chico on a course for irreparable damage. Scarpa cited environmental reasoning as well as a lack of affordable housing plans.
“Since 2022, the planned and produced housing for above moderate-income reached thresholds of 219% while for extremely low-income affordable housing, there was only 49% met,” Scarpa said.
Gracie Marvin questioned the need to annex the land to add housing for 6,000 more individuals.
“According to the Chico Housing Element, the city’s population will be only 3,164 more people between 2020 and 2040,” Marvin said. “It has gone way down after the Camp Fire years. Valley’s Edge will be unaffordable for thousands of Chicoans currently needing housing but will be designed to attract well-off outsiders.”
Ken Sobon, president of the Altacal Audubon Society said the Environmental Impact Report did not consider some of the creatures, particularly the northern saw-whet owl, that utilize much of the space where the development is planned.
“When you’re talking about open space, the overlay is very misleading,” Sobon said. “Because the birds that I study migrate through the area. The need to perch in a tree and roost overnight, and then they go into the grassland to feed. When there are homes in the grassland where they would be feeding, that does not help these birds that need to refuel before the move beyond Butte County.”
Those supporting the development cited a need for housing as well as the preservation of some of the land that the project would create.
Noah Zoppi called the project a good opportunity to provide more amenities for the city.
“From my experience living in Chico, the opportunity to take this land and provide a place for us to live, work and play feels like it doesn’t get more Chico than that,” Zoppi said. “From a development standpoint, the EIR points out that Valley’s Edge is built with sustainable materials, is an all-electric community and is walkable and bikeable.”
Greg Melton, a landscape architect and a recreation planner who worked on the Valley’s Edge project, said he was proud to be a part of the development. Melton spoke on the large area that will be considered open space as the project is developed.
“750 new acres of parks planned, this is unprecedented in any development I’ve ever worked in. We’re matching Chico’s parks,” Melton said. “It just creates the quality of life that we’re looking for.”
Commercial Real Estate Agent Austin Barron backed the project because of the need for more housing.
“When I look at Chico, the one thing I see is a need for housing,” Barron said. “I see it as a real estate agent, I see it as a resident of Chico. I see it all over the place and it’s really unfortunate that we’re struggling to develop these housing elements and these subdivisions. We’re running out of land. So I think improving this specific plan is a way to create more housing for workforce people, for low-income people and for seniors.”
From here, it will go to the council at a later meeting, which will then have the final say on whether the project will go forward as it is.
