The Colusa Planning Commission last week heard an informal proposal for a small, high-end housing development on 12th Street.
Amy and Bill Schmidt, of A.B.S Builders Inc., a Colusa construction company, purchased the property at the south end of 12th street to develop a subdivision named Wild Bird Estates.
The project, as envisioned, would consist of 19 custom-built homes, including one for themselves, priced up to $700,000, said Amy Schmidt, A.B.S. president.
“We’ve done a lot of preliminary research and developed several different concepts – in my mind anyway,” Schmidt said.
Schmidt said to make the project financially feasible with the amount of infrastructure needed, A.S.B. would need to build on slightly smaller lots than the .50-acre minimum the city currently has zoned for the property
“It’s something we had to take into account,” Schmidt said.
Schmidt said the lot sizes would not be inconsistent with others in the area, which range from.31 to .44-acre, and that Wild Bird Estates would have lots sizes very comparable to other homes in the adjacent neighborhood.
Schmidt said she did not want to submit formal documents to the Planning Commission until she got feedback from city officials, the public, and residents, several who attended the Feb. 9 meeting.
Community Development Director Bryan Stice said the only reason the zoning for that area required a .50-acre minimum, is that the property was originally part of a larger subdivision plan proposed more than 20 years ago for a new school and 600 homes, which was not a popular concept with residents did not want the end of 12th Street to be connected to Highway 20.
“The big issue was traffic on 12th street,” said resident Paul Richter, who did not object to the Wild Bird project but sees a similar traffic issue.
Schmidt said she is open to considering multiple options and road configurations before submitting formal documents to the Planning Commission.
Stice said the preliminary meeting was helpful to see what residents and city officials would be comfortable with.
The fire department would also have to be comfortable with access to the homes, for the safety of the public, he said.
As proposed, the neighborhood would have custom homes of different architectural styles to avoid a “cookie cutter” look. Infrastructure would include roads, sidewalks, curbs, gutters, and lighting, with land designated to the city for the development of a small park.
“We plan to build our own home in the area, so we have a vested interest in making sure the community stays a place that we would want to live as well,” Schmidt said.
The homes would also have street-facing garages, which eliminates the need for a city-maintained alley and may be more aesthetically pleasing than rock or dry front yards, now that state law restricts turf to only 25 percent of the landscape area as a way to conserve water.
“Lawns require water, concrete doesn’t,” Schmidt said.
While some residents felt the city should not allow homes on less that .50 acre lots, Planning Commission Chairman Brenden Farrell said he liked the preliminary proposal, and especially liked the designated area for a park.
“To me there’s a lot of good here that outweighs the negative of maybe 12 of them being .3 to .4 acre, but to me, that’s still a big lot,” Farrell said. “If they are well-built houses and very neat houses, then it could work. I would encourage this development. I don’t want to discourage it. If you are going to get development, then this is the kind of development we want.”
The Planning Commission encouraged Schmidt to continue working with the city planner on the development.
There is no estimate of when the project will come back to the Planning Commission for approval. ■