Rocklin approves housing project next to William Jessup University

Rocklin City Council on Tuesday approved Estia at Rocklin, a controversial, 181-unit residential project at one of the last big open parcels in the city next to William Jessup University. After some lengthy discussion at the regular council meeting Tuesday, council members voted 3-2 to rezone the 30-acre parcel north of Sunset Boulevard, west of University Avenue and east of Highway 65. Rocklin staff said the location is one of the last remaining large, vacant, commercially-zoned properties in the city. While the city has so far discouraged residential use in favor of light industrial commerce there, the lot has stayed undeveloped for decades. "It is uniquely situated at one of the primary entrances into the city, adjacent to William Jessup University and the Atherton Tech Center, with significant frontage on State Route 65 and therefore high visibility," according to the staff report. The site was originally part of the land owned by Jessup University and was presumed to be developed as part of the campus and therefore exempt from certain development fees. The university has since sold the property for private development, according to the staff report. As proposed, the project includes 181 one-story homes on the 20 western acres of the site. Project spokesman Roseville attorney Marcus Lo Duca said the plan includes 19 affordable-housing units. He added that 107 one-bedroom duplex units will be mixed with 74 two-bedroom, single-family homes, all with fenced backyards. Rocklin planners previously earmarked the lot for "much-needed" local commerce on the north side of the city, with potential for a destination center for Rocklin and neighboring communities. The plan required a General Plan amendment and related council actions to accommodate the housing project. Staff said the applicant agreed to limit the residential project to a 20-acre portion on the western edge and present a second commercial plan for the remaining 10 acres next to the college. Rocklin Vice-Mayor Ken Broadway and Councilmember Paul Ruhkala were against the residential plan in favor of commercial use. "I really have a problem with this project," Ruhkala said. "Just because it hasn't developed doesn't mean it won't fill up. I'm not sure residential (development) will work." Lo Duca said there are three reasons the lot has remained dormant while commercial centers have been built on similar parcels just north and south on I-65. One reason is the soil is "lava cap," expensive to grade. Secondly, the topography has substantial differences between the western portion versus the flat area near the university, Lo Duca said. Third, there are high roadway improvement costs with an all-commercial plan, according to Lo Duca. "Taken together with an ever-changing and ever-challenging retail market environment, the ability to develop the site commercially as a whole is just not going to happen," Lo Duca said Tuesday.