Some of us like to live in the city and some in the suburbs, both a wonderful and appropriate response to the human response to congregating, and it is heartening to hear that there are many more spots in which city dwellers can see new homes built; “…5,600 potential infill sites in existing neighborhoods of El Dorado, Placer, Sacramento, Sutter, Yolo and Yuba counties that could accommodate up to 73,400 new homes and apartments.”
An excerpt.
Infill-site homes offer an escape from sprawl
By Jim Wasserman -- Bee Staff Writer Published 12:01 am PDT Saturday, July 15, 2006
Months ago it was an old parking lot in midtown Sacramento, an intersection where razor wire tops industrial fences and Blue Diamond Growers packs almonds.
Now the corner of 17th and D streets is becoming what builders increasingly hope is good business in the capital region -- filling such vacant spaces with homes.
On the site, Bay Area homebuilder Signature Properties is marking its first corporate gamble in metropolitan Sacramento on what's called infill development. The firm is building 52 town houses on 1.93 acres, a formula that puts more people in existing neighborhoods. The idea, considered key to handling the Sacramento area's population growth, aims to use urban land more efficiently to help keep suburban residential neighborhoods from spreading onto farmland.
Hailing the new town houses in a neighborhood once considered "somewhat challenged," Mayor Heather Fargo said, "We already have the public transportation and shade trees." Also nearby is a park, school, bakery and thousands of downtown jobs.
"This allows residents to cut down on their travel time to and from work," said John Bayless, president of Signature's Sacramento division.
Prices for the new midtown town houses, called Washington Park Village, will range from $390,990 for 1,229 square feet to $448,990 for 1,468 square feet. Residents are expected to move in next spring.
Friday, Fargo and other public and private-sector officials used the Washington project as a backdrop to announce the start of an "infill housing council" at the region's major homebuilder trade group, the Roseville-based North State Building Industry Association. The purpose of the council, led by an experienced Sacramento developer of such projects, Sotiris Kolokotronis, is to identify infill sites across the region and work with cities and residents to build on them.
Kolokotronis is constructing 176 apartments on vacant land in the 1800 block of downtown Sacramento's L Street.
In March, the state Department of Housing and Community Development identified nearly 5,600 potential infill sites in existing neighborhoods of El Dorado, Placer, Sacramento, Sutter, Yolo and Yuba counties that could accommodate up to 73,400 new homes and apartments. Their average size is about an acre, and more than half are vacant.
