Sierra Moon will rise

After six years of neighborhood resistance, court battles and plain, old-fashioned bickering, the Butte County Board of Supervisors on Aug. 17 gave final approval to the 229-acre subdivision once known as the Stephens Project and now called Sierra Moon.

Developer Steve Schuster, who took over the project more than two years ago and has been fighting to gain approval for it ever since, said he will begin preliminary construction this fall, with houses going up next spring. He said he was relieved the process was over and hoped that the mitigation measures adopted by the board would appease neighbors of the project, who have come up with an exhaustive list of problems they believe are associated with the new development.

The project will be one of the largest subdivisions in North Chico. Plans call for building 118 homes on currently vacant land west of the Chico Municipal airport, with lot sizes ranging from one-third to almost one acre in size. Homes will be allowed to cover 15 percent of each lot, and wastewater will be contained by three septic ponds built on land slated to remain as open space. One half-acre parcel will be given to the Chico Area Recreation District to be developed as a community park.

Neighbors of the project who appealed its prior approval saw their hopes shot down one by one as the board denied appeals related to water quality, drainage, increased traffic, encroachment on the airport, lack of public input and disclosure, negative impacts on property values and more. Most of the appeals were denied by motions from Paradise Supervisor Kim Yamaguchi, who has maintained in the past that the project’s approval was inevitable. All three supervisors from outside the Chico area voted for the project, while Chico supervisors Mary Anne Houx and Jane Dolan sided with the many North Chico residents who have opposed it.

“The concerns of the citizens are not being taken into consideration,” Houx said after the meeting. “It’s not right.”

While about nine neighbors showed up to speak in opposition to the project, many seemed broken down and resigned to acceptance after fighting against the project in its various inceptions over the years. When it was first approved in 1998 as the Stephens Project, the Airport Land Use Commission took the board to court, saying it had violated the airport’s land use plan. The court ruled in favor of the board, but delays in the project forced it into remission. When it was resurrected by Schuster in 2002, neighbors once again began to worry that it would create a host of problems for their quiet, semi-rural community.

Traffic was a main concern, with those living on Spyglass Lane—currently a cul-de-sac populated mainly by families with young kids—outraged their street would be turned into a neighborhood thoroughfare. They also worried that Hicks Lane, a narrow, decrepit and potholed country road that often floods in the winter, would not be able to handle the increased traffic. Schuster will be fixing Hicks where it fronts the subdivision, but increased population from the project will mean the county will be stuck with some very expensive road and bridge work in the future, which, as Richvale Supervisor Curt Josiassen noted, the county has no money to pay for.

“The way we’re doing this is, from my perspective, absolutely backwards,” Josiassen said. “If development doesn’t move fast enough, to me, it looks like a recipe for financial disaster. Either you pay for it in the price of your home or you pay for it on your tax bill.”

This led to a discussion on how the county could help finance needed infrastructure without placing the burden directly on developers. Some supervisors favor the interests of developers because they see them as doing a service to the county by increasing property tax revenues. They also are reliable campaign contributors.

Josiassen brought up the idea of financing infrastructure with Mello-Roos bonds, which add a tax on new homes generally used to pay for schools, parks and the like. The board was not prepared for such a discussion, however, and directed staff to bring back a report on the subject.

While Schuster won in the end, he did have to make a few concessions. All the new homes will have to be plumbed to accept sewer services, which the city of Chico is hoping to install within three years, and he will have to pay for the planting of trees to screen the new subdivision from neighbors who are losing their view of the foothills.

One issue that still worries residents is how Keefer Slough and Mud Creek, which are prone to flooding in the winter, will be able to deal with the increased runoff the project will bring. When Houx originally voted for the project in 1998, it was with the caveat that the old, unlined trenches that now handle neighborhood runoff would be updated. As it is, many residents, all of whom use septic systems, are unable to use washing machines and dishwashers in the winter due to poor drainage.