Walnut Creek City Council to consider senior housing plan
On Tuesday, the Walnut Creek City Council will tackle a plan to build 254 units of senior housing and a 136-bed residential care facility on 9.49 acres in Shadelands business park.
Hall Equities Group will develop the Oakmont of Shadelands Senior Housing and Residential Care Facility at the former Joint Genome Institute site at 2800 Mitchell Drive. The site and its five one-story buildings, which would be demolished, was originally built by Dow Chemical in the 1960s and has been vacant since 2019.
Approving the project requires the city to amend its general plan to change the site's zoning from business park to mixed use residential.
The plan also calls for permits to remove 105 trees - six of which are considered highly protected - and divide the land into two parcels.
The facility would be located near the northwest border of Shadelands, adjacent to the Animal Rescue Foundation, the Springfield Montessori School and Shadelands Self-Storage. The site is separated from the Contra Costa Canal by an access driveway belonging to 1925 Oak Grove Road.
The housing component would include four buildings and courtyards, and a small recreation building. Two buildings would be three stories, and two would be four stories.
The care facility would be three stories and licensed by the California Department of Social Services to provide housing for people 62 years and older who need assistance, but not 24-hour medical care.
Of the 105 trees that would be removed, six are considered "highly protected," according to a staff report. The report says, for removal, the "City Council must find that the burden to the applicant in preserving the tree greatly outweighs the benefit to the public" and that "preservation of the tree would severely reduce the scale or feasibility of the development."
In 2019, the council reviewed a pre-application request from Hall Equities and agreed to consider a general plan amendment "so long as the new uses remain ancillary to the employment-based business park uses."
The Council also required the project to be within 750 feet of Oak Grove or Ygnacio Valley roads and not occupy more than 10 percent of Shadelands' total acreage.
The Walnut Creek City Council meets at 6 p.m. Tuesday at the council chamber at city hall, 1666 North Main Street in Walnut Creek. To watch remotely, go to www.zoom.us (webinar ID: 857 4324 1524, passcode: 694787).