Video - Elk Grove Vice Mayor Shares His Reasons, 'Vision' For Enlarging Elk Grove



February 9, 2018 |

In the lead up to their approval to enlarge the City of Elk Grove by about two square miles, the Sacramento Local Agency Formation Commission heard close to three hours of public testimony regarding the expansion. The final speaker during public comment was Elk Grove Vice Mayor Darren Suen.

Invited to the speaker's podium by his city council colleague and Sacramento LAFCO Chair Pat Hume, Suen said he was appearing before the commission as a private citizen. After saying that, Suen immediately articulated the city council's support for the sphere of influence application submitted by home builders.

Suen said he empathized with the environmental concerns of and quality of life issues voiced during public comment. He also implied that many of the concerns such as stopping suburban sprawl, preserving wildlife habitat, and air quality, could be solved by expanding the city limits.   

"I would also hope people can appreciate my vision...my vision for a sustainable and balanced community," Suen said. "One that includes a robust jobs center that will reduce vehicle miles traveled, which subsequently reduce greenhouse gas emissions."

Suen also argued that given the city's current planned uses, there is not enough land to support a major employment center. 

"The current boundary and land inventory that we have simply does not support the desired jobs-home balance that we need," Suen said. "We take our land use decisions very seriously."

There was no mention of the city's Southeast Planning Area, also known as SEPA during Suen's presentation. Land uses for that 1,200-acre special planning area, which is the largest undeveloped tract of land in the city, was completed in the last three years.

During the planning process of that tract, approximately one-third of the development area was set aside as a jobs center. The set-aside was touted by the City Council as a jobs magnet that would resolve the city's well-documented jobs to homes imbalance.

In August 2015 former Elk Grove Mayor Gary Davis proclaimed the SEPA jobs center would attract 25,000 jobs or about 62 employees per every acre in the commercial zones. Although the city claimed that one company, Fremont-California based NRC Manufacturing would locate their manufacturing facilities in SEPA, that deal has collapsed.   

Suen's entire presentation can be viewed below. 







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1 comment

D.J. Blutarsky said...

At some point, I expect to wake up and see this whole Grove scene is an outtake of the Truman Show and Bob The Builder all wrapped into a hit comedy!

Like Truman, we are living within a giant dome fashioned to create a valley paradise known as The Grove. All of The Grove's leaders are actors, either acting out a script or repeating lines fed to us by the Developers.

Now within the kingdom of the Developers, resides Bob the Builder. Just like the original series, a spin-off series was released titled Bob the Builder: Project Build It.

According to Wikipedia, "Bob hears of a contest to build a new community in a remote area called Sunflower Valley, outside of Bobsville. He moves from Bobsville with Wendy and the machines and builds a new yard there. Bob convinces his father, Robert, to come out of retirement and take over the Bobsville building business. The show also added recycling and being environmentally friendly to its show, emphasizing thje phrase "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle".

Naw, the more I think about it, you couldn't make this script up! The Grove is for real!


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