Elk Grove City Council Conditionally Approves 'Silverado,' Further Toxicity Tests Required

July 24, 2014 | At their regular meeting last night, the Elk Grove City Council conditionally approved a controversial housing subdiv...

July 24, 2014 |

At their regular meeting last night, the Elk Grove City Council conditionally approved a controversial housing subdivision but not before further environmental testing is conducted.

The so-called Silverado housing project, which is located on the northeast corner of Waterman and Bond roads, was unanimously approved after a nearly 10-year process. The 230-acre project, which will be built on a parcel being purchased from Sacramento Area Sewer District, will have a total of 651-residential units when built-out. 

Although the project proponents Vintara Holdings got the approval they have long sought, the project still faces another hurdle after the city council agreed the parcel needed further environmental testing for hazardous materials. In numerous public meetings, several long-time and well-respected Elk Grove residents acknowledged using the parcel as a dumping site for a variety of hazardous materials.

Prior to the their June 25 meeting, Elk Grove resident Lynn Wheat presented maps and documents from 1988 and 1993 to the city council from Sacramento County that suggested that hazardous material including lead may be present on the site. One letter from 1993 from the County of Sacramento Environmental Management Department that says 'Due to the lead analysis result of the initial site assessment, further testing for lead . . . should be conducted in the Independent Disposal Service Area."

During last night's meeting Elk Grove resident Steve Lee urged the council to conduct further soil testing beyond what was required in the project's environmental impact report. Lee stressed that soil contamination tests should have been done during the entire EIR process and that the council should force Vintara to do further analysis before the project progresses with soil samples being taken from as deep as 15-feet. 

"It is an easy solution to a potentially very serious problem, " Lee said. "Please take care of that."

Duing her comments to the council Wheat also urged further testing based on a 1988 Sacramento County Public Works report that she said states that the "northern portion of the parcel should not be developed for sensitive land uses such as day care facilities, school."

During their deliberations and after calling Lee back for further testimony, the council agreed to condition their approval of the project after further toxicity testing at 10 locations on the site. No time frame for when the tested will be conducted or when the result will be made public were provided. 

The project proponents indicated they would like the test done very quickly. Another condition the council placed on the project was funding for a new round-about for the Bond Silverado and Waterman (between Waterman and Sheldon) intersection.    


           

 

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2 comments

Bainc said...

The new round-about noted in the last line of the article is actually at Waterman and Silverado which will be between Bond and Sheldon, not at Bond and Waterman. Bond and Waterman has already seen improvements.

Anonymous said...

So Steve Lee and Sarah Johnson, both of you made some bold statements, either at the podium or on the Blogs, to the effect that "someone high up in the city" pushed for this project.

Neither of you have come forward with the name but have said that person would be revealed.

So as the saying goes, "Put up or . . ." Or was it just all talk to get some publicity?

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