Guest Opinion: Will Elk Grove Lose the Rural Area?
https://www.elkgrovenews.net/2025/07/guest-opinion-will-elk-grove-lose-rural.html?m=1
Guest Contributor |
These statements, developed over 20 years ago, are the result of rural area residents working collaboratively with staff. Not only are these vision/policy statements still in place, there is also a Rural Area Community Plan within the General Plan which is intended to strengthen these vision/policy statements. From a policy standpoint, a General Plan amendment to any of these vision/policy statements to support the approval of the proposed Summer Villas project will apply to the entire rural area.
For example, this project will require municipal water and sewer services to be extended to the project to service the proposed 499 homes. The General Plan does not allow municipal water or sewer service in the rural area. To provide these services, the lines must travel through portions of the rural area. This is one identified policy that will require amendment if this project is approved. There may be others depending on the project design and city standards requirements.
For example, this project will require municipal water and sewer services to be extended to the project to service the proposed 499 homes. The General Plan does not allow municipal water or sewer service in the rural area. To provide these services, the lines must travel through portions of the rural area. This is one identified policy that will require amendment if this project is approved. There may be others depending on the project design and city standards requirements.
This is what I refer to as the “camel’s nose”. When will the next project proposal be submitted? Where will the next proposed project be located? What other General Plan amendments will be required if the proposed Summer Villas project is approved? There are yet to be determined consequences, both known and unintended.
When one reviews the chain of events that has led us to this point, sadly, I remain dubious as to council member support. In May 2022 the applicant repurchased this 116-acre parcel. Thus began a stream of 2022 election cycle campaign contributions that continued until the development application was submitted in January 2023. Per EG City website, during this period, the applicant contributed a total of $26,200 to four of the five council members.
The hearings on this project may come as early as fall of this year. The Planning Commission will make a recommendation to the city council about whether to approve or deny the project. The council can accept their recommendation, amend it or override their recommendation. Time will tell if there is a sincere commitment to the General Plan and community or whether that commitment is just so many words.
I'm asking all Elk Grovians, east and west of Hwy 99, to stand with the rural community in support of the rural area of Elk Grove!
George Murphey
Elk Grove Planning Commissioner, Retired
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#8647 #NoKings #ProDemocracy
When one reviews the chain of events that has led us to this point, sadly, I remain dubious as to council member support. In May 2022 the applicant repurchased this 116-acre parcel. Thus began a stream of 2022 election cycle campaign contributions that continued until the development application was submitted in January 2023. Per EG City website, during this period, the applicant contributed a total of $26,200 to four of the five council members.
The hearings on this project may come as early as fall of this year. The Planning Commission will make a recommendation to the city council about whether to approve or deny the project. The council can accept their recommendation, amend it or override their recommendation. Time will tell if there is a sincere commitment to the General Plan and community or whether that commitment is just so many words.
I'm asking all Elk Grovians, east and west of Hwy 99, to stand with the rural community in support of the rural area of Elk Grove!
George Murphey
Elk Grove Planning Commissioner, Retired
#8647 #NoKings #ProDemocracy
George is way to kind. The developer is trying to cash in on a garbage piece of property on the backs of the Sheldon area. Not trying to sound like some aluminum-cap wearing hypochondriac, but who wants to live under high voltage wires? Why would anybody in their right mind move there?
ReplyDeleteThank you, George, for speaking up with facts, history, and conviction. The Rural Area isn’t just a neighborhood, it’s a commitment the City made decades ago to preserve open space, protect rural living, and honor the voice of residents who helped write those 20+ vision and policy statements that are still active in our General Plan today.
ReplyDeleteWhy does this matters for everyone, not just those of us in the rural community:
The Rural Area helps the whole city by preserving agricultural land, strategic land use planning, water resource management, Agricultural and Environmental Preservation, managing infrastructure costs, reducing traffic congestion, and providing green space that keeps Elk Grove from becoming another wall-to-wall suburb.
Extending water and sewer across the rural boundary isn’t just a project decision, it’s a precedent shift. It erases the very lines the City promised not to cross. Once those utilities are in, the dominoes fall. This isn’t just “Summer Villas,” it’s the beginning of something much bigger and irreversible.
It’s time to show up. Speak out. Demand the City Council uphold the promises made in our General Plan and say no to this General Plan amendment.
Elk Grove can grow without paving over what makes it special. Rural Elk Grove is part of our identity, let’s protect it.
Let's be honest with ourselves. The residents have not in any way shaped the development of Elk Grove. The Rural Area was protected under the County rule, and to help push the City incorporation thru in 2000, the City leaders made a pact with the Rural residents, much like the U.S. Goverment treaties and the American Indians. Is anyone surprised that Elk Grove has developed in the vision of the greedy developers and the Rural area is now on the chopping block?
ReplyDelete