Yuba County eyes 4,200-home project at Magnolia Ranch
WHAT: Scoping meeting for an environmental impact report for Magnolia Ranch.
WHEN: 4 p.m. Monday.
WHERE: Wheatland room, Yuba County Government Center, 915 Eighth St., Marysville.
ONLINE: appealdemocrat.com for the county's notice of preparation for the project.
Anyone who remembers the days of robust home-building in Yuba County may feel like they've gone back in time Monday, as county officials host a scoping meeting for the Magnolia Ranch project south of Marysville.
Now planned as a community of 3,000 to 4,200 homes on 1,039 acres, Magnolia Ranch was proposed years ago, but is only getting to the critical public approval stages now, said Greg Forest, a Sacramento land-use counsel for the project.
"The county Board of Supervisors included this in their General Plan, which was a few years ago now, and we're implementing that plan," Forest said.
The development could have as many as 12,000 residents, according to county documents.
The scoping meeting, meant to flesh out issues before an environmental impact report for the project is written, comes as Magnolia Ranch's developers are taking notice of a pickup in housing in the Sacramento region.
Forest said between the EIR being certified and the project itself being approved by the county, construction for Magnolia Ranch wouldn't start until next year at the soonest.
"Of course, it really is driven by the market," he said.
Magnolia Ranch would be south of Ostrom Road and east of Bradshaw Road near Highway 65. Because the plan also includes a business and industrial park in addition to shopping centers, schools and parks, Forest said, it would have a 1:1 ratio of jobs to housing.
Yuba County Supervisor Roger Abe, whose district includes the project site, said the intent to bring not just roofs but employment is a good ge ture, but results are what matters.
"Clearly, bringing jobs anywhere is not simple and easy," said Abe, who cast the lone vote on the board against including Magnolia Ranch in the General Plan update in 2009.
Abe said he's also concerned Magnolia Ranch may run into problems with sewer and wastewater entitlements, much the same way Gold Village, a small community in the county foothills, did after it was approved in the 1990s.
And several residents near where Magnolia Ranch would be have opposed it because it would mean changes in what is a rural area now, he said.
"Everybody likes things the way they are now," he said. "Otherwise, they'd move."
