Yuba County Enterprise Solutions, also known as Yes to Yuba, recently announced via social media that Yuba County had approved its first gated community in the “valley neighborhoods” of Linda near Marysville.
The project has been dubbed Linda Commons, and is set to include a variety of housing for a total of 134 units on 14 acres of land off Hammonton Smartsville Road.
Other features may include a green space, park, and homeowner association fees to maintain the community’s landscaping, sidewalks and paths. The project was touted as a way to increase housing options for employees of Beale Air Force Base, Adventist Health/Rideout Hospital, and others.
The announcement sparked a good deal of excitement online with more than a few local shares expressing their eagerness for more diverse housing in the area. After the Appeal reached out to Yuba County to clarify the projected timeline of Linda Commons, Yes to Yuba amended its original social media post, adding that “the timing of this project would depend on the developer team and market.”
“It’s not so much that the project is coming to that specific site,” said Kevin Perkins, Yuba County’s planning director. “Approval gives them (the developer) the ability to do it if they can meet the conditions and the market.”
According to Perkins, the Sacramento developer New Faze Development was given approval to proceed with the project on Jan. 10, provided that it could meet the conditions of approval set forward by the county within the next three years. Some of these conditions included the installation of new turn lanes, masonry walls along the main roadway, and plumbing infrastructure for each unit, among other stipulations.
Perkins explained that whether or not these new dwellings would ever come to fruition depended heavily on trends in the housing market, in addition to the county’s requirements.
“If the interest rates drop and the market picks back up, a project like this could get built within five years,” speculated Perkins. “Best case scenario, I would be shocked if there were homes starting to be built on this until 2024.”
While things might seem a bit up in the air at the moment, the team at New Faze Development was quite optimistic about the project. Charanjeet Kaur Tiwana, New Faze’s vice president, said the group anticipated to start breaking ground on Linda Commons this fall with a projected 30-month construction schedule.
The proposed community layout for Linda Commons is triangular in shape with a large park set in its center. Its location would occupy the site currently addressed as 1687 Hammonton Smartsville Rd. DaJshey Chatman, a project manager for New Faze Development, said that the proposed layout was designed to utilize both detached single-family homes or “clusters” along with alley-loaded paired homes or “duets.”
“Linda Commons is envisioned to cultivate a walkable community embellished with 24 greenscaped paseos and over two acres of dedicated open space,” explained Chatman.
“Housed within a gated community, this subdivision defines areas for communal integration through designated picnic areas, play area, exercising stations, and a dog park.”
In accordance with New Faze Development’s tentative map, 82 parcels are designated for cluster-style homes with a projected square footage between 1,800 and 2,300 square feet. The remaining 52 lots would be dedicated to duet-style housing with an approximate range of 1,500 to 2,000 square feet.
New Faze Development was unable to give an estimated price range for the homes, but did state that its goal was to enter the market with pricing that was competitive yet affordable with considerations taken on the project’s uniqueness and location.
“It’s a great location and the site was the right fit for the product type we proposed which is urban in-fill development with a focus on being a walkable neighborhood,” said Tiwana. “The project site is located near an existing residential community and the intent was to bring additional value to the surrounding community. We have another development that’s not too far from this project, which is in Yuba City and is currently under construction.”
