The Riverbank City Council gathered for a special meeting last Tuesday, March 19, to begin the process of annexing and developing what is being called Crossroads West. The meeting resulted in the passage of several resolutions governing the details of the projects.
After a presentation by John Anderson, whose company provides planning services to the city, the council took up each element of the proposals and began approval for the Crossroads West Specific Plan.
The votes for the “first reading” of these actions were unanimous in favor of the project.
Resolution #2019-013 certifies an Environmental Impact Report on the Specific Plan, General Plan Amendment and Annexation. Resolution #2019-014 approves General Plan Amendments for the Crossroads West Specific Plan while #2019-015 Approves the Crossroads West Specific Plan.
No. 2019-003 approves Pre-Zoning of the Crossroads West Specific Plan and its included Assessor Parcel Numbers and No. 2019-016 adopts a Resolution of Application to Request that the Stanislaus County Local Agency Formation Committee (LAFCO) initiate proceedings authorizing annexation of the Crossroads West Specific Plan Area into the City of Riverbank.
The plan area is just west of the Riverbank city limits. It stretches from Claribel Road in the south to the MID canal, north of Morrill Road and from Oakdale Road, west to an MID canal, comprising approximately 380 acres.
The development of the project is said to be proposed in three major phases.
Phase A is the southernmost portion, including a shopping center as well as the potential of housing, if the need arises. It stretches across the plan area, from Claribel north to the southern canal.
Phase B includes the bulk of the development, including most of the housing, a potential fire/police station, parks, and elementary and middle school campuses, part of the Sylvan School District. This area would stretch from the canal lateral in the south northward to Morrill Road.
Phase C would include the doubling in size of the existing Riverbank Sports Complex that is north of Morrill. It would add more parking and additional ball fields.
Although the bulk of the meeting was devoted to passage of these resolutions, there was a second, shorter segment that paved the way for the beginning of Phase A.
Presented by the city’s Planning and Building Manager Donna Kenney, the council approved a first reading of a group of resolutions dealing with Phase A and developer Western Pacific Holdings, to begin work on that first segment.
Again, meeting unanimous approval, the first reading introduced the ordinances.
Number 2019-004 approved a Development Agreement by and between the City and the developer. 2019-017 approves a Preliminary Development Plan by company for the project’s Specific Plan. Resolution #2019-018 approved a Tentative Parcel Map by the developer for the Crossroads West Specific Plan.
2019-019 approves a Sales Tax Sharing Agreement by and between the City and developers, Multi-Use Project in the Crossroads West Specific Plan.
The Multi-Use designation allows developers the option of turning a portion of their Phase A project to be built as housing instead of a shopping center, as will be determined by market factors at the time of development.
The council was expected to hold the second readings for the above resolutions and pass them at their regular meeting set for March 26 at City Hall; the meeting was held following press time for The News.
