GUEST EDITORIAL - The fight has just begun between Home Ranch and the Cotton Wood Estates VS Berry Construction and The City of Madera over the Riversand Park Multifamily Complex on Westberry Blvd & Fairview Way.
The City sent out a notice the 1st of June only to neighbors who lived within 300 feet of said property that they want to Re-Zone from R1 Single-Family to Multifamily Apartments/Medium Density, for a Planning Commission meeting that was supposed to take place on June 11th, it seems like they were planning to rush this through, thank god the word spread and we were able to get that meeting canceled. The City rescheduled two meetings, a Neighborhood meeting on July 16th and a City of Madera Planning Commission Meeting on August 13th.
We just went to the first meeting, there were about 80 of the neighbors that attended the meeting, in strong opposition to the 93 unit apartment complex. Present was a representative from Berry Construction and two representatives from the property management company, they were there to sell us on their idea, they thought that this was going to be a slam dunk.... There is NO way we are buying what they are trying to sell us!!!
It's been rumored in the past that Berry Construction has been in the pockets of City Council members and City Officials, the way that the Planning Manager Christopher Boyle was trying to sell us on this plan like it was a Country Club atmosphere, really makes a person wonder........Is it happening again???
Berry Construction led all of to believe when we bought our homes that there was going to be a Park on Cleveland and Granada, a bridge on Westberry and homes that were similar to ours on the adjoining lots in question...We all paid over $2,000 in impact fees on the pie in the sky promise.....Where is all of that money we paid???
We were also told by Mr. Boyle that a Traffic Impact Report wasn't needed according to the city engineering, even though it has the potential of adding 186 new vehicles to our residential streets, with only two ways to come and go from the apartment complex, what a joke!! No School Impact Reports....all of our schools are already overcrowded, like we need more portables. There are already areas in town that are Zoned for apartments, as per The General Plan, these areas should be used first.
All of this sounds like “SPOT ZONING”, courts frown on spot zoning, for this reason, fundamental fairness. One of the foundational truths of land use law is that equal properties should be treated equally. Often in the case of alleged “SPOT ZONING” the suspicion is that perhaps, the person seeking the change is a friend of some decision-maker or is owed a “Political Favor” or perhaps the applicant (Dave Berry) is an influential person around town.
“If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, Then... It's a DUCK!! Berry Construction should withdraw their application while they still have time to get their money back.
For many of us these are our dream homes our last home we are going to buy, the home that we are going to retire in and now Berry Construction want to blow our dreams up.
To all of the neighbors
Let's keep fighting, we cannot allow this to happen!!!
Don t let 1-3 happen.
1.) Lower our property values
2.) Impact traffic in our neighborhood
3.) impact our already overcrowded schools
Please send letters of opposition in by July 28th To: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
show up to the next scheduled meeting on August 13th, 2019 @ 6 PM at City Hall
WE HAVE POWER IN NUMBERS
