IT TAKES A TRANSIT VILLAGE
IT TAKES A TRANSIT VILLAGE
Proposed southeast Fresno site would offer senior housing and transportation.
By Sanford Nax
The Fresno Bee 01/28/08
An innovative development proposal in southeast Fresno could help reduce two problems facing many senior citizens -- insufficient transportation and unaffordable housing.
The city's first "transit village" would, if funding is approved, contain 129 senior apartments, a park and a large bus transfer depot on 5.5 acres the city bought last year from Fresno Unified School District.
The school district bought the former Elks Lodge site near Kings Canyon Road and Willow Avenue in 1993, didn't use it all and declared the remainder surplus property. City officials saw it as the perfect site for an environmentally friendly development that incorporates a mix of uses.
"This is the most complex and likely to be the most intensified project we've done," said Michael Sigala, the city's housing and community development manager. "There is a lot on that 5 acres."
With access to seven bus routes, seniors and others will be able to travel throughout the metropolitan area. The apartments also would be across the street from Wal-Mart.
The property is along Kings Canyon Road, considered a main thoroughfare in southeast Fresno and likely to be the path of the city's first bus rapid transit, speeding up service in that area, said John Downs, planning division manager for Fresno Area Express.
Downs said the former Elks Lodge property was ideal for what he hopes is the first of several transit villages.
"We knew that corridor would be an important corridor. We knew the city's general plan focuses growth in that area. We knew, demographically, the folks living in that area are likely to be transit users, and we ran across a piece of property that gave us the opportunity to do it," he said.
Funding would come from a variety of sources, including tax-credit programs administered by the state. The developer, ROEM Development Corp. of San Jose, should know within five months if the financing has been approved, said Jonathan Emami, the company's vice president.
Representatives of ROEM and the city will hold a community meeting Wednesday to gather comments and suggestions from the public.
"We need community input as we refine the development proposal," Sigala said. "We need to know if we are on the right track."
As proposed, the transit village would be a mixture of Mediterranean and Craftsmen-style design with two buildings containing three and four stories of housing. The bus depot would include a lounge for people to sit indoors, offices for bus drivers on breaks, a room to lock bicycles, a bank of vending machines and public restrooms.
"We envision a landmark clock tower to be an iconic point of the transit center," Emami said.
The public park would feature a tot lot, grass fields and barbecue pits.
The design also would be energy efficient and green, incorporating solar panels and a solar-powered hot water system.
This would be the first transit village in Fresno, but the concept is hardly new. San Jose and other communities have them along light rail routes.
ROEM developed one in San Jose, which Fresno officials toured before selecting the company as the master developer, and it incorporates a park-and- ride, bus center and senior and family housing on the light-rail corridor.
The reporter can be reached at snax@fresnobee.com or (559) 441-6495.