A five-year battle over a developer's plan to erect blufftop homes along Sacramento's most cherished real estate – the American River Parkway – lands in the Board of Supervisors' lap today.
Supervisors will be asked to balance the rights of the property owner with the desires of those who want the 23-mile parkway to remain free of development while they walk, kayak, fish, bike or jog there.
At today's 11:30 a.m. hearing, Save the American River Association is asking the supervisors to overturn the county Planning Commission's decision to allow developer Tim Lien to demolish a house in the gated Riverwood community in Carmichael and replace it with two larger homes overlooking the river.
The commission gave Lien a special permit to build the homes 35 feet from the bluff. Normal rules call for a 70-foot setback.
Lien and the association agree that this fight isn't just about the two homes.
Lien, whose company RND Construction owns the 0.89-acre property, said his opponents don't like the rules. "The current ordinance allows us to do what we want to do."
But parkway advocates contend the area should remain a protected area where nature's architecture, not man's, predominates.
Today's hearing promises to be the most heavily attended board meeting of the new year. Those who use the recreational area have sent dozens of e-mails to supervisors, made scores of phone calls and are expected to jam the board's 700 H St. chambers.
They have marshaled support at www.mcmansions.org, a Web site whose name reflects the opposition to large houses on bluffs overlooking the American River.
Lien says his Craftsman-style earth-toned homes will be neither dangerously close to the bluff, nor will be the eyesores that parkway preservationists make them out to be.
Whether strolling the bike path or floating down the river, there is no missing the jaw-dropping homes perched on the cliffs lining the lower American River.
In the current Markis project – as it's referred to by the county – Lien proposes to replace an existing single-story, 5,700-square-foot home with two homes: one a single story and the other two stories.
The two-story house would be 5,800 square feet and 28 feet high. The single story would be 4,800 square feet.
Lien said he's done the required studies to prove the project won't contribute to erosion and he crafted a design that's easy on the eyes.
The current ordinance doesn't have a hard-and-fast 70-foot setback rule, as some suggest. The rule allows those wanting to build closer to do additional soil and waterflow studies.
Those tests concluded it was safe to build even closer to the edge than the current 35-foot setback, Lien said.
Save the American River Association President Warren Truitt said his organization has alerted its members because supervisors should know that interest in the issue goes beyond the group's regular representatives.
"McMansions" shouldn't dominate the view from the trails and river, Truitt said. The fight isn't about this project alone, he said.
The group's Web site identifies 11 homes on the parkway bluff, labeling each a "trophy house within the American River Parkway." Some of the homes are owned by some of the region's wealthiest and most influential residents.
"This isn't about the Markis permit per se," Truitt said.
He said even when homebuilders agree to build in certain colors or obscure their homes with trees, not everyone follows through on their promises.
Lien rejected the argument that his homes will create a visual intrusion. Neighboring homes are taller and more visible, he said.
"These are very understated homes," he said. "The colors and plantings have all been reviewed."
His landscape drawings show the two homes discreetly hidden behind olive, blue oak, valley oak and red willow trees.
Supervisor Jimmie Yee called the issue a "sticky one" and said he understands SARA's concerns. He added, however, that he will take into account the existing conditions and surrounding residences.
He said the easiest way out would be to compromise with a 50-foot setback the county staff is now suggesting and SARA says it will accept.
Lien said the planned houses are too big to move back an additional 15 feet.
Yee said both sides aren't likely to walk away entirely pleased.
"SARA would love to see open space there, but that is not going to happen. That is private property," Yee said. "So we have to come up with something that is 'reasonable.' "
Call The Bee's Ed Fletcher, (916) 321-1269.
