Gated development for rural Elk Grove community gets green light from city leaders
Elk Grove will allow gates to go up around part of the city’s rural area, dropping a longtime ban on gated rural neighborhoods on the city’s eastern flank.
Elk Grove City Council’s 5-0 vote Wednesday night to lift the ban amended the city’s general plan to allow builders to convert a 75-acre portion of Sheldon Park Estates into a private gated community.
The unanimous vote to privatize Sheldon Park North came with little fanfare — the only question came from trails advocates concerned that the gates would block access for walkers and bicyclists.
City staffers said no. City trails already wend around the development, they said. Sheldon Park Estates is still under construction. The development will join the Shires, a 12-parcel subdivision built on 28 acres, as the only gated neighborhoods in the so-called Elk Grove Rural Community.
Elk Grove allows gated communities within its urban limits. Residents live in more than 20 gated communities across the city.
The amendment had been opposed by some residents of Elk Grove Rural Community, the ranch-like parcels that make up the roughly 9-square-mile area between Elk Grove-Florin, Sheldon and Grant Line roads. Opponents have said gates around the communities would alter the rural identity and way of life homeowners had sought on the city’s eastern edge.
But Elk Grove planners said gated communities will not be detrimental to the city’s rural area and could offer a broader mix of housing types in the city.
Supporters have said a gated community will shield residents from property crime, trespassing and more, citing a host of concerns from speeding drivers to people breaking into homes or illegally dumping items in the rural subdivision
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