Dozens of ‘entry-level’ homes to be built in Sacramento neighborhood near schools, parks

A neighborhood of dozens of homes for “entry-level” buyers received a key approval from the Sacramento City Council.

The new community of 77 single-family homes will be built on a large empty plot of land at 920 San Juan Road, just north of Rio Tierra Junior High School in the city’s South Natomas neighborhood. The City Council voted unanimously Tuesday night to rezone the 8.34-acre site from agricultural land to residential.

City planners recommended in a staff report that the project be approved “since it offers the city and neighborhood needed entry-level housing, occupies an underdeveloped infill site with dense development that maximizes existing infrastructure in close proximity to schools, parks, and commercial services, provides plentiful community open space, and is well-designed with a quality network of pedestrian connections.”

“I think it will be a tremendous addition to the housing stock in the South Natomas area,” Councilman Jeff Harris, who represents the neighborhood, said during the City Council hearing.

The original proposal for the project called for the units to be rentals. But neighborhood residents asked for the units to be offered for sale and the developer, SKK Developments, agreed to make the change, according to the city staff report.

“Rather than market rate rentals for the proposed condos, they should be affordable for working families and available for purchase,” the Gardenland/Northgate Neighborhood Association wrote in a letter to SKK. “Rentals are seen by our community as short-term and does little to build community sustainability.”

The median home value for that ZIP code is more than $600,000 and has increased 7.5% since the beginning of 2022, slightly more than the region’s average increase, according to data from Zillow.

This story was originally published July 29, 2022 at 5:00 AM.