by Tony Hicks – Walnut Creek officials will hold a large joint session Tuesday to discuss Toyota Walnut Creek’s plan to convert six acres of its property north of Ygnacio Valley Road into a mixed-use development with approximately 600 units of housing.
The Walnut Creek City Council, planning commission, design review commission, and transportation commission will meet virtually at 4 p.m. Tuesday – right before the regularly scheduled council meeting.
The boards will discuss the plan and provide Toyota and its applicant – REAL Development – feedback and take input from the public.
The project would convert ten parcels fronting both sides of North Broadway and the east side of North Main Street into a mixed-use special district. The current Toyota dealership at 2100 North Broadway wouldn’t be affected, but adjacent parcels would. Toyota currently uses those spaces for service, vehicle and parts storage, and used car sales.
Toyota has said the new development would be a prototype for dealerships nationwide. The project would feature auto uses on the ground floor, with multiple floors of housing, up to the city’s current limit of 50 feet, above the retail.
Council members and former planning commissioners Cindy Silva and Cindy Darling formed an ad hoc committee in February to work with Toyota on the proposal. The auto company filed its official application in March.
Moving forward, the city would have to rezone the land – currently zoned for auto sales and repairs – and amend its general plan, as well as its North Downtown Specific Plan. The project would be subject to city design review, as well as state environmental review, which could take anywhere from six months to a year. A supplemental environmental impact report is already in the works.
The planning commission would also have to approve it before it went to the City Council for a final decision.
Members of the council said in February the project offered opportunities to increase pedestrian access to BART and an opportunity for city auto dealers to collaborate on inventory space.
Toyota has said the pandemic has altered the way auto dealerships do business, which is becoming more online centric, requiring less on-site space for inventory.
Since about a third of Walnut Creek’s sales tax revenue comes from auto sales – and cities are looking for ways to increase housing density, especially near transit – mixed-use spaces are a logical answer.
Expanding vertically in the area could more than triple the current taxable acreage, from 6 to 20 acres.
And, while Walnut Creek currently meets state housing goals, required numbers are expected to increase significantly after 2022, according to a city report.
In February, Toyota officials showed the council slides of mixed-use possibilities – including hotel rooms, and apartments over ground level auto showrooms and other retail uses.
The virtual meeting starts at 4 p.m. Tuesday and can be found at Walnut Creek’s YouTube channel, at https://bit.ly/3ePL0CS. The meeting can also be accessed at www.zoom.us, webinar ID 955 0267 0010, passcode 653475, or by calling 1-669-900-6833.
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The North Downtown Specific Plan was adopted in 2018/2019 and intended to locate residential development where it made sense. Now it is proposed to be amended.
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Was Toyota asleep at the wheel? Or is the ownership group pandering to WC with potential tax revenue generation simply because they own the properties and continuing residential allocations by ABAG are largely unmet? How does WC otherwise benefit from this proposal if it comea to fruition?
It seems the consequences (and unintended consequences) are not worth the vertical intrusion of residential development in an auto sales area.
“Walnut Creek officials will hold a large joint session Tuesday to
discuss . . .”
Discuss? Why? Walnut Creek has never met a development it didn’t like.
This is a done deal. $$$$$$$$$$$$$
“How does WC otherwise benefit from this proposal if it comes to fruition?”
Benefit? The VIPs will benefit. $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
Any discussions/hearings/meetings are just for show to fool the naively gullible citizens that are too naively gullible to not have realized WC is trying really hard to become an Urban Mecca not so cleverly ruled by people promoted far beyond their abilities. 🤑🤑🤑
How ugly and useless can they make this City?
New City Council needed immediately. Bunch of clueless Bafoons!
Spot on Animal lover
oh yeah obama
you cant say social triggers
or opinions on where the political agendas are going
or virus or election
One of the problems Walnut Creek has is with the exception of the sub-prime lending crisis, homeowners really haven’t had to worry about their home values. With homes regularly appreciating, homeowners generally don’t bother watching city government. That’s clearly reflected in election results.
As such, we have what I would call a “not especially worldly” city government. Perhaps they are well meaning. However that doesn’t cut it.