Developer to spare more oak trees in Windsor housing project

A controversial apartment project proposed in downtown Windsor has a new name, and a new design that calls for the removal of almost 50 fewer oak trees than before.

The old “Bell Village” moniker has been dropped, replaced by “Vintage Oaks on the Town Green,” but the changes are more than just a renaming and appear to have gone a long way toward appeasing critics.

In the face of strong opposition from some residents and feedback from the Town Council, the developers went back to the drawing board and came up with a plan that expands open space, preserves more trees and adds a variety of housing.

“We think we have a better project because of this,” said Peter Stanley, a Santa Rosa architect and principal in ?ArchiLOGIX, the company hired to help design and develop the apartment project. “We have a significantly different site plan than we did before.”

Prodded by Town Council members who wanted to see more than just three-story townhomes, the project still calls for a total of 387 units, but would be split almost evenly between townhomes and “stacked flat” apartments, with most of the apartments served by elevators to better accommodate seniors and disabled persons.

The changes are getting generally favorable reviews from critics of Bell Village, with some caveats.

“I was encouraged they redesigned it to save more trees. I felt our message has gotten through to them. I have to say I’m happy about that,” said Eric Wee, a Windsor resident who spearheaded a petition drive that was signed by more than 1,000 people urging the Town Council to reject Bell Village.

He noted that the revised plans call for cutting 47 fewer trees than before, but said he still wants to walk the site - the former Windsorland mobile home and trailer park - to see which trees are proposed for removal and which will be saved.

And Wee remains concerned that the apartment project has too many units, considering that combined with another proposed development - Windsor Mill - they would add almost 800 rental dwellings to downtown Windsor, increasing traffic and potentially altering the character of a town defined mostly by owner-occupied, single family homes.

The developers and their supporters counter that Vintage Oaks is exactly the type of higher density housing specified in Windsor’s general plan, on an infill site close to a train depot, within walking distance of parks, schools, shopping and restaurants.

They say the project will help alleviate the housing crisis facing Sonoma County, where those looking for apartments face stiff competition for few available units.

The developers made their pitch in a 15-page brochure that was mailed last week to registered voters in more than 7,000 Windsor households.

The brochure cited statistics that show Windsor, the fourth-most populated city in the county, has fewer market-rate rental apartments per capita than the next three largest cities.

For example, Santa Rosa has ?5.4 apartments per 100 people; Petaluma has 4.9 per 100; Rohnert Park has 7.2 per 100, and Windsor has 1.5 for every 100, according to Real Answers, a Novato-based rental research firm that tracks market rate apartments of 50 units or more.

The mailing underscored the stakes for the developers, who plan to invest more than $100 million into the apartment project just north of Bell Village shopping center, which is currently under construction with a highly anticipated Oliver’s Market, set to open next spring.

Oakmont Senior Living, which is building the small shopping center, obtained approval from the Town Council four years ago to build ?387 units of mostly stacked-flat apartments. The company sold its interest in the residential portion of Bell Village to a new developer, Bob Bisno of Los Angeles, who proposed revising the project.

Bisno, a partner with Southern California developers Cary Bren and Dan Palmer, has a contract to buy and develop the property contingent upon Town Council approval of his plan.

But Bisno’s initial revision called for removal of 211 trees, including more than three dozen large oaks, a few estimated to be 300 years old.

That was even more than the ?190 trees slated for removal under Oakmont Senior Living’s plan approved in 2011.

Following an outcry and a small protest demonstration earlier this spring, Bisno is proposing to remove 164 trees.

Councilman Sam Salmon, the most vocal council critic of Bell Village, said oak tree preservation sparked the community involvement because the large, heritage trees are a symbol of Windsor as well as “a symbol of our living on this Earth.”

“Once they are gone, I’m not a big believer we will see these little (replacement) oaks we plant living ?300 years,” he said.

Salmon is hesitant to cheer the developers for sparing more oaks until he sees details of the revised plan, which has not been formally submitted to the town.

And Wee expressed some cynicism about Vintage Oaks, the new name for the project.

“Someone once told me developments name themselves after the things they want to destroy,” he said.

But Stanley, the project manager, said the revised plan focuses not just on the number of trees but their quality, aiming to preserve the healthiest ones and retain the groves.

He said the building footprint was shrunk by adding a fourth story to some of the apartment buildings, instead of having only three-story townhomes.

To accommodate issues raised by the police and fire departments, the developers added a connecting street to the loop system, making it easier for police vehicles and firetrucks to move through the site. And motor courts also have been shortened to accommodate Fire Department concerns over how far fire hoses had to be stretched.

There also are more pedestrian connections to the south to get to the Town Green.

“We are still meeting with the community and tweaking the site,” Stanley said.

Some of Bell Village’s staunchest critics, who were shown the tentative new site plan, expressed optimism that Bisno has taken the concerns of residents to heart.

“My general view of it is (that) it’s beginning to look like a very good project,” said Michael Robison, a Windsor resident who opposed Bell Village.

“There’s a feeling this is probably as close to a win-win situation as we will get from a project so far along that took over from an entitled project,” said Windsor resident Julian Cohen, referencing the fact that Bell Village was approved by the Town Council in a previous incarnation before Bisno took over.

Bisno’s 15-page mailer to voters is a little puzzling to some observers, who say it may be excessive.

But Bisno’s political consultant, Rob Muelrath, said, “We want to make sure people are educated and understand not only how we got here, but we also want to hear what they have to say. Public input is extremely important to our process.”

Bisno declined to say how much it cost to produce and mail the brochure.

“Public relations means that you have to get your message out, and unfortunately it costs money,” he said. “But the precise dollars we don’t see as being relevant to the matters, which are really land use.”

You can reach Staff Writer Clark Mason at 521-5214 or clark.mason@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter ?@clarkmas.