Work to start this month on Sonoma Valley affordable housing

Construction of an affordable apartment complex in the Sonoma Valley is expected to start by the end of the month.

Foster City-based MidPen Housing worked quickly to secure the necessary permits to begin construction on the first phase within the next two weeks. It calls for 60 units for low-income families to be built on the 6-acre site off Highway 12 and Rancho Drive in The Springs.

“That was a very intense project that required phenomenal focus,” said senior project manager Scott Johnson, adding that they closed this week on the land acquisition and construction financing needed to get the project underway.

MidPen worked with the county’s planning department to speed up the permitting process after learning about six months ago it had received a $20 million tax credit award, doled out in a competitive process by the California Tax Credit Allocation Committee. But it had to have permits in hand by June 15 to receive the credit, Johnson said. Permits were issued last week.

“It really required tremendous leadership and we received it,” Johnson said. “All credit to the county.”

The project will cost about $27 million and include links to a public trail and a shared playground with the neighboring Sonoma Charter School, Johnson said. The Springs residents should start to see construction equipment roll onto the site with the next few weeks. It’s expected to take about 15 months to complete, Johnson said.

“Our desire is to get in and get out as quickly as we can with our construction activity,” he said, adding that construction will be handled by Wright Contracting, based in Santa Rosa.

Susan Gorin, chairwoman for the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors, said it’s a key project for The Springs, an area already undergoing a noisy but much-awaited $5.2 million overhaul of Highway 12, which includes road widening, sidewalks, ornamental lighting and bike lanes from Boyes Boulevard to Agua Caliente Road.

“I’ve heard from so many folks who are desperately in search of housing in the Sonoma Valley. It’s important that we find places for families to live safely,” said Gorin, who praised MidPen for collaborating with organizations such as Teen Services Sonoma and La Luz Center to bring in the future services and volunteer opportunities to its tenants.

“It will mean that the families living in this complex will be immediately connected to this community,” she said. “It’s not going to be a stand-alone community.”

Johnson said the company expects to start offering leasing applications in October or November. The complex will be named Fetters Apartments. It’ll include 22 two-bedroom units, 19 one-bedroom units and 19 three-bedroom units for families, with rents expected to range from $390 to just over $1,000 a month.

MidPen partnered with the Vailetti Family Trust for the project. The Vailettis plan to build a 6,500-square-foot commercial center on an adjacent parcel.

A second phase of the project calls for 40 senior apartments and is expected to cost $14 million. However, Johnson said they company still is trying to find money to build it.

Although traffic studies ruled out negative impacts, residents continue to worry about the number of additional cars that will be coming from the apartment complex once it’s completed, said Rich Lee, chair of the Springs Community Alliance.

Still, Lee said affordable housing is needed. It’s been more than a decade since the area saw construction of a major affordable housing project in The Springs.

“Most people who have looked at it are excited about the project,” he said.

“It’ll add aesthetically to The Springs,” he added. “It’ll reduce some of the blight in the area.”

You can reach Staff Writer Eloísa Ruano González at 521-5458 or eloisa.gonzalez@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @eloisanews.