The Buzz: Palomar clearing land off Hilltop Drive. Here's why.
The Buzz: A piece of land off Hilltop Drive is getting cleared. Here's why.
Dirt, and lots of it, has been moving on a piece of hillside property off Mission De Oro Drive across from the Shasta Creek Apartments east of Interstate 5.
The work is visible from off north Hilltop Drive.
Palomar Builders is grading land to build attached homes, much like its Park Pointe neighborhood just north of this site.
But this project has a twist.
Jeb Allen, Palomar’s co-owner, told me about 10 of the 46 units will have studio apartments where the garage would go. The apartments will have a bathroom and kitchen.
Allen had tried to sell the property. But it's zoned multi-family, so Allen said nobody would buy it because the cost to build apartments didn't pencil out.
So, he came up with the studio apartment idea, which satisfies the requirement to build multi-family housing.
“When I start something, I want to finish it, and to me this finishes Highland Park,” Allen said.
Highland Park is the single-family subdivision next to Park Pointe that Palomar Builders started in 2009. Park Pointe is an extension of Highland Park.
Allen said floorplans for his new development will range from 1,693 square feet to 2,021 square feet. The smallest floor plan will feature the 10 studio apartments.
But while Allen is satisfying the multi-family zoning requirement, the studio space doesn’t have to be an apartment.
The owner could turn it into say a man cave or she shack.
Allen hopes to start construction in the spring.
Lily Toy, the city’s interim planning manager, said accessory units to homes are built throughout the city.
“But as far building these all out as far as a planned development, yes this is probably a first,” Toy said.
If you’ve ever had an idea on how to make Redding a more desirable place to live and believe there are ways to attract more visitors to the area, the Redding City Identity Project wants to hear from you.
The project has posted a survey (https://bit.ly/2yKDi7n) of 16 questions that it will use to come up with 20 ideas by 2020.
What challenges does Redding face?
What are the three best assets of the city?
What would you do within the next 10 years to affect positive change in Redding?
You have until Nov. 20 to take the survey and the results will be revealed Jan. 10 at the Cascade Theatre. The evening also will feature John O’Leary, who was badly burned when he was 9 years old and is now an inspirational speaker and author of the book, “On Fire.” O’Leary is the father of four and lives in St. Louis.
The chamber announced its $500,000 city pride plan last spring. It has partnered with other businesses and organizations to help fund the project, including the McConnell Foundation, Sierra Pacific Industries Foundation, Dignity Health, Black Bear Diner, Commerce Home Mortgage, Compass and Josh Barker of ReMax Town & Country.
Questions on the survey were based in part from meetings with artists, web designers, the startup business community, and city and Shasta County leaders.
“This is not going to be the chamber of commerce version of the identity of Redding. This is coming from the people of the community, so we want it to be a far and wide reach,” Mangas said.
Ideas to improve Redding should focus on messaging, experiences and aesthetics.
“Maybe one idea is a façade improvement in Redding and maybe funding from the identity project gets leveraged with other dollars to make it happen,” Mangas said.
There were 500 responses about a day after the survey first went up.
“It’s really fun to see how people have engaged for us,” Mangas said.
Three months after its transmitter atop Shasta Bally was destroyed by the Carr Fire, 88.9 FM KFPR in Redding is still off the air.
And North State Public Radio management does not know when the transmitter will be replaced so 88.9 can be back on the air.
Meanwhile, North State Public Radio restored full power to its 91.7 KCHO station in Chico. The station once again can be heard between Yuba City and Redding, though reception in Redding can be spotty depending on where you’re at.
KCHO had been broadcasting at reduced strength on a backup transmitter since April, when the transmitter on Cohasset overheated and failed due to a faulty air conditioning unit.