Sonora OKs a dozen apartments atop storefronts. Modesto also is trying this housing option
Sonora has joined the mixed-use trend, with 12 apartments over storefronts at the south end of downtown.
The City Council voted unanimously June 17 for the project on a vacant lot on the 900 block of South Washington Street. The building will have six yet-to-be-named businesses on the ground floor and market-rate apartments above. The monthly rents were not available.
Mixed-use projects seek to boost the housing supply while allowing residents to walk or bicycle for some of their needs. They counter the trend of the past 75 or so years of low-density houses dependent on driving.
The Modesto City Council voted last year to encourage mixed-use projects on a few commercial strips with underused parking lots. The mass rezoning affected 348 parcels on parts of McHenry Avenue, Sisk Road, Oakdale Road and Yosemite Boulevard. No specific projects have emerged yet.
Neighbors question Sonora project
The Sonora building was proposed by developer Bill Canning, a former mayor. It will have three stories facing South Washington and two on the Oregon Street side, which is up a hill.
The proposal drew objections from neighbors about traffic, vegetation clearing and whether it fits with downtown. They appealed the May approval by the Sonora Planning Commission to the council.
The new building is about a quarter-mile from Grocery Outlet and several other downtown businesses, some of them multistory.
“This project is consistent with the historic development of the town,” said Tyler Summersett, the city’s community development director, in a memo to the council. “The project provides homes within walking distance of many locations while also providing neighborhood serving retail/business, maintaining a development pattern found along Washington Street currently.”
Sonora had mining and timber booms
The city was founded in 1848 amid the Gold Rush, named by miners from the Mexican state of Sonora. Washington is a mile-long thoroughfare, with many buildings from the early years and the timber boom of the 1900s.
Downtown today draws plenty of tourists, including day-trippers from Stanislaus County and foreigners bound for Yosemite National Park. As charming as it is, most locals shop at strip centers along Highway 108 to the east.
The council discussion was reported by mymotherlode.com, a local news website. Mayor Mark Plummer acknowledged the concern about losing open space but said Sonora needs housing and jobs for young people.
“This is a project that I think fits that role very nicely,” he said.
