Planned senior community hits opposition
Open-space advocates rise up against plan in Walnut Creek hills
WALNUT CREEK >> For almost a century, Seven Hills Ranch has been owned by the Hale family, whose members have served as steady stewards of the scenic 30.4-acre wildlife habitat in the hills of unincorporated Walnut Creek, a stone’s throw from Heather Farm Park.
Today, however, only a caretaker still lives in the old house on the property after Sheridan Hale, the family patriarch, died in 2015.
After his death, Hale’s family decided to sell off the land and is now closing escrow with Spieker Senior Development Partners, a Menlo Park developer that owns continuing care retirement communities across California, including one in Pleasanton.
Spieker now plans to build a retirement community on Seven Hills Ranch with 302 apartments, 52 cottages, a large clubhouse with a card room, a fitness and spa center with an indoor pool and almost 600 underand above-ground parking spaces. Included would be an 85,000-square-foot skilled nursing center with 100 beds for residents who need a higher level of care as they get older or develop illnesses.
But open-space advocates already are working to head off the project at the pass. A grassroots group called Save Seven Hills Ranch late last year urged the Walnut Creek City Council not to sell the developer a public path off Kinross Drive that would
serve as a primary access point to the senior housing community.
More recently, they launched a Change.org petition opposing the project, which to date has collected more than 2,500 signatures.
The hillside property is worth conserving, Michelle Sheehan of Save Seven Hills Ranch said, alluding to its “oak-spotted terrain,” meandering creeks and landscape views for visitors of Heather Farm Park.
“It really is a hidden treasure,” added Jim Martin, a Walnut Creek resident of 12 years who wants to see the land conserved. “The views across the valley floor are really spectacular.”
Kristen Lomasney, who has lived near Heather Farm Park since 2012, said she frequently bicycles around the area and worries that the retirement community would bring too much traffic to roads that can’t support it.
Troy Bourne, a Spieker project official, said in an email the property’s beauty will be preserved, even after the retirement community is built.
“We’ve been careful to design the community around waterways, view corridors and important trees so that our residents and their neighbors can continue to enjoy the site’s natural beauty,” he said.
The property sale is expected to close after the developer secures certain entitlements as well as the Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors’ approval of a general plan amendment allowing multihome developments on the site, which is currently zoned singlefamily residential.
And as with any large development, an environmental impact report must be prepared to assure the project won’t negatively impact the area in a significant way. Walnut Creek City Manager Dan Buckshi said in an interview that the City Council won’t decide whether to sell the city’s path easement until it reviews the report, which is still in the early phases.
“Traffic impacts are going to be something we look at closely,” county planner Sean Tully said in interview. “We’ll also look at biology, water courses. That property has been left alone for an extended period of time, and I’m assuming there will be a species up there that may qualify for protection.”
Tully expects the project to go to the Planning Commission near the end of the year and ultimately to the Board of Supervisors for final approval.
Bourne said the Hale family approached the developer to sell the property after reaching out to conservationist groups without success. A family member declined a request for com- ment on this story.
Sheehan of Save Seven Hills Ranch suggested that the family might have felt differently if it had heard from the plethora of community voices that have sprung up since the project was announced.
Spieker Senior Development Partners already has held several workshops to get public feedback, and Bourne said it would welcome more.
“The Hales’ home and ranch are beautiful, and it’s understandable that some will oppose the family’s proposed use of their property,” Bourne said. “However, it is not open space — the general plan has called for its development for decades.”
Stoneridge Creek, a similar housing community owned by Spieker in Pleasanton, has a move-in fee of roughly $400,000 for a studio and up to $2 million for a penthouse, though a large portion of the deposits are paid back when a resident leaves or dies. An additional monthly service fee that covers food, drinks and other amenities ranges from $4,000 to $6,000.
Bourne said the proposed Seven Hills Ranch community would offer starting entrance fees of $500,000, which he called “a considerable investment but about half the price of an average Walnut Creek home.”
“The beautiful landscape and amenities can give the impression of luxury, but most residents are attracted to the financial value and peace of mind,” he said.