Sutter County could get a new city

Officials now reviewing Sutter Pointe development plans

It’s a massive undertaking and it’s been over a decade in the making. While construction is still a ways out, once completed Sutter County will essentially have a new city.

Sutter Pointe would encompass approximately 7,528 acres of land in south Sutter County, and will have everything from new homes, parks and schools to employment centers and retail shopping villages. County supervisors approved the project’s development framework in 2009, and county staff and developers have been working since then to iron out the details.

Project developers Lennar Homes and Winn Communities submitted their proposed first project phase to the county earlier this year. The document outlines what they have planned for approximately 873 acres in the eastern portion of the area north of Riego Road and south of

Sankey Road.

“The first phase proposes 3,402 single-family and 399 multi-family homes, along with 46.1 acres of employment centers, 25 acres of commercial centers, 61.3 acres of parkland, 54.9 acres of open space along with a K-8 school,” said Doug Libby, principal planner for Sutter County Development Services. “The developers are currently preparing infrastructure master plan updates and the county anticipates receiving them to review in the near future.”

The county is now reviewing the proposed phase one plans to make sure they are consistent with the adopted development framework, as well as the county’s zoning code and design guidelines. Libby said the county is also currently working with developers to determine and establish the public infrastructure and services needed to serve the mixed-use community and to ensure compliance with development agreements, Sutter County’s Federal Incidental Take Permit and other environmental requirements.

“If the first phase is approved, the developers will still need to construct infrastructure to serve the project and this will include extending a new wastewater line up to eight miles from the Sacramento Regional Sanitation District system in Sacramento County into the project,” Libby said.

If all goes according to plan, construction of new homes and businesses part of phase one could begin within the next three years.

Once fully built out, the development will contain 17,500 housing units, provide thousands of new jobs, and have the ability to accommodate up to approximately 50,000 residents. (In 2018, the United States Census Bureau estimated Sutter County had a current population of 96,807 residents.)

For more information about the Sutter Pointe project, go to https:// bit.ly/2gkkypo.