Playground a concern for housing project Development on Mulberry and Shadowood discussed at PRC meeting

The City of Porterville’s Project Review Committee (PRC) discussed on Oct. 11 the resubmittal of a proposed housing development located on the corner of Mulberry Avenue and Shadowood Street.

The city’s PRC provides developers and applicants with a preliminary meeting to evaluate proposed projects. The PRC consists of the zoning administrator, city planner, city engineer, chief building official and fire chief or their designees.

The original submittal of the proposed project included 18 singlefamily residences and five duplexes, said Jenni Byers, the city’s community development director. Byers said the re-submittal includes 15 single-family residences and 25 town homes in the RM-2 (Medium Density Residential) Zone District.

One of the major concerns with the project is its playground, which is proposed to be established in the middle of the housing development.

Porterville Fire Battalion Chief Mitch Sandoval said the playground in the middle may not be conducive to the fire department’s needs.

“Anybody that comes in and parks or visits is going to block my access,” Sandoval said. “Kids here, cars parked there is going to be a nightmare for us as far as access and we don’t have time to police that kind of deal.”

He added that fire department personnel will need to have at least 20 feet of unobstructed fire access into the housing development.

“I’ve got to have the 20 feet whether it is one side or the other on that initial entrance to be able to get through there with my engines without being impeded,” Sandoval said.

Lt. Richard Standridge with the Porterville Police Department said the playground presents potential problems on the law enforcement side also.

“From my standpoint, I am just envisioning somebody backing out of their house and hitting that kid that is running with the ball,” Standridge said.

In addition to crosswalks, Standridge said there needs to be rod iron fencing around the playground apparatus, lighting on all four corners and speed bumps on each side of the playground.

“Those are the things you need,” Standridge said, adding that something to light the playground at night would also be beneficial for officers patrolling the area at night. “Just so we can see them because kids are going to be hanging out there like they do at every other park in the city.”

Ray Deperry, executive director of the Indian Housing Authority, said originally the playground wasn’t in the middle of the housing development. He said he moved it to the middle from the back corner of the development after checking out a project Self-help Enterprises — the co-partner in the project — did in Visalia.

“The [Visalia] board was impressed by how they used some of the space by putting some grass there and having a playground there and even having some little private gardens in there,” Deperry said, adding that the layout inspired the new positioning of the playground in his project.

Although the playground may not service both sides of the housing development, Project Developer Mark Hillman said there will be plenty of other amenities for residents such as a recreational room, which he said will include a computer lab and an education lab, among other useful resources.

As far as parking in the housing development, Byers said Hillman will have to create more parking spaces. How many more is something “we will work out,” Byers said of the total amount of required parking Hillman will have to meet.

She added that there are also landscaping requirements in the parking areas. One option, Byers said, is to ensure that within 10 years the parking area in the development will be 50 percent shaded.

“Or you can give us one for every six parking stalls,” she said.

Even though there will not be an on-site manager, Deperry said he will probably have one of the tenants fulfilling that role.