Green light for new homes on Newark’s westside

More than 330 would be built in formerly industrial area; about 1,600 already built or approved in area

“We’re really turning it around, putting in trails and parks to embrace the bay.” — Terrence Grindall, Newark’s assistant city manager

Over 300 new homes planned for a formerly industrial area at the western edge of Newark have received the green light from the city’s Planning Commission, and will likely be considered for final approval by the City Council in October.

Two new developments would bring 331 detached homes and townhomes to the Bayside area of the city, where officials have earmarked over 200 acres of land for housing development.

The land meets with the bay, west of the railroad tracks, the Cargill Salt facility and dozens of businesses and industrial buildings.

So far, about 1,600 homes have already been built, are under construction, or have been approved for the area, according to Terrence Grindall, Newark’s assistant city manager.

“This project is really a part of Newark embracing the bay as part of our front yard, as part of an amenity that helps to define our community,” Grindall said of the boom of housing development in the area.

“Rather than being the place that traditionally was where you put your junk yards and your industrial areas and your dumps, we’re really turning it around, putting in trails and parks to embrace the bay.”

Integral Communities, a real estate company based in Newport Beach, is proposing a 193-home project on a 17.4-acre piece of land west of the intersection of Hickory Street and Enterprise Drive.

The homes would be constructed in either Farmhouse, Craftsman, or Agrarian style, and would encompass several different floor plans ranging in size between 2,100 and 2,700

square feet each. They would all be three stories high.

The developer also would be required to build a fiveacre park to provide open space for the future residents, though Grindall said the park will not be completed before the homes are finished.

Contaminated soil cleanup needs to be done on the project site before the homes can be built, but there is also groundwater contamination that needs to be cleaned at the planned park site, according to Mark Butler of Integral Communities, who spoke at the commission’s Aug. 28 meeting.

There would also be two small “pocket parks” in the development, as well as a 20-foot-wide trail along the borders of the project. The project was approved by the commission on a 4-0 vote,

with one commissioner absent.

Trumark Homes, a San Ramon-based developer, is proposing to build 138 detached homes and attached townhomes on a nearly 10acre piece of land at 8610 Enterprise Drive.

The land was previously used by a business that packaged and processed chemicals. That project also received a 4-0 approval from the commission.

The project comprises 53 detached, two-and threestory homes, between 2,000 to 2,600 square feet across three different architectural styles; Farmhouse, Craftsman and Victorian. The plans also call for 85 townhomes proposed ranging from 1,885 square feet to 2,060 square feet, all at three-stories tall.

If approved by the City Council, the developer cannot sell the homes until a park it has already started building is complete. Trumark had built another development in this area, Glass Bay, which features 217 homes. The park being built will service both developments, city reports said.

Grindall took questions from commissioners about the logic of building thousands of homes on former industrial sites with contaminated soil and groundwater, which has concerned some residents.

He said developers have done “millions and millions of dollars of cleanup already” in the area, and that the city “would never allow residential use unless it was fully clean” and vetted by state or regional agencies.