THE STORY BEHIND THOSE FOUR LANES ON EATON ROAD
2011 Chico General Plan designated Eaton as ‘major arterial’ roadway but only two lanes will remain in use
CHICO » In north Chico, a new subdivision has built out Eaton Road into a four-lane, divided expressway, even though it only runs from Morseman Avenue to Burnap Road.
An Enterprise-Record reader recognized what was happening and emailed the editor, saying. “I cannot remember any sort of public process about making a decision to 4-lane that road.’’
That’s understandable. The latest decision on making Eaton four lanes came 11 years ago, in the months leading up to approval of the latest Chico General Plan.
The plan approved in April 2011 designated Eaton as a “major arterial” roadway. The plan further identified major arterials as four-lane roadways.
And the decision actually dates back much further than that.
“It was originally identified as a four-lane road and truck route in the 1994 General Plan,” according to city of Chico spokeswoman Lynda Gizzi.
Since that, anyone who’s wanted to develop land along Eaton Road has had to make allowances for the route’s destiny. But most other people forgot — if they ever knew at all — that the road was going to be four lanes someday.
That’s the thing about longterm planning, like making general plans. Decisions are made that might not have an impact until years and years later. Then, they can catch people off guard.
In the case of Amber Lynn Estates — the project now under construction off Eaton Road — the city received a subdivision application on Nov. 30, 2017, according to a history provided by the Public Works Department.
A community meeting was scheduled for the following Jan. 17th, and notice of that was sent to residents living within 500 feet of the project, and neighborhood groups. Thirty-eight people attended, and their comments were noted.
A similar notification went out prior to an April 5, 2018, Planning Commission meeting, and a display ad announcing the hearing was placed in the Enterprise-Record. The commission approved the project that night.
Since the site was vacant, the city required dedication of the entire necessary right-of-way for the four-lane road, so homes north of the project would not be impacted.
That resulted in a four-lane road, two lanes of which go nowhere.
“Right now, it’s going to stay like that,” said Gizzi. How those four lanes will be meshed into a future four-lane road to the east and west hasn’t been determined.
There is a large vacant parcel north of Eaton that overlaps Amber Lynn Estates, and it’s possible that the developer of that land will also be required to provide the right-of-way for the full four-lane road. “We’d rather do it with vacant lane,”
There is a large vacant parcel north of Eaton that overlaps Amber Lynn Estates, and it’s possible that the developer of that land will also be required to provide the rightof-way for the full four-lane road.
Gizzi said.
As for the rest of the roadway, there are no current plans of how the ultimate width will be achieved, or when, she said. A project has been approved to study what’s in place now. Gizzi called it a plan for drawing a plan.
“There are a lot of details,” she said. “We need to identify the details that have to be done”
West Eaton Road
Eaton Road has also been shaped as a four-lane road west from The Esplanade. For most of the way
there are just two lanes paved, with open space left for two more sometime in the future.
Right now, the road just ends abruptly at the city limits. A bit east of that, there are barriers at the intersection of Rogue River Drive.
The city’s 2030 General Plan envisions a possible extension of Eaton as an expressway all the way to Highway 32. It’s identified as something that might be studied in the future.
It’s an idea that’s been around a long time. At one point, an Eaton Road extension was discussed as a replacement for Highway 32’s route through Chico.
It didn’t get beyond the talking though, mainly because
the point where the road now ends is the green line. That’s the county’s demarcation between urban Chico and agricultural lands to the west and south.
It’s just a line on a map, but it’s been a very effective barrier to development of ag lands, as it was designed to do.
There’s an argument that extending Eaton through to 32 would create pressure for development along the new road. The area is identified as Bell-Muir, and it’s one of several areas where moving the green line has been discussed.
As of now, there is nothing pointing to the city pushing for the extension, according to Gizzi.