Proposed Off-Campus Sacramento Housing Project Draws Neighbors' Ire

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — A proposed off-campus housing project is drawing complaints from those who live nearby.

The project, known as The Grove, is an empty field currently. But as the project moves forward, the 12 acres will be transformed into about 200 housing units for college-age students.

But neighbors who live around the project say it's not happening without a big fight.

"Many residents have had concerns about this project since we first found out about it two years ago," said Isaac Gonzales with the Tahoe Park Neighborhood Association.

It's not the homes they're worried about. It's the students.

"It seems to be an over-concentration of one housing type in this area," he said.

Gonzalez says parties and fights at an apartment complex across the street have been a major disturbance. It worries him that the developer of The Grove is also targeting Sacramento State students to live in the new complex.

"It's not that we are just imagining exactly what could happen," he said. "We've been through this before."

The lawyer for the developer did not return our call for comment, but Sacramento City Councilman Kevin McCarty says the development along Redding Avenue is a perfect fit for the city.

"We're trying to do is focus on infill development, and this is an old industrial use that I think can make more sense," he said.

The councilman believes a compromise has been reached that is fair to everyone. The new agreement calls for the developer to add a security guard seven days a week, and improve sidewalks and bike trails to and from the Sacramento State campus.

"It is in a funky area. It is hard to get to the campus, so that is what I am excited about," he said. "We got over $1.5 million just for bike and pedestrian improvements in the area."

It's a deal Tahoe Park neighbors say they will live with, but add they will keep a close eye on the developer to make sure it does everything it's promised.

"We are just preventing bad things from happening to our neighborhood before they occur," Gonzalez said.

The apartments are set to open by the summer of 2015.