Large Antioch housing development on track on former grazing land

The Ranch at Antioch's southern edge will be built in three phases

New homes – some 440 of them – will soon sprout on a large swath of open space at Antioch’s southernmost edge.

That’s only one part of the long-planned 1,177-home development – the largest single residential project in the city in nearly a decade. But on Tuesday, the council gave the green light for the design concepts and use permit of only the first of the three-phase project.

Dubbed The Ranch, the Richland Communities’ phase 1 development was approved on a 4-to-1 vote, with Mayor Pro Tem Tamisha Torres-Walker – who questioned the project’s lack of affordability – casting the sole “no” vote.

Torres-Walker said the project was never meant for working-class people and “that’s unfortunate.”

“I wish it would have been a more thoughtful development process,” she said.

The Ranch has faced many challenges before being allowed to develop in what is known as the Sand Creek focus Area — 2,712 acres of rolling hills and flatland mainly occupied by grazing cattle and wildlife. Early on, environmentalists and others opposed the proposal, fearing any major housing development would lead to more traffic and crime and further strain schools while jeopardizing agriculture, streams, grasslands, wildlife habitats and scenic views.

In response, the developer scaled back its 1,667-home plan to 1,307 units in 2017 and further reduced it to 1,177 a year later.

The current project, which is on 253.5 acres, will feature a mix of houses, with lots ranging from 4,000 square feet to more than 8,000, as well as a 5-acre village center with commercial, retail and office space plus a new fire station. Sand Creek flows eastward through the center of the project site, which will also include 22.5 acres for public parks and nearly 230 acres designated as open space, complete with an extensive trail system.

The project is identical to one that was part of the earlier West Sand Creek Initiative, which the council adopted in 2018 along with a developer agreement and a plan for the preservation of open space between Black Diamond Mines Regional Preserve and Deer Valley Road. That initiative, however, was invalidated in 2019 by a court ruling that said developer agreements could not be included in initiatives.

Opponents had promoted the Let Antioch Voters Decide initiative, which would have required voter approval for more intensive development like The Ranch. Though approved, the initiative was later partially invalidated in court in 2021 because it reduced the number of homes allowed in conflict with state Senate Bill 330 “Housing Crisis Act.”

Fast forward three years later and Richland Communities’ planned development has been slightly tweaked, including slight changes in planned side-yard setbacks and a reconfiguration of its trails, which had previously encroached into habitats. The changes, though, will not require additional environmental review beyond what was certified in 2020, according to city staff.

Several residents, however, spoke out against the massive development in Antioch’s only large swath of remaining open space.

Andrew Becker said the project offers opportunity but not to Antioch residents who will not be able to afford the new homes, noting the average median home price in the area is $650,000. In contrast, the city of Brentwood requires new developments reserved 13% for affordable housing, he said.

“For the majority of the individuals in our city that make this livable wage, that development is never going to be an opportunity for them,” he said.

Leslie May questioned whether the nearby hospital, Kaiser Permanente, was large enough to accommodate the influx of potential patients though Mayor Lamar Thorpe later noted that the hospital is not yet built out.

“I’m also looking at Lone Tree Way and the traffic for building that development up there,” she said. “The traffic going to and from Kaiser is going to be a mess.’

An attorney for nearby Zeka Ranch, a housing project planned to the west, questioned why the road stops at the western edge of The Ranch’s trail and does not continue to Zeka in the current subdivision as it had in previous incarnations of development maps. A road to the south of Zeka, Empire Mine Road, has been closed with bollards for the past 17 years, essentially landlocking that ranchland.

Though not included in the plans, Empire Mine Road could be opened in later phases, contract planner Cindy Gnos said.

Councilman Mike Barbanica approved of the project, saying he had met with Save Mount Diablo staff, which supported the project, and walked the area to see for himself.

“I saw that a lot of thought has gone into this as far as making sure that the animals are safe, habitats are maintained in that area,” he said. “They’ve gone so far as to design it where they have areas where animals can cross under bridges, so they’re not hit by vehicles.”

And while Councilwoman Monica Wilson approved of the project, she echoed Torres-Walker’s concerns about the lack of affordability in the new housing development.

“I wish there was more affordability and we had a conversation about that because we don’t want to get into a situation where we’re redlining people out,” she said.

The Ranch’s eventual residents will not be alone. To the east of Kaiser Permanente, DeNova Homes is building 533 houses in what’s known as the Aviano Farms project, and Blackhawk Nunn Partners is developing the 220-unit Creekside Vineyards at Sand Creek just east of that. There’s also 641 homes in Blackhawk Partners’ Vineyards at Sand Creek under construction east of The Ranch.