|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
Community Presbyterian Church is set to expand its footprint in the town as it celebrates its 175th anniversary, with the Danville Planning Commission signing off last week on proposed development plans after nearly two hours of discussion that included a number of public comments from residents objecting to it.
The plans include expanding its church facilities and the construction of a 68-unit housing project on nearby property.
The redevelopment is set to see the demolition of existing homes at the 12-acre project site at 22 West El Pintado Road and the removal of 47 town-protected trees in order to make way for a 49-unit townhome project with 19 accessory-dwelling units and 117 parking spaces, plus expansions to the church itself and its parking, and the establishment of a new youth ministry facility and sports facilities.
“There was a lot of push on the developer and the architect in regards to how we were going to make this a quality asset that was going to be in the neighborhood, whether it be the qualities of the material that were utilized, how it basically integrated with the community and surrounding area as best possible; it tried to respect those that were going to be around it,” Planning Commissioner Lou Palandrani said.
“It isn’t just a four-story highrise in the middle of the neighborhood,” he continued. “It’s an asset that’s going to serve the community of Danville and serve CPC, and that’s nice to see. From my perspective it seems to be a very thoughtful development taking into consideration all the entities that have a say in it. So again, I respect the community’s input, but we also have guidelines that we have to work towards, and I see this checking all the boxes in a positive direction.”
Palandrani’s fellow commissioners concurred in their reflections on the project ahead of a unanimous vote to approve it at the end of the discussion, pointing to conversations and adjustments that had been made as it moved through the Design Review Board in the months leading up to the Planning Commission meeting.
While the public notice of the project application at the meeting was the first many had heard of it, the possibility of housing at the site goes back to the development of the town’s current housing element that was approved in 2024, in which it was designated as a housing opportunity site as the town scrambled to identify areas suitable for the construction of the 2,241 new homes allocated to Danville in the current RHNA cycle.
Although commissioners expressed support for the project overall, changes in state housing laws aimed at increasing affordable housing inventory while limiting the discretion of local jurisdictions to deny new projects were major components that set the scene for its approval, as well as frustrations aired by neighboring residents.
“The existing people who bought homes in the area like myself and my neighbors – we all looked at everything and said well, this looks like a great place to buy a house – I spent a lot of money doing it, and my house wasn’t really great, but we spent a lot of money fixing it to make it great,” Debbie Gutierrez said in a public comment.
“That’s our forever home as far as we’re concerned, and now I’m starting to feel really sad that that’s what’s going on,” she continued. “I know there’s these rules to push this stuff through, and I understand that, but you’re ruining a neighborhood. And people who bought the houses there – it was an investment. It’s not fair.”
Concerns centered on increased traffic, construction noise, and an overall influx of activity in the quiet neighborhood nestled blocks from downtown next to Interstate 680 and a change to its character – all topics that are top of mind for many San Ramon Valley residents as newly constructed housing projects debut throughout the region and awareness increases about additional development on the horizon during the current eight-year Housing Element cycle through 2031.
What makes this project unique, according to CPC representative Matt Henry, is the church’s position as a key component of the town’s community going back to the earliest days of modern history, and the sensitivity of its members and officials to the conditions of the neighborhood.
“We moved to our current location in 1950, so we’re celebrating 76 years on the campus that we’re currently located,” Henry said in a presentation at the meeting. “We built along the way, of course – various improvements, added the ceremonial Christian Academy and the sanctuary in 1979. There have been other things that have happened along the way.”
That includes the acquisition of some residential properties adjacent to the church, which it has rented out at market rate or used to house staff affiliated with the church and school.
“We realized that our property was an opportunity here, not only to retain and enhance the workforce housing for the church, but to be aligned and consistent with and part of the solution for the town’s Housing Element and General Plan,” Henry said. “So we’ve come to understand way more than I ever thought I would understand about the Housing Element, and the housing needs, and being able to identify this as a partnership mixed-use project opportunity.”
But as one resident noted, opposition to new housing in the neighborhood also has a long history.
“I was born and raised here in this valley 89 years ago,” said Gary Soto during public comment. “I bought my first house on Ilo Lane 62 years ago, and I bought it for reasons. It was on a dead-end street, we had two small children, it was close to my work and the kids’ school. The neighbors were great, they respected everyone, and the church was large enough for the Sunday parishioners.”
Soto said he was already skeptical of the church’s expansions over the years, and supported previous town officials’ resistance to further expansions.
“That is when our two former mayors, Mike Shimansky and Mike Doyle – bless their hearts; they’re both gone now – stepped in and said enough is enough … It’s time for the church to fold their wings and be happy with what they have and leave the neighborhood alone. And here we go again in ’26, wanting to remove 95% of the existing homes so they can build 68-unit multi-family home development and create more traffic.”
As longtime Planning Commissioner Robert Combs noted, a lot has changed since then regarding the town’s discretion under new state housing laws.
“Things have changed in 18 years of being on this (commission), where the town had some more say in how development would happen,” Combs said. “And now we’re where we’re at. And so right now, what’s happening shouldn’t be a surprise to anybody. We’ve gone through this regional housing needs, and this land has been designated with multi (family) housing.”
The project is set to be completed in four phases according to Henry, starting with demolition to make way for expanded parking for the church then grading work before selling the residential property to a developer, then moving forward with expansions and renovations on the main church campus.
Church facility upgrades, as proposed, include a new 26,866-square-foot youth and ministry building, a new 1,035-square-foot outdoor pavilion, expanding the existing main sanctuary to add 225 more seats, a soccer field and basketball courts.
