Merced City Council to look at apartment, park plans

Discussion on a large apartment complex and the plans for a local park’s clubhouse are on the agenda for Merced City Council on Monday.

The council is set to take public comment on a plan from CWN Development, which is looking to build a 432-unit apartment complex in north Merced in an area bounded by M Street Circle, Mandeville Lane and Barclay Way.

The council is also set to pick a group to award the lease of the Stephen Leonard Park Youth Center. The regular meeting is at 7 p.m. Monday at City Hall, 678 W. 18th St.

The apartment complex is proposed for a site designated for multifamily use, which includes apartments. The project met the architectural requirements of the Bellevue Ranch Master Development Plan, according to a news release.

The parking spaces exceeded the minimum number required and it was within the range of units allowed in the area, the news release stated.

The Planning Commission voted to deny the project, expressing a concern about the number of bedrooms, amount of parking and potential for an influx of renters rather than owners.

The proposed site has residential houses to its east, and undeveloped land to its west. More than 100 people have spoken out or signed a petition opposing the project during its time before the commission.

At the same meeting, the council will weigh the ability of a number of nonprofits to run youth activities out of the Stephen Leonard Park Youth Center. The local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the Merced Soccer Academy each submitted applications to use the facility.

A similar youth center at McNamara Park is run by four nonprofits. Council members asked all six organizations to meet and work out a plan for the centers, which has yet to be seen.

The groups could be shuffled around between sites to try to come to a compromise.

A closed-session meeting is planned at 6:30 p.m. to confer with labor negotiators regarding the firefighters and police sergeants unions.

City Council meetings are streamed live on the Internet; a link to the meeting and past videos is at www.cityofmerced.org. The meeting is also shown live on Comcast’s Government Channel 96.

This story was originally published July 5, 2015 at 10:44 AM with the headline "Merced City Council to look at apartment, park plans."