Another apartment complex in north Merced on council’s agenda
The Merced City Council will look at an apartment complex plan in north Merced on Monday, two weeks after another complex in the same part of town drew the ire of residents there.
The council will hold a public hearing on the 6-acre plans for the more than 100-unit complex proposed near Horizon Avenue and Pacific Drive during its regular meeting Monday. A 6 p.m. study session on a future police station is also planned that night before the regular meeting.
The council will be asked to assess two options for the proposed complex. One would build 136 units with the parking located within the “floodway” of Fahrens Creek, which is to the south of the project. The second option reduces the number of units to 104 to allow the parking lot to stay out of the floodway, a designated area likely to be underwater during a flood.
Property around the creek and the potential for flooding have been an issue in Merced before.
In March 2014, Baxter Ranches agreed to restore areas along Fahrens Creek where experts say someone did work that increased the threat of flooding. That work was along a different stretch of the creek than would be affected by the apartments’ development.
Building a new apartment complex near existing homes can be controversial. Earlier this month, the council delayed a considerably larger apartment complex less than 2 miles north of the Horizon Avenue project after many homeowners opposed the plans.
The larger project would have had more than 400 units. Homeowners in the area put together a petition and voiced their concerns to the council, which asked the developer of that project to shrink the size of the complex.
The larger and smaller complexes are expected to be advertised, at least in part, to UC Merced students.
During the study session Monday, the council will re-evaluate the Mansionette Drive and Yosemite Avenue site selected in March 2010 to be the future home of the Merced Police Department.
The site had been selected after a citywide review of 26 locations. The city paid more than $1.1 million for 5.16 acres, which would be twice as big as the 22nd Street station.
To select a new location, the city would have to use the same site selection criteria it used in 2008 when it began the process, according to the city’s staff. Among the 21 criteria were property size, traffic congestion, location, cost and access points.
The council also will consider purchasing a Pierce Quantum pumper fire engine from Pierce Manufacturing for $575,203.
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.
If you go
The Merced City Council’s regular meeting is at 7 p.m. Monday at City Hall, 678 W. 18th St.
This story was originally published July 19, 2015 at 1:26 PM with the headline "Another apartment complex in north Merced on council’s agenda."