Penryn apartments hearing delayed

A proposed 150-unit apartment complex in Penryn will not go before the Placer County Planning Commission next week, as originally expected.The Orchard at Penryn was scheduled to be heard at the Feb. 23 commission meeting, but the developer, Penryn Development LLC, has not yet filed the entitlement application. "The next part of the process is for them to submit their entitlement application," said EJ Ivaldi, the county planner handling the project."Once they do, county staff will schedule them for the next available planning commission hearing," Ivaldi said.Unless the developer submits its application this week, which was the cutoff for the Mar. 22 hearing, he said the next earliest hearing would be April 12.The county requires applications and payment for permits, as well as project plans, before the planning commission decides whether or not to approve projects. These requirements are listed in the project's EIR as the "entitlements." Developers for the Orchard at Penryn must apply for a use permit, grading permit and building permit. They also must provide a subdivision map, county review of the project design, and an improvement plan for site grading, roadways, drainage, and landscaping.At the January meeting of the Penryn Municipal Advisory Council (MAC) members of the public overwhelmingly raised objections to the project, including the negative impact of the complex on the country-type living in Penryn, as well as traffic impacts from the new residents. The Penryn MAC did not approve of the proposed complex, but the county planning commission is the deciding body in the matter. The Town of Loomis joined other voices dissatisfied with the final environmental impact report (EIR) completed last month and submitted six pages of comments calling for a revision and recirculation of the EIR. The recent comments reiterate concerns the Town highlighted in its comments to the draft EIR (DEIR) last August. In the recent letter, Town Manager Rick Angelocci said, "The County summarily dismissed the Town's concerns, claiming that issues raised were fully raised in the DEIR. This type of response is not only conclusory, but it does not describe, with specific detail, why the Town's proposed revisions or comments were not accepted or considered."The letter says the final EIR did not adopt mitigation measures to reduce traffic impacts from the new development, such as shrinking the project size or requiring the developer to make a fair-share payment to the Town for traffic improvements.