 | | | KB Homes grades the future site for the Moraga Center Homes. Photo Sophie Braccini | | | | | | The very contentious Moraga Center Homes project has broken ground in Moraga, as any passersby on Moraga Way may have noticed. Starting to grade in the middle of the rainy season, even if it is quite dry right now, is heavily regulated and some residents have asked why this was permitted without much information given to the public.
The old pear trees that once grew on the site located between Moraga Way and Country Club Drive, next to the fire station at 1280 Moraga Way are gone and the developer of the 36 attached homes that will be built on the site, KB Homes, has started grading the 3.06-acre lot.
A single bulldozer was seen on site, uprooting the trees and moving dirt. It was enough to unsettle longtime resident Richard Olsen. He says that during the 43 years since Moraga's incorporation, he is not aware of any major grading or dirt hauling operations that have occurred within the town's limits during the winter rainy season. "In the case of the two most recent major subdivisions in Moraga - SummerHill Homes on Camino Ricardo (now Harvest Court) and Rancho Laguna II projects - both did not undertake any grading or dirt hauling activities during the winter," Olsen added. He believes that granting permission to perform the grading and dirt hauling is unprecedented. He was very disappointed that no effort was made to inform the public before the process started.
The acting planning director Derek Farmer explains that the applicant has received a grading permit for the development, and that the grading ordinance allows for grading activities within the rainy season provided all erosion control measures are in place and the work does not pose a potentially significant geotechnical risk. He added that the town hosted a preconstruction meeting with the applicant's construction team on Feb. 5 to discuss the project schedule and all the requirements of the grading permit checklist prior to site grading.
The town updated its website on Feb. 7 to provide more information about the project and the construction schedule, including contact information for both the applicant and the town's engineering staff. Further updates can be found on the town's website at moraga.ca.us.
The approval of this development as part of the Moraga Center Specific Plan gave rise to protests from a large group of residents that collected the required number of signatures to subject the project to a referendum during the summer of 2015. The election never happened because the local court denied the validity of the legal challenge. Olsen was part of the group of residents opposing the project.
City Ventures went through the years of planning process to secure a permit to build the 36 attached family homes called Moraga Center Homes. KB Homes is now developing the site, according to the plans approved by the town. That company is a 60-year-old publicly traded corporation headquartered in Los Angeles. At this time KB Homes is building detached homes and condominiums in over 12 different locations in the Bay Area, including in Hayward, Fremont, Dublin and Brentwood.
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Lamorinda Weekly, Moraga CA