Staff Reports

Eastvale – Several Eastvale community members gathered at the July 28 City Council meeting to voice their concerns about the proposed apartments to be built on Sumner and Schleisman Road. The meeting was packed with residents holding “No Density APT” signs, with crowds of people both inside and outside the building. It was reported that there were over 50 speakers addressing their concerns and providing suggestions to the council, and the housing portion of the meeting lasted over 4 hours long.

The conversation among the community started when Stratham Homes proposed to build 216 High-Density apartments and townhomes at the corner of Sumner and Schleisman Road. The structures are proposed to be 2 and 3 stories tall and include a 5,000 sq. ft. complex on the property.

The main concerns of the community are the increased traffic the apartments will bring. The residents suspect the traffic will increase collisions and pose a risk to children walking or riding bikes to school, which is only a half mile away. They are also concerned about the road diets that they expect will go along with the apartments.

Residents are hopeful that the Council listened to their concerns and will come up with another solution that meets the needs of the Housing Element Plan and the community. 

The City has discussed their Housing Element Plan in news releases and videos. They recently uploaded a video discussing how every City in the state of California is required to update their housing element plan every eight years. “This is a state mandate and by law, requires our city to comply,” stated the City in a Facebook post. However, they encourage the community to provide their input view the RHNA (Regional Housing Needs Allocation) Challenge.

The challenge is an online simulation tool where community members have an opportunity to be a “resident planner” and create a “balanced housing plan by adjusting future housing units to meet State requirements.”

The City stated that the ideas created in this simulation are a “key piece of community input that will guide the development of our Housing Element planning document update to be in compliance with state regulations.” Once residents are completed with their housing plan, you can submit it directly to the City and the City team will use the results to inform the Housing Element update.

You can access the simulation tool through the month of August by visiting: https://eastvaleca.abalancingact.com/TaketheRHNAChallenge The City also provided a list of frequently answered questions about the Housing Element that can be found here: https://engage.eastvaleca.gov/housing-element.

Update since published: The City hosted an Eastvale Housing Open Forum on August 26th from 6 to 8 pm at New Day Church. City staff took questions on the 3,028 housing units the residents are concerned about. More information to come.