TRUCKEE
In a special Truckee Town Council meeting June 23, council members voted 4-0 to reject an appeal against the Truckee Planning Commission’s May 4 approval of Residences at Jibboom — a four-building, 62-unit (including 10 affordable units) mixed-use development proposed in Downtown Truckee.
The appeal, filed May 13 by resident Dan Cockrum, asserted that four key areas of the project need to be addressed:
- Incomplete administrative record — key objective studies are not included in the record.
- The commission incorrectly concluded the Housing Accountability Act prohibited denial of the project when government code allows changes to a project if there are specific health and safety concerns, which the town did not evaluate.
- CEQA errors
- Unsupported findings
“This appeal … is about making sure that any housing built in Truckee is safe, lawful, and consistent with the objective standards that protect our residents and our historic downtown,” Cockrum said during his presentation at the meeting. “This is not a disagreement about policy; it’s a disagreement about the right evidence under the law [that] evidence controls. The issue before you is simple: a planning commission cannot lawfully approve a project when the record lacks the objective project-level evidence needed to bridge the analytical gap between the findings and the facts. Yet this is exactly the situation here.”
Cockrum, as well as those who spoke in person at the meeting during public comment and/or submitted written comments prior to the meeting, brought up concerns about evacuation, wildfire risk, CEQA exemption, and more.
Town staff responded by disagreeing to all claims made by Cockrum. Detailed comments can be found in the project’s staff report beginning on p. 23. Noted by staff and council members during the special meeting is that certain studies being requested by the appellate are not required until the building permit stage, including a design-level geotechnical report and California Fire Code compliance.
“Our job tonight isn’t to decide whether we love four stories or facade … it’s whether the record shows a specific, adverse unavoidable impact to health or safety,” said Vice Mayor Courtney Henderson. “Staff and our legal counsel find no specific adverse impact in the record. Truckee Fire’s review didn’t identify evacuation problems either. The fire access and the slope details that people are worried about, they don’t vanish tonight … they get reviewed again at the building permit stage, which is exactly what the conditions of approval really are for. But concern isn’t the same as evidence, and on this record I have to say I don’t see a lawful basis to deny these homes.”
Residences at Jibboom is buoyed in part by state law — California’s State Density Bonus Law and the Housing Crisis Act — which heavily limits what the town can say no to regarding housing projects that include affordable elements. Read more in Jibboom Street Housing Project Approved Unanimously by Planning Commission.
“The record is adequate to support the applicant’s request on all points,” said Council Member Jan Zabriskie. “The state has put us in a bind on a number of items, essentially telling us there’s a number of things we can’t consider simply because 10 of the units would be affordable housing.”
The council’s unanimous decision is considered final at a local level. Any continued appeal would have to be filed with the Superior Court of Nevada County within 30 days of the June 23 decision.
“I don’t intend to challenge the decision further,” Cockrum emailed to Moonshine Ink. “I continue to believe the town overlooked important hazard and safety concerns, and I hope those issues are taken seriously as the project moves forward. My goal was to raise the red flags; the responsibility now rests with the town.”
~ AH