A ninety unit affordable senior housing facility could be built on Highway 89 adjacent to Santa Rosa Christian School and Gospel Projects soon. An outreach meeting at City Hall Thursday night, hosted by City Planning Director Randy Jorgenson and Mayor Wesley Meiss, introduced residents inside Willard Norris Rd, Dogwood Dr, and Chestnut to the potential new neighbor. Vestcor is interested in building the Jacob Heights Senior Center on the Gospel Projects owned site. While residents in attendance expressed approval of the project, they were concerned it may increase traffic through their neighborhood, already dominated by vehicles coming to and from the school.
Jorgenson said at the meeting, “There is a need for this kind of housing in the county.
“Of the 22,623 senior households, there are 2,986 income qualified senior households and of those 1,040 are renters with no units in the county such as Vestcor would provide.”
Jorgenson said tenants would need to be at least 55 years old, and 90 percent of the units would be rented to those at 60 percent or less area median income (AMI), the other 10 percent at 40 percent or less AMI.
As to the traffic, Jorgenson said to residents at the meeting, “The way to address that is to add a lane on Chestnut. Put a median in that lane. The lane that’s added is for stacking of left-turn only into the property, and right-turn only coming off the subject property. So, all of the traffic from this project never goes through your neighborhood. It all goes to Dogwood Drive.”
Residents first balked at the idea and several advocated for putting the project entrance on Dogwood Drive. Jorgenson said Dogwood Drive is a state highway and so Florida Department of Transportation would have to weigh-in on the subject. Director of Acquisitions for Vestcor, Ryan Hoover, said the company would be amenable as well to looking at changing the project’s access point.
Henry Martin, a resident on Redwood Drive said, “I have lived in that neighborhood for 21 years…and since that day to the present we have suffered with Gospel Projects traffic in and out of that place. Many of us have almost been run over.”
Jorgenson said, “I believe that your issues are associated with activities that occur on the Gospel Projects property,” a sentiment he expressed more than once at the meeting. He said the city would be willing to work with the neighborhood to address the two main problems of heavy traffic and speeding. One method of addressing speeding, Jorgeson said, would be to post a device called Speed Spy to monitor traffic load and speed.
Martin later suggested the neighbors could get together and say, “Let’s make this a gated community.” Discussion also included blocking access from Willard Norris at Red Pine Street.
Jorgenson said, “Folks, this is a good project and we want to make the project work, and we can do that. At the same time, I don’t want your 20-year issues to continue.” By the end of the meeting, residents and the city agreed to have another meeting addressing traffic concerns and how to accommodate Jacob Heights Thursday, December 18, at 5:30 p.m. at City Hall. Jorgenson said he would have a FDOT representative there, but Hoover said he would not be able to attend. However, the next public hearing on the Vestcor project will be in January.
This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: New senior facility eying Gospel Projects site