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Gay retirement community two years behind

SEISMIC, EIR STUDIES DELAY UNIQUE PROJECT; $1,000 DEPOSITS ON HOLD

SANTA ROSA – Santa Rosa resident Zahna Arnold first heard about Fountaingrove Lodge, a unique lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender retirement community in September of 2006, around the time that the groundbreaking was supposed to take place.

The one-of-a-kind 148-unit community is proposed to include a 36-unit health care center with a memory unit specializing in Alzheimer’s care. There are 12 units of affordable housing for employees, banking services, a cafe, swimming pool, entertainment and activity rooms among other amenities.

A retiree who lives alone, Ms. Arnold was thrilled to have the opportunity to live with people who understand and support her lifestyle.

“I have been in the gay community my whole life,” she said. “I am 65 now, and have some health concerns. I have my own house now, but it is just too much.”

Ms. Arnold became a priority member of Fountaingrove Lodge by investing $1,000. It gives her a price break, and the guarantee that the cost will not change in the first year.

Unfortunately for Ms. Arnold, and many like her, she is still waiting for construction to begin with no starting date in sight.

After the groundbreaking was stalled by neighborhood concerns, the city of Santa Rosa ordered a seismic study for the site along with an Environmental Impact Report. A draft of the EIR was the subject of a hearing last week. Once the comments from the community have been noted, the developers and the city can agree on what steps need to be taken to proceed with the project.

According to Wes Winter, the senior marketing director of Fountaingrove Lodge, the draft EIR cost $555,000.

The size of the project, said Mr. Winter, is one of the complaints he has heard, along with the visual impact. The geology of the site has been brought up as an issue, as well as the noise it will cause.

Skip Epperly, president of the Fountaingrove Ranch Masters Association, one of the two homeowners associations in the area, said his group does not want a second development like the nearby Varenna retirement community. It was created by Aegis Senior Living, the developers behind the lodge project.

“We don’t want another Varenna project on Thomas Harris Drive. Varenna turned out to be much more massive than was originally touted,” he said.

Bill Mabry, a partner and project developer with Aegis’s Oakmont Senior Living, said he has tried to meet with the homeowner group without success.

Mr. Epperly said he understands that the owner has a right to build something, but the current residents do not want to see something out of character. “In our view, Varenna dominates that landscape,” he said. “We are being heavily impacted by senior living facilities. There are a lot of them up here, and they don’t fit within the original concept of Fountaingrove.”

“We also know you have to cut down trees when building,” he said. “But we want responsible development.”

Fountaingrove II Open Space Maintenance Association, the second neighborhood association, is more accepting of the project.

“I don’t think that it will have any more of an impact than condos will and the area is set up for residential development,” said Jeff Schween, the president of the board.

Mr. Winter said that the piece of property has long been slated for development and zoned as a resort. So as far as traffic is concerned, there will be less with Fountaingrove Lodge. “There will also be less of a weekend impact,” he said.

And with a senior development, there is little impact on schools, while property tax generated goes to support the community. With Varenna, Mr. Mabry said, there was virtually no opposition.

While the developers, the neighbors and the city figure out the legal and proper way to deal with the issues, people like Ms. Arnold are in a state of limbo.

“It is disturbing. I decided to do this two or three years ago. Should I do anything on the house I live in? I need to keep up on what’s going on because it is my future.”