A new housing development is under consideration for the Barber neighborhood in Chico.
The developer, Dan Gonzales who is responsible for Meriam Park and the owner of the Barber Yard site, envisions the project as being unlike any other housing development in the city. The project’s designs include parks, athletic fields and outdoor gathering spaces built to resemble the community around it while creating new places for residents to gather and play.
That doesn’t mean the project comes without potential downfalls. An environmental impact report has been released for community review which raises several concerns.
Do the project’s benefits outweigh the costs?
The specific plan for the Barber Yard project provides extensive details about the proposed development and is available for public review.
It calls for 4 to 35 housing units per acre, with a maximum of 1,250 residences on the 133-acre lot. The proposed site is situated at the intersection of 16th Street and Estes Drive, where the abandoned Diamond Match factory is located. Mixed housing would exist in combination with social, commercial and retail spaces.
Mixed housing refers to the availability of a variety of housing options in one location. Barber Yard would host single family homes, duplexes, townhomes and apartment buildings, all built in a similar style to pre-existing houses in the neighborhood.
Gonzales said he met with the Barber Yard Neighborhood Association in the early phases of the project. They contributed their vision and concerns for the area, which Gonzales said he incorporated into the project’s plan.
“I take all this information and I go into Barber, and . . . it has a soul of its own,” Gonzales said. “It's got old buildings, it's got the plaza, it's got burned down buildings, which I look at as opportunities.”
The project’s plan calls for the site’s old buildings to be re-engineered into commercial spaces, open spaces to become parks and the trees to stay largely where they are.
“When you look at Barber, I think you're going to see it's very artsy,” Gonzales said. “We're going to keep the prices down for artisans and be very lively, very fitness oriented.”
As currently proposed, the site would incorporate a baseball diamond, outdoor plazas, indoor pickleball courts and a dog park. The location of the mixed use neighborhood and the high density housing would also promote walking and biking.
“It still wants to be walkable, very walkable and accessible for public transportation,” Gonzales said. “It's three quarters of a mile from Chico State, so there's a natural attraction between Chico State and what can happen from there to Barber Yard.”
A different kind of urban development
The Barber Yard project is the only large-scale development currently under review that would supply infill housing.
Eric Nilsson is the chair of the Butte Environmental Council board of directors. He explained that infill housing is development within a city’s boundaries, usually on vacant or underused lots, and said it’s preferable to greenfield development, which builds new housing on previously undeveloped land.
“When you build close to the compact core . . . it's an advantage to the climate . . . because it reduces vehicle miles traveled, and it's an advantage to the city because it saves the city on infrastructure costs,” Nilsson said.
Barber Yard meets both of those qualifications. It’s centrally located with streets leading into the site, and pre-existing water and power lines.
In contrast, Nilsson said the previously proposed Valley’s Edge development that was voted down by city residents in March was practically the opposite. It crossed the green line on the east side of Chico — a boundary that separates urban development from surrounding agricultural land — and had very little pre-installed infrastructure.
“People are either embracing the fact that we have a climate crisis and that we need to act . . . and housing is a huge part of that,” he said. “Barber Yard is a great way to act to mitigate that.”
According to Nilsson, the Barber Yard project would also supply housing units to fill the needs of the “missing middle.” That refers to a low supply of housing within financial reach of the average resident of Chico.
Generally accepted financial guidance recommends that housing costs should take up only one-third of the household income. However, the average household income in Chico is around $65,000, or $5,400 per month, while the median sale price for a home in the city has a potential mortgage range of $2,700 to $3,300 per month — well over half the monthly income.
That places the American dream of home ownership out of reach for most Chico residents.
“When you really look at the data, what that breaks down to is probably less than 20% of all Chico citizens can afford a three bedroom, two bathroom house,” Nilsson said. “So what we desperately need in Chico is this missing middle, townhouses, cottages, fourplexes, duplexes, apartments. And what Barber Yard does is it provides that variety of housing choices to people.”
When asked what a completed three bedroom home would potentially cost in the Barber Yard project area, Gonzales said he thinks he can produce about 80 units for around $300,000. “I know how to do it, and I'm committed to doing it.”
A future site with a complicated past
While Barber Yard’s location is one of its biggest assets, the historical use of the site has created serious environmental issues that must be addressed before development begins.
The Diamond Match Company’s western headquarters were housed at the site from 1901 to 1975. Louisiana Pacific Lumber Company later acquired the property and ran operations from there until 1989. Both of these businesses used chemicals that can cause long-term contamination of soils and water.
The release of the Draft Environmental Impact Report (EIR) is an important part of the development process. Conducted in three phases by a third-party contractor, the environmental review has identified several areas of concern in its first and second phases.
NSPR reached out to Cameron-Cole, the contractor responsible for conducting the review, for comment. The company responded that they do not comment on client documents.
Chris Nelson is a neighbor of Barber Yard and has been an environmental watchdog for the area for almost 40 years. She shared her concerns regarding the EIR at a Jan. 30 public meeting about the project and with NSPR.
“We were not notified of this plan. We never got a written notice from the city,” Nelson said. “I've been following the situation for a very long time, because I've been concerned about the cleanup that took place that I knew was incomplete.”
The report itself is over 700 pages long with about 1,800 pages of appendices. Nelson believes the length of the EIR, combined with the inaccessibility of printed copies, makes it difficult to find clear information about pollutants at the site.
Nelson said public awareness and activism has led to finding toxic contamination in Chico in the past.
“We had a meeting, and as a result of the meeting, some years ago, the health department tested wells under this Skyway subdivision off of Hagen, and they found TCE,” Nelson said. “And if the public hadn't gotten involved in that, they may never have found that groundwater contamination, and those people could have developed cancers or other serious health problems.”
For this reason, Nelson said she believes the development at Barber Yard should be put on hold until the cleanup process is complete. Her concerns were echoed by other members of the public at the January community meeting.
Gonzales said he’s aware of these concerns but said they reflect a misunderstanding of the review process. The project is currently in phase two, where contaminated areas are identified. As the project moves into phase three, remediation efforts must be completed and approved before construction can begin.
The Department of Toxic Substance Control is responsible for providing the final clearance before building permits can be issued.
“There's a lot of concerns out there that we're covering things up, that we're off-hauling things now. It's just not even possible or even reasonable or smart, right? There's just too many eyes on this,” Gonzales said.
Nelson is one of those sets of eyes. Her knowledge of the site’s past and close attention to the planning process have heightened awareness and promoted public engagement.
“We all have to be on the same page about the toxics of the Barber Yard, because it's the future of Chico,” Nelson said. “It's the future for people, especially who live on that land, their children, their animals. You know, is it safe to dig in the dirt there? Is it safe to have a garden there?”
The main contaminants that have been identified at the site are PCP — which was used to preserve wood products — arsenic, lead and pesticide residues. Extensive soil sampling has identified the specific spots where these pollutants exist at elevated concentrations.
There are also toxic plumes that extend below the site. These plumes contain forever chemicals from previous contaminations, mostly volatile organic compounds from improper disposal of industrial solvents.
In response to these issues, Gonzales believes he has gone above and beyond what is required of him in order to identify every possible environmental hazard.
“We have to make it a safe site, or we can't build,” he said. “It's fairly black and white.”
What’s being done in response to concerns
Each area of concern identified in the draft EIR is coupled with a mitigating factor, meant to remediate the problem to acceptable levels.
For example, polluted soil will be physically removed from the site and replaced with a layer of healthy dirt. A hazardous materials management plan will be made and implemented to guarantee that the removal process will be safe for construction workers and the surrounding area.
Wells that measure groundwater and soil vapor levels will remain in place and continue to be monitored. And a three acre asphalt cap that contains and conceals contaminants from a previous cleanup effort will be permanently maintained.
Issues such as increased traffic, dust and noise levels are some of the only impacts incapable of being mitigated. Barber neighbors are concerned about these factors but largely do not consider them as insurmountable obstacles to the development.
They may be a small cost to pay in the long run: Nilsson said he expects the Barber Yard development to vitalize the area he considers the spine of Chico.
“There is tremendous opportunity for redevelopment, because there are a lot of empty buildings and so it's just a matter of getting the energy, and Barber Yard will do a great deal to stimulate growth in that direction,” Nilsson said.
What will happen next
The review period for the Barber Yard project is open until March 7. That gives the community one more week to express their thoughts about the development before the next phase of development begins. Every public comment submitted during the review will be addressed by city planners and developers.
Gonzales is eager to move forward with the process. He said he’s excited to see his vision come to life and contribute to the development of Chico.
“That's how we protect these valuable resources, is to activate them. And that means with people,” Gonzales said. “They'll take ownership of the businesses and the housing, and that's what we need.”
As site preparations and environmental remediation continue, the community has a chance to decide if Barber Yard is what Chico needs.
