Page 13 - Vallejo_Chamber_of_Commerce_Magazine_Winter_2019
P. 13
Elsewhere in the city, major projects
Nimitz isn’t the only company to see development including plans to add more than 300 CELEBRATE
potential in Mare Island, just the biggest. The are poised to start in the new year,
developer, Wiseman Company’s Chief Business
Development Officer Zen Hunter-Ishikawa, said homes at two locations, expected to
Vallejo is part of the company’s efforts to draw be finalized in early 2020. One is to YOUR
business into Solano County from San Francisco. expand Costco to a new lot on Admiral
The Wiseman Company sees the potential to lure Callaghan Lane, between Rotary Way
tech companies and other corporations who are and Turner Parkway, and about 175
taking part in that Hunter-Ishikawa-called “San homes adjacent to it. Another 175-home NEXT EVENT
Francisco exodus,” driven by traffic congestion plan will build two-story dwellings on
and increasing costs for office space. Their Vallejo’s waterfront, near the Mare
campaign’s slogan is “Make Your Class A Move.” Island Causeway. This plan will include
two parks, with a walkway that will go
“There are companies that are leaving San by the nearby Zio Fraedos restaurant.
Francisco and going to Denver or Austin.
We’re making the case to them that there was Thinking further down the line, the
city is also in the early stages of a plan
a reason you were in California in the first to add roughly 600 homes to the area
place. We’re giving them an option to stay
where they want to be,” Hunter-Ishikawa said. on what is now the Blue Rock Springs
Golf Course. This plan includes a
Vallejo, he said, was identified as “an renovation of the existing golf course
undervalued location,” thanks to its location, clubhouse and a redesigned course
diverse population and easy access to other that is much smaller than the current
parts of the Bay Area, be it the short drive to 36-hole course that exists today. Large or Small
Napa or the quick ferry ride to San Francisco. Public or Private
“The golf course will create this Indoors or Outdoors
buffer between the existing homes
and the new homes,” Morat said. “That will really A Special Place For
ensure that if you have a home now that is backed up
against the golf course, you can continue to have that. Your Special Event!
We won’t just build new homes in people’s backyards.”
Morat credited the City Council for working to increase
•
staffing in the city’s Planning Department in recent
years. In the past two years, “significant changes” have
happened to the city’s permitting process, he said.
•
“We weren’t staffed in a way that gave us the ability to •
process that much, and now we are,” Morat said. “We’re
really able to start adjusting things comprehensively. •
Because we have the staff, there is no line; we can
•
handle multiple projects at the same time.”
•
“[During] the history of Vallejo over the last 10 years, we
were at bare-bones staff for many years, and now we’re
back on our financial feet and we have a City Council
that is willing to make it a priority,” Morat added.
Nate Gartrell grew up in Benicia, studied
journalism in college, and has written for a
handful of media outlets since age 15. He aspires
to visit all 30 Major League Baseball stadiums
and to hit the trifecta at the horse track.
Discover our community 2019 11
