With the Lake House project on the move, residents voice their concerns about traffic woes on Turner, Lower Sac

Mar. 29—Some residents who say they support a new hotel and retail development in the north Lodi area also raised concerns this week about traffic along thoroughfares already plagued by speeding vehicles.

A handful of residents addressed the speeding issue during the Lodi Planning Commission's Wednesday night discussion regarding the Lake House project, a 96-room hotel and 150-unit apartment complex development planned for the corner of North Lower Sacramento and Turner roads.

The development, which has been in the planning stages for nearly six years, will also include a restaurant and more than 18,000 square feet of retail space on a nine-acre piece of land located directly across the street from the former General Mills plant.

The planning commission voted 6-0 to approve rezoning the property from industrial to mixed-use, but did not approve specific site plans.

Those will be discussed by the city's Site Plan and Architectural Review Committee in the future.

Residents said that while new retail and housing would be a welcome addition to the area, they urged the city to do something to alleviate the reckless driving they say occurs at the intersection on a daily basis.

"That is a speed zone," Stefan Folkendt said. "My concerns is how are we going to slow it down? Not only is it a speed zone, it's a traffic congested area anytime between 4 p.m. until about 6 p.m. Cars just line up past what is termed to be the entry point of this development (on North Lower Sacramento Road). Coming down Turner Road, cars line up past the entry point of the property there, too."

According to a rendering presented Wednesday, the development's entry point along Lower Sacramento Road will be located across the street from Woodlake Circle, while there are two entry points along Turner Road, with one roughly 200 feet from the Lower Sacramento Road intersection.

Brett Jolley, the attorney representing applicant Celia Hung, said his client is willing to pay for any traffic calming measures, including a crosswalk with flashing beacons at Eilers Lane, similar to the one located on Turner Road near Loma Drive.

Resident Gail Sampson said such a measure does little to slow speeders.

"We have Lodi Lake and we have traffic congestion there," she said. "At any given day during the summer it gets backed up. We have the flashing light crosswalk, which helps a little, but when people cross the street, I've been waiting in the right lane waiting for people to cross, and I've had instances where (drivers) just blow by."

Staff said it will take residents' concerns and suggestions into consideration and explores ways to further calm traffic in the project area.

Hung initially proposed the Lake House project in 2018, and since that time, it has undergone major changes.

The project now consists of a 96-suite boutique hotel, a 70-seat restaurant with parking on the site, along with about 18,500 square feet of retail space and an apartment complex with 150 market-rate units and a two-story community building.

The apartment complex will consist of 54 one-bedroom units, 88 two-bedroom units and eight three-bedroom units. There will be 215 parking spaces for the retail component of the project, and 288 for housing.

Jolley said the project will create a number of benefits for the community, including increasing revenue from property, sales and hotel occupancy taxes, as well as helping Lodi meet its affordable housing needs.

He said the average monthly rent for an apartment in Lodi is about $1,500, and the average monthly cost to rent a house is about $2,150.

Hung's project, he said, will provide a more affordable, yet higher quality rental opportunity.

"This project helps meet (housing needs)," he said. "While these apartments will be market rate, as we all know, apartment rental rates are typically substantially lower per unit than single family homes and provide more affordable options for people in the community."

John Vierra of NJA Architects said the commercial component of the project will ideally include a coffee shop, bakery and other businesses that neighbors from the surrounding area, as well as tourists, will be able to enjoy.

While a proposed parking structure in the northeast section of the project site will be used mainly by hotel guests, Vierra said some 35 parking spaces located along Turner Road will be solely for the community.

There will be no on-street parking along North Lower Sacramento Road and Turner Road.

"We really want this, especially the front half of the building, to be an element of this community that I think is lacking right now," Vierra said. "We have kind of a lack of commercial retail on the north side of Lodi, and this will kind of create an anchor for the northern part of Lodi."

Wednesday's approval sends the rezoning proposal to the Lodi City Council. Once approved, SPARC can begin discussing the project specifics such as aesthetics and parking requirements, among others.

Commission chair Mitch Slater asked staff to, in the meantime, consider some sort of additional traffic enforcement in the area until the project breaks ground.

"I've been in that area. I've seen the speeding and the traffic," he said. "It horrifies me that somebody would screech by somebody in an inappropriate lane going way past the speed limit. I think some of our finest could be out there reminding (drivers) that they ought not to be doing that."