Members of the Escalon City Council approved a Planned Development Project at their Tuesday, Jan. 16 session, giving the nod for the Leer Village project to move forward.
As proposed, Leer Village will include re-modeling of some of the existing structures along with construction of additional buildings to create a “mixed-use development.” Among those mixed uses would be eight independent townhouses, one office/retail space, a 10-unit storage building and on-site parking.
The expansive downtown project covers properties at both 1850 and 1854 Main Street, 1528 E. Third and 1855 Coley Avenue; all of which were part of the former City Hall-Planning-Police Department complex prior to the move to new city offices on McHenry Avenue.
After being recommended by the city’s Planning Commission, the issue went to council and a public hearing at the Jan. 16 session gave time for final comments and questions. The meeting was held on Tuesday night instead of the normal third Monday night council meeting due to the observance of the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.
“Overall the council seemed to be pleased with the contracts and project as presented,” noted City Manager Tammy Alcantor.
The public hearing covered issues including re-zoning required for the project and a tentative vesting subdivision map for the Leer Village project. Following the hearing, the council approved the planned development project and also agreed to the phasing for the development.
“It’s very exciting,” Alcantor said of seeing the project move forward. “The first phase will be four (housing) units in the old police department facility.”
Those first units are expected to be completed in roughly a year to 18 months, based on the timeline included as part of the plans. Multiple renderings of the various phases of the project were on display at the Jan. 16 meeting as well, to give the council and audience a general idea of what the finished project will look like.
Council members and city staff are anxious to see the project play out to completion, Alcantor added.
“This is different than anything we have in town,” she said.
