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| Tri-Valley Herald, Tuesday, April 2, 2002 |
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| MOUNTAIN HOUSE PROJECT RISING FAST- Planned Community Hitting Goals Ahead of Schedule |
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TRACY—Work on Mountain House, the giant planned community between Tracy and Livermore, is ahead of schedule. "Considering the size of what we’re doing, I would say things are going extremely well," said Eric Teed-Bose, the Mountain House director of planning for Trimark Communities. In the next couple of weeks, some of the main roads will be paved.
As early as June, the first school could start taking shape. Residents might call Mountain House home by the first of the year, Teed-Bose said. "We’re working on a variety of things," he said. "The work never stops."
Teed-Bose attributes Mountain House’s success to cooperation between developer Trimark Communities and the long list of agencies with a hand in the multimillion-dollar project to create a new city. Progress on the planned community hasn’t always developed so swiftly.
Mountain House was first proposed 15 years ago in 1987. The San Joaquin County Board of Supervisors gave Trimark Communities the green light in 1994.
The project, north of Interstate 205 next to the Alameda County line, will turn about five miles of farm land into a full-fledged community. Over the next 25 years, the 12 full-service areas of Mountain House—complete with homes, recreational, commercial and business facilities—will be home to 44,000 residents. Construction on homes in the first neighborhood called "Wicklund" may begin by October.
Trimark Communities, the project’s main developer, is now in negotiations with several builders to start construction on the first 20 to 30 homes. Teed-Bose said these model homes will give potential home buyers a chance to walk through about five different types of homes of different sizes and costs. "Presenting as broad a range of home styles and prices as possible from day one," Teed-Bose said. "I think we’ll give people an immediate sense of the variety that we’ve been talking about all along."
"Wicklund" single-family homes will be followed by an array of townhouses, condominiums and apartments.
Paul Sensibaugh, general manager of the Mountain House Community Services District, is charged with setting up water, garbage and all the civic services from the county’s side.
At about 80 percent complete, the water and wastewater treatment plants are the first above-ground structures visible at Mountain House. "Completion of the plants is a huge milestone," Sensibaugh said. "We take over once they are completed." |
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