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| Tracy Press, Sunday, January 19, 2003 |
| by Ben van der Meer |
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| MOUNTAIN HOUSE READY FOR HOMES |
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A long-planted crop finally burst from the earth west of Tracy on Saturday. The first foundation of what will eventually be the town of Mountain House was poured at 519 Kline Court in the fog of the early morning. Two groups of four model homes now have foundations, and nine more concrete slabs will be set in the next few days. "Everything we do, the first time it takes more time than it should," said Eric Teed-Bose, director of community development for Mountain House. "But we’re ready to go now."
The huge cranes that pour tons of concrete into foundations will be a common sight from Mountain House Parkway. Wicklund Village, the first of 12 communities within the development, will fill in with close to 1,000 homes. The model homes that started Saturday should be finished within a month and will provide prospective homeowners with a wood-and-concrete taste of the town, designed by Greystone Homes, an Illinois-based homebuilder. The five styles of homes, each with four designs, correspond to about 600 houses. "It’s great to have so many different communities starting at the same time," said Scott Underwood, area manager for Greystone Homes.
The smallest homes will have three to five bedrooms and vary from 1,800 to 2,085 square feet, while the largest have four to five bedrooms and range from 3,490 to 4,050 square feet.
Moving trucks could be rolling into the community as soon as June or July, Underwood said. Sales will likely begin in February or March when the models are complete. Paul Sensibaugh, general manager for the town’s community services district, said most homes are built in groups of 50 or 100 as a builder acquires housing permits. Mountain House’s first year, though, is projected to result in up to 300 homes.
Though the homes are a bit behind schedule planners hoped to start building homes last fall Teed-Bose said the bad economy can’t be faulted for the delays. "It’s basically associated with last-minute bugs," he said. "But it’s not a local problem. The home-selling business here is great." Mountain House builders have already pushed their product, through an ad campaign in magazines and newspapers and even advertisements at movie theaters in Tracy and the east Bay Area. Sensibaugh said he’s already heard there’s plenty of interest, noting that even in a dreary economic market, home prices in the Central Valley will still seem attractive to someone looking in the south Bay Area. "Everything is relative," he said. "The housing market is much cheaper here." As the houses take shape, other parts of the town expected to top out at about 42,000 people in 30 years or so are either in place or in the pipeline.
Builders started work earlier this month on Wicklund School, the kindergarten-through-eighth-grade campus that will serve that neighborhood. Officials with Lammersville School District, which will be the district for the town, plan to open the school by fall 2004.
Sensibaugh said he’s also planning what services residents can expect when they begin putting "Mountain House" on their address labels. The 2003-04 budget for the town’s community services district, he said, will include a salary for a neighborhood coordinator based in the new community to help the pioneering families living there. That coincides with an effort to find a suitable spot for an office where residents can pay bills and ask questions about those little civic details like who hauls off the trash, Sensibaugh said. "Once they get the model homes ready, it usually goes pretty fast," he said. "We’re just trying to get ready for the citizens." Sensibaugh said he’s also developing two facets that planners tout as unique to Mountain House: An interactive Web page, and an "intranet" that will enable residents to pay water bills and fulfill other needs without stepping out the front door. Workers have already finished other features, such as the town’s water and wastewater treatment stations and the streets, lighting and sewers for Wicklund neighborhood.
Gretchen Macchiarella also contributed to this report.
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