Here is an update on what is happening regarding the two commercial developments planned for Deer Valley Ct in Rescue and some requests for help.
RE: 3335 Deer Valley Court, proposed perinatal facility – The developer, HomeCA/Ultimax Builders, have applied for a grading permit and are working on a checklist of items to obtain county approval. The developer has done a soil sample and septic perc test over last few weeks. As of yesterday, the county had not yet received an update from the developer. We are encouraging the county to ensure community safety by requiring environmental reviews (water, fire, traffic, etc) prior to approving permit. We have also provided legal guidance around land use requirements as it pertains to these state programs to help encourage the county to require these reviews prior to granting the permit. It is unclear at this point what the county will do once the checklist is complete from the developer.
RE: 3840 Deer Valley Ct, proposed 15 room bridge housing facility – we continue to investigate what exactly is planned for that parcel. Publicly, Native Directions has stated they plan a 15-room facility for “senior care,” but we believe it is “bridge housing” facility, funded through a $5M grant from the Behavioral Health Bridge Housing (BHBH) program. This program is described “to address the immediate housing needs of people experiencing homelessness who have serious behavioral health conditions, including serious mental illness (SMI) and/or substance use disorder (SUD).” (details here).
We believe the county needs to assess both of these facilities together, since they are in the same physical area, will utilize the same services, water source and roads. Any environmental review needs comprehend the full impact of both of these facilities, not just one individually, on the surrounding community.
As we all know, it is patently obvious these locations are not suited for these types of facilities. These facilities should be placed in a better location, and optimally in San Joaquin County, where patients and their families don’t need to be transported at least 100 miles away for 90-120 day programs to an area that lacks in services and is a long distance from medical care. The developer, HomeCA, is pushing forward regardless. Together, we need to ratchet up the pressure on the State officials that funded these developments to get them moved. To that end we are going to start working on a press program to get the word out broader. Stay tuned for details and timelines.
We need your continued help. We will announce another fund raising event soon, so hopefully you can attend that, and get the word out. We could also use story ideas for our upcoming press outreach. If you have any interesting story ideas, please send them through our contact form here.
Stay tuned for more information about the next fundraiser. Thanks for your continued support!
Rescue Deer Valley! 