The following is a press release issued by the City of Ukiah:
The City of Ukiah just received approval by the Mendocino Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCo) to annex 752 acres of unincorporated open space in the Western Hills. This area is mountainous, but has room for safe residential development in proximity to City services. By bringing the land into the City, development in the area can now move forward while preserving open space and effectively managing the wildland urban interface.
“Annexing Ukiah’s Western Hills is essential to preserving open space that is otherwise zoned for private development, while providing opportunities for needed housing, and advancing goals, such public safety and open-space access,” said Jesse Davis, Chief Planning Manager for the Ukiah Department of Community Development. “This will enable us to apply strategic growth principles and concentrate residential development in proximity to existing services and utilities, while preserving a significant portion of the acquired land for potential trails and accessible open space. By providing municipal infrastructure and managing growth properly, we can address our housing needs while avoiding sprawl.”
Over the past several decades, the Greater Ukiah Valley has suffered from uncoordinated development and urbanization. This has resulted in newly developed areas not getting necessary services to support increased residential and business needs. By folding this Western Hills area into the City, there will now be a clear plan and guidelines that ensure the new development is properly sited and accompanied by appropriate services and efficient access to affordable and reliable City utilities. Now that they are within the City limits, the new properties will receive electricity from Ukiah’s municipal utility, which offers energy at a significantly lower cost and greater reliability than PG&E. Additionally, Ukiah’s water, sewer, and roads infrastructure will have greater funding and more robust maintenance plans than areas within unincorporated county land.
Annexation of this area also helps improve public safety by allowing the City access to proactively address fire danger and reduce risks.
“Annexation of this area will offer more coordinated land use and a controlled growth plan,” said Ukiah City Manager Sage Sangiacomo. “This improves safety and sustainability for our growing community.”
Ukiah has taken a series of steps in recent years to better position the Ukiah Valley for sustainable development. It has reviewed and updated its General Plan, as well as adopted numerous zoning policies to encourage infill development. In coordination with Mendocino LAFCo, the City conducted a Municipal Service Review and Sphere of Influence Update to inform and coordinate service delivery for utilities like water and sewer. Additionally, the City worked with the County of Mendocino and the cities of Fort Bragg, Willits, and Point Arena to adopt a Master Tax Sharing Agreement. This tax sharing agreement will ensure all residents in the area pay an equal amount for the services they receive, and all residents have access to the proper level of municipal services for their community.
“It is crucial for the Greater Ukiah Valley that City boundaries match where we all live, work, shop, and play, so annexation is a necessary step,” added Sangiacomo. “This will prevent a patchwork of disconnected projects or unequal access to utilities and services. Annexation is the right way to manage growth and ensure a high quality of life in our community.”
For more information, visit the City website here or contact Deputy City Manager, Shannon Riley, at sriley@cityofukiah.com.
City trying to incorperate more BS why dont the do more and not have city Employes and wasteing money have city workers hideing out on mason st dont got a city yard at Airport or Old B of A building they purchesed to use as storage when old coors warehouse i used to see county truck pull in shut doors not come out intill end of day hideing out west hills should not be left up to any o e who.decides for city of ukiah
Holy shit man, try some punctuation.
I hope this area can get the attention it needs. The success in the western hills annexation will bring better infrastructure and development standards as Ukiah acquires more parcels in the surrounding area. Hopefully this is just begining for Ukiah to get elbow room to develop the city core zones.
They’ve been building in the western hills for over a year. One road in. And it’s one lane. Major fire hazard. People are selling their homes on that road. Very dangerous. Hope ukiah plans to add additional water storage in that area.
Wow! Urban sprawl in the western hills is a bad idea, given the fire danger, access, and a history of landslides. Do the western hills even pass a perc test? The City of Ukiah will be responsible for road and roadside maintenance for fire safety. Will insurance companies insure these properties? They’re dropping people who live in high risk areas now. WTH?
Ukiah roads look a whole lot better than county roads even by today and past standards. Not to mention the city has more resources to inspect permitted development. There lots of unpermitted structures in the county so this talk of development in the western hills would have more oversight in the city than in the hands of the county. Most of this land will unlikely be built on due to fire insurability.
No they don’t.
Ukiah roads are a shitshow.
The suspension on a car will last longer on city roads than county roads.
No 🙁
The city of Ukiah doesn’t fix the roads they have and they have screwed up State street and the down town area to the point that I avoid it.
Is that what is planned for the hills? Wasting money and poor decisions?
I only shop the edges of Ukiah if absolutely necessary, Costco, Raleys, Harley Davidson, Mendo Mill, Home Depot. I do most of my shopping out of the area now.
There seems to be a lot of bad decisions being made.
Exactly! Poor decisions for years
I think that is the point to make State St not into a freeway. More of a pedestrian friendly area. Ukiah roads are better than the county roads by any metric you throw at it. Whether along state or Orchard. I think guys like you complain about anything the city (and /or County) does whether it was a good idea or not.
I agree completely. The roads within the city are atrocious. Main St., Waugh Lane, Cherry Street, to name just a few. Pathetic However, the so called “beautification” of State St. was a planning priority ? Really? I continue to look for the beauty in all of it and have yet to see it. More of a hindrance than a beautification . This town is an eye sore, and continues to get worse . So very sad.
Good. If it was low income housing everyone would be praising it. The major fire risk in this town is the bums and tweakers and we seem OK to hand them anything they need. Make sure the bums and immigrants are comfortable and the hard working Americans can foot the bill and live in stress. Anytime there is a chance for positive growth in the area everyone complains and the city makes it impossible.
The western hills is very steep. Rock topped with clay. And it’s a huge financial burden on a broke system to provide utilities and fire protection to such a dangerous area. I guess all Mendocino County & Ukiah City will be on the hook for costs with water now, so a local developer, who planned on this, can make money on high end houses. Lafco is making huge bucks. The annexation should not have happened. It should be developers dime to provide infrastructure. It will be interesting to watch this unfold. It’s the same decisions as the downtown beautification. No common sense and really bad engineering choices. The outlet driveway from Safeway to turn right into a planter is a lawsuit waiting to happen. Its not wide enough for some rigs to turn. No lane in middle to use for front left tire. Saw way too many people almost go into that planter. Obviously it’s not for all…just for the rich, some that like using tax dollars, to build high end neighborhoods.
Why is the assumption that Ukiah is on the hook for water infrastructure costs? Historically speaking developers build this on their dime and sell the houses with the costs baked into the sale of the new houses. These western hills were full of illegal cannabis sites under the county jurisdiction and the growers used the city roads to get their supplies up the hill and their product back down the hill. Westwood Acres had their cars broken into by rogue cannabis growers who were shacked up in the hills. The constantly filled our trash cans up with their ag debris along San Jacinta.
Yeah, Mendocino County made money off of the marijuana industry. Not just the western hills. Not any more. Look at the Oakland Hills and the fire danger. It’s all about money$
Why is this county in a multi million dollar deficit if the county govt made money off cannabis? I beg to differ given the reality we live in. I’d rather have a hand full of residences living there within the city limits as opposed to a dubious grow site under the county with transients coming and going.