Home Care In Elk Grove, CA

If you’ve driven down Grant Line Road in Elk Grove, you’ve probably noticed a gigantic, empty warehouse in recent months.

You might’ve assumed based on its size that it was an Amazon distribution center. Well, it’s not an Amazon site and now, it’s no longer empty.

Kubota Tractor Corp., a Japanese agricultural machinery company with more than 1,100 dealerships across the continent, now has a location in Elk Grove and is expected to jobs to the area.

The company’s Western Distribution Center headquarters is a $70 million, 631,465 square-foot building that sits on 45 acres of previously owned city land on Grant Line Road.

It officially opened its doors for the first time Tuesday. Kubota has five division offices and three distribution centers in the U.S.; the Elk Grove location serves as both.

Division offices are made up of personnel who supports different departments such as finance, support, sales, service parts and distribution of parts or whole goods. The distribution centers receive finished goods and ship them to dealers.

“Today marks a celebration of vision, hard work and community,” Elk Grove mayor Bobbi Singh-Allen said during Kubota’s grand opening Tuesday. “The entire Kubota team and key city staff and departments have dedicated countless hours to bring this project to fruition and we are delighted to share this milestone with each and every one of you. The Kubota, Elk Grove story is one of partnership and perseverance.”

Singh-Allen said there were plenty of criteria Kubota was looking for — and Elk Grove and the Sacramento region met them.

“The project is the result of multi-city and multi-state search by Kubota for the right location and the right community and that community is right here in the great city of Elk Grove,” Singh-Allen said. “When deciding where to put the project, Kubota evaluated key search criteria such as location, cost and talent, all of which Elk Grove and the greater Sacramento region were able to deliver.”

The site is expected to offer sales, services, parts and finance as the site will house tractors, farm equipment, construction equipment and other goods.

It will also provide classes for employees as a part of Kubota University. It contains a large space and a classroom space where technicians and sales personnel come in to provide support through training.

The facility is a part of Elk Grove’s planned 400-acre Grant Line Business Park, according to Singh-Allen, which is expected to employ thousands of people in the area once fully developed. Kubota’s Western Distribution Center is the first of many new projects, she said.

In 2021, The Sacramento Bee reported that Kubota alone could attract as many as 300 jobs to Elk Grove.

Kyle Hagen, director of Kubota’s Western Division, said the size and location of the facility were a good fit for the company which will allow them to flourish.

“You look at the Elk Grove region, the farms and the communities within this Elk Grove region,” Hagen told The Bee on Tuesday. “You drive south, you’ve got agriculture, you drive north, you’ve got agriculture. So I think that’s a big part of it.”

The Elk Grove site replaced its former West regional base in Lodi, a 180,000 square-foot site that Kubota opened in 2005.

Hagen, who has been with the company for 20 years, added: “I think Kubota is also going to be looking to be an employer of choice and we’ve always done that.”

Singh-Allen believes Kubota will prove to be of economic value to Elk Grove.

“The project will generate an economic ripple effect for Elk Grove and the region benefiting our local economy and Kubota’s employees and their families,” Singh-Allen said. “It will attract hundreds of millions of dollars of capital investment to the city and the region, employing thousands of people.”

She said Elk Grove and the Sacramento region are “open for business.”

“We will support innovative and growing companies like Kubota as they seek to bring investment to our city and our great region.”

Shingo Hanada, president of Kubota spoke before a large group Tuesday and expressed his desire to “have a lasting impact on the industry and the communities we serve.”

“We are not just opening the doors, we are opening new possibilities for our company and the communities we serve. From the new offices and the training rooms, to the distribution base of farming and construction… this facility provides a favorable environment for cooperation, creativity and professional growth.”

This story was originally published December 14, 2023, 1:04 PM.

In the lawsuit, the state argues that Elk Grove’s denial of a supportive housing project for lower-income households at risk of homelessness violates state laws, including fair housing laws

SACRAMENTO — California Attorney General Rob Bonta, Governor Gavin Newsom, and the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) today filed a lawsuit against the City of Elk Grove, challenging the city’s denial of a proposed supportive housing project in the city’s Old Town Special Planning Area (OTSPA). The lawsuit filed today alleges the city’s denial of the project violates state laws including Senate Bill 35 (SB 35), the Housing Accountability Act (HAA), and fair housing laws intended to prohibit discriminatory land use practices, including the Nondiscrimination in Land Use Law and the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing statute (AFFH). The proposed project, known as the Oak Rose Apartments, would add 66 units of supportive housing for lower-income households at risk of homelessness, in a jurisdiction in dire need of low-income housing opportunities.

“Our state is in a housing crisis and local governments must do their part to allow for affordable housing options for all members of our communities, regardless of their income level,” said Attorney General Rob Bonta. “Everyone deserves to have a place to call home. California has critically important laws designed to combat housing discrimination and increase affordable housing opportunities. Today’s lawsuit against Elk Grove sends a strong message to local governments: if you violate fair housing laws, we will hold you to account.”

“Communities that fail to build their fair share of housing, including those refusing to develop desperately needed affordable housing, will be held to account,” said Governor Gavin Newsom. “Under my Administration, the state has provided unprecedented support, including billions in funding and resources to help guide communities as they work to meet their housing needs. However, when local governments repeatedly fail to uphold their obligations and blatantly look for ways to skirt state law, we will use every tool available, including legal actions to ensure that Californians have access to needed housing.”

“Building more affordable housing is the most effective tool to reduce and prevent homelessness – but the City of Elk Grove is blatantly evading fair housing laws and working against solving our housing and homelessness crisis,” said HCD Director Gustavo Velasquez. “HCD is laser focused on helping all jurisdictions meet their housing goals, but when cities like Elk Grove refuse to do so, we will hold them accountable.”

As a supportive housing project, the Oak Rose Apartments would provide permanent housing for individuals and families who previously experienced homelessness, or are at risk of homelessness, as well as off- or on-site services to assist the residents in maintaining housing, improving their health status, and maximizing their ability to live and work in the community. The Elk Grove City Council improperly denied the project, claiming that it did not meet the city’s zoning standards and was therefore ineligible for SB 35 ministerial review. In today’s lawsuit, the state seeks injunctive relief to require Elk Grove to approve the project and realign with state law.

On July 27, 2022, the Elk Grove City Council denied approval of the Oak Rose Apartments. Following that denial, HCD issued a Notice of Violation, warning the city that the denial of the low-income housing project violated state housing laws, including SB 35. SB 35 requires local governments to provide streamlined, nondiscretionary approval of some projects when they are consistent with objective zoning standards. The Elk Grove City Council sent a response letter on November 10, 2022, arguing that the project did not qualify for approval under SB 35 because the multistory project included residential units on the ground floor, which the city contended violates a zoning requirement that ground floor spaces be reserved for commercial uses, such as space for retail, restaurant, or office space.

On March 16, Attorney General Bonta sent a letter to the mayor of Elk Grove, putting the city on notice that contrary to its claims, this use restriction does not qualify as an “objective standard” under SB 35 or the HAA, because its application depends on the exercise of discretion. The city itself acknowledged in its letter that its OTSPA standards — including the ground floor use restriction — involve discretion, noting that the city has a mechanism to deviate from development standards under the OTSPA for projects that meet the goals of the OTSPA, including whether a project is compatible with “community character.”

In today’s lawsuit, the state argues that the city’s denial of the project was based on discretionary exercise and not an “objective standard,” in violation of HAA and SB 35. The lawsuit also alleges that Elk Grove’s unequal application of the cited land use restrictions, and subsequent denial of the Oak Rose Apartments constituted a discriminatory land use practice in violation of the Nondiscrimination in Land Use Law and AFFH. These fair housing laws prohibit local governments from making land use decisions that are based on discriminatory intent or that have a discriminatory effect. The lawsuit contends that there is evidence of both in Elk Grove’s decision to deny the Oak Rose Apartments:

The city thus adopted two conflicting interpretations of the OTSPA use restriction for two similarly situated projects serving different populations. It applied a more permissive interpretation to approve a lower density market-rate project, and it applied a stricter interpretation to disapprove the Oak Rose Apartments, a higher density lower-income supportive housing project. In fact, city staff had found that the Oak Rose Apartment project was consistent with the city’s land use policies, and therefore, there was no compelling purpose to override the discriminatory effect of the city’s denial. The residents who would benefit from the housing would be needlessly forced to look elsewhere for similar housing opportunities. Today’s lawsuit seeks injunctive relief to require the city to approve the project in accordance with state law.

State leaders stand united in their commitment to enforcing state housing laws and increasing access to affordable housing in California. In 2021, Attorney General Bonta announced the creation of a Housing Strike Force within the California Department of Justice aimed at advancing housing access across the state. The same year, Governor Newsom launched a Housing Accountability Unit to increase stringent enforcement and oversight at the local level to create more housing, faster across California. Members of the public are encouraged to visit the California Department of Justice’s Housing Portal and HCD’s website for more resources and information aimed at supporting access to housing.

A copy of the lawsuit is available here.

City of Elk Grove

Elk Grove opened a new winter homeless shelter on Wednesday, the first of its kind in the city.

Officially called the Enhanced Winter Sanctuary, the 24/7 facility is located on Elk Grove Boulevard at Waterman Road in the city’s Old Town district. It will operate through March.

Officials say the shelter will offer both an escape from the cold and services to connect people with housing and substance use treatment.

CapRadio’s Chris Nichols spoke with Sarah Bontrager, Elk Grove’s housing and public services manager, about the new shelter.

The interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Interview highlights

What exactly will the Enhanced Winter Sanctuary offer? And why is this resource needed in your city?

The Enhanced Winter Sanctuary is the first time that the city of Elk Grove has funded a shelter option for people experiencing homelessness. It grew out of an effort that a nonprofit started a few years ago. And we realized that we really needed something longer-term and more consistent and we heard a lot from our residents about needing to address homelessness.

So this year we are working with the Gathering Inn, which is a Roseville-based nonprofit to offer a 24-hour shelter serving up to 30 adults at a time.

It will have really robust services: case management, substance use treatment and mental health treatment all on-site. They have a mental health professional on-site, employment connections and referrals to different social services.

People don’t typically think about Elk Grove as having a severe problem with homelessness. Has the city witnessed an increase in its unhoused population?

We've had a fairly consistent population of folks at any given time. We estimate that we have between 100 and 150 people experiencing homelessness. And that's a mix of folks who are living outdoors and those who are living in vehicles.

We do recognize of course that winter is a really hard time. The cold winter months are very difficult to be outdoors or in a vehicle. And so the goal of this shelter was to offer a consistent place for folks to stay during those months and offer some services that will hopefully help to connect them with housing while they're in the shelter.

Can anyone who is unhoused use the winter sanctuary? Are there rules people need to keep in mind?

The shelter is referral-only and so folks who are interested in accessing the shelter have to work with our homeless services navigator or another outreach professional in the community in order to get that referral. We expect that all 30 beds will be taken and so we will be maintaining a wait list for individuals who meet the criteria to go in. We are looking to serve our community. So, Elk Grove residents, people who live and work in our community, we’re looking to ensure that those folks are getting access first.

Do guests need to maintain sobriety if they're at the shelter?

The shelter is a low-barrier shelter. There is no drug or alcohol use allowed on-site and no drug paraphernalia. No weapons are allowed in the facility. However, what folks choose to do while they're out of the shelter is kind of up to them. And as long as they are not creating a safety issue or behavioral health challenges while they're in the sanctuary site, they would be allowed.

Is this the first time Elk Grove has opened a shelter like this one?

Yes. Previously, a group called Elk Grove HART ran a winter shelter that rotated amongst different churches each week. It was only a nightly shelter. So there weren’t many services available for folks other than them getting a meal.

One of the things that we realized is that this model creates some challenges in ‘What do people do during the day?’ So, one of the goals of having the 24-hour model was to make sure that folks have an option to be indoors during the day and they aren't all leaving at the same time and they aren't all coming back at the same time which reduces the impact on the neighborhood that the facility is in.

What efforts will be made to connect people with treatment or housing while they're at the shelter?

One of the great things about the Gathering Inn as a service partner is they came with a really robust staffing plan. So for the 30 folks who are staying in the shelter, there are two case managers. There's one substance abuse specialist. There is a mental health clinician who’s there along with a program director and many shelter monitors. So, at least two people will be onsite at all times and often more.

But the case managers and the other staff work together to try and figure out what people's barriers to housing are and how they can take steps to resolve those barriers and then also to connect them to housing resources that they might qualify for, including affordable housing or room and boards.

Can you provide some detail about where the shelter is located and how people in need can find it?

The shelter is located in the Old Town Elk Grove area in a former Rite Aid building which will be the future home of the Elk Grove Library. So this is really a one-time use. The site will go to construction in mid-2024 for use as the future library. But it is really important to stress that this is a referral-only shelter. If someone shows up there hoping to get in, they will not get in. You have to have that referral in order to access the shelter.

You mentioned this will be the site of a future library. So is the city thinking about a different location for the shelter next winter?

We recognize that this location won't be possible to use in the future. And so one of the things that we're really hoping is that this year's effort will give us some good data that we can use to decide what is needed in the future and help us to figure out where that would be best be located, whether we need a winter shelter, whether we need something that's year-round, whether we need to plan for 30 people or fewer people or more people.

We really hope to get a lot of good data out of this effort to show what capacity needs we have and what facility needs we have long-term.

Once the shelter opens, does it stay open continuously or will it close sporadically?

It’s open 24 hours a day from Nov. 1 until March 31.

How is the shelter funded?

The funding for the shelter came from Measure E, which is the sales tax measure that our residents approved last November. In talking with residents about the sales tax measure, one of the highest priorities that they had was addressing homelessness. So we held a series of community meetings around resident priorities. The meeting around homelessness was the best attended of those and the feedback that we got from that meeting helped us to determine how we wanted to spend some of the Measure E funds. Offering a winter shelter for folks to have during the coldest and rainiest months was something that a lot of folks requested at that meeting.

For more information, visit Elk Grove’s Enhanced Winter Sanctuary website.

Contact CapRadio reporter Chris Nichols at [email protected]

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Land purchase and proposed outpatient facilities will increase access to expert care

(SACRAMENTO)

UC Davis Health announced plans today for expansion of health services in Elk Grove. The goal is to improve access to health care and community well-being in one of the fastest growing communities in the Sacramento region.

UC Davis Health has purchased 20 acres of land at the corner of Elk Grove Blvd. and Laguna Springs Dr. Officials want to solidify UC Davis Health’s regional footprint and expand the health system’s current Elk Grove clinics to offer additional primary care and comprehensive specialty care services. The acquisition is part of a strategic plan to develop a regional system of care that reaches more patients in more places.

“As the only academic medical center in the region, we are making our nationally ranked patient care more convenient by bringing our experts directly into local neighborhoods,” said UC Davis Health CEO David Lubarsky. “Everything we do is about bringing a better and more convenient level of care to the people we serve.”

UC Davis Health serves more than half of California's counties as the only academic medical center between San Francisco and Portland. Lubarsky has positioned UC Davis Health as a resource to "complete, not compete" with other health systems to improve access and care throughout the region. UC Davis Health has more than a dozen neighborhood clinics around the Sacramento area to bring patient care conveniently close to people who need it.

Everything we do is about bringing a better and more convenient level of care to the people we serve.—David Lubarsky, CEO of UC Davis Health

Elk Grove’s growing economy

A survey found Elk Grove has one of the country's fastest growing economies in the Sacramento area, increasing by 15% from 2010 to 2020. The city is expected to hit a population of 200,000 by 2029. Thanks to a strong partnership with city leaders, UC Davis Health will be able to expand its role and ensure that its world-class care is accessible to patients in the Elk Grove area and beyond.

Health officials have worked closely with city leaders and council members to share UC Davis Health’s vision for the project and to accommodate potential impacts of parking, traffic and surrounding developments of the site.

“UC Davis Health is anticipating the future needs of our community. Their regional plan will expand local outpatient services and support the health and vitality of our residents and the economy as we continue to grow,” said Elk Grove Mayor Bobbie Singh-Allen. “We appreciate their investment in Elk Grove’s future.”

As part of its regional expansion plan, UC Davis Health is also developing a new health care hub in Folsom at Highway 50 and E. Bidwell. Additionally, the health system purchased land in Rocklin near Highway 65 and the Whitney Ranch neighborhood. The outpatient clinic in Folsom will be the first to open in 2025. Growth will continue over a long period of time to accommodate innovative care delivery and equipment, along with the unique needs of area residents. Also underway is the health system’s update of UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento.

UC Davis Health will implement the new Elk Grove health care complex project according to the University of California Sustainable Practices Policy. This ensures that strong levels of energy efficiency, water conservation, waste reduction and transportation efficiency are incorporated into the design from the start.

UC Davis Health is constantly working to improve lives and transform health care through nationally ranked patient care, groundbreaking research, and interprofessional education, creating dynamic and productive partnerships with the community that bring research into reality. For more information, visit health.ucdavis.edu.

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Elk Grove is one of this year's "Top 100 Best Places to Live in the U.S.," according to a list released this week by Livability.com, a website that publishes data-driven rankings of cities. Elk Grove and Clovis are the only two California cities on the list. Entries are not ranked.

To compile the rankings, Livability looked at U.S. cities with populations between 75,000 and 500,000. Researchers emphasized affordability and only included cities with a median home value of $500,000 or less in the final list. The list used about 100 data points, according to a news release.

"Just minutes from California’s capital city, Elk Grove blends suburban comforts and urban conveniences. From top-rated schools and family-friendly neighborhoods to plenty of outdoor activities, Elk Grove is the ideal setting for families and young professionals," Livability's report states.

Roseville appeared on Livability's list last year, though researchers have said their methodology changes each year.

Click here to view Livability's list of "Top 100 Best Places to Live in the U.S."

A long-sought opportunity site for development in Downtown Sacramento is in quiet mode again, with the owner citing market conditions in pausing a marketing campaign to sell it.

The California Public Employees' Retirement System is in no hurry to sell the full-block site at 301 Capitol Mall, so it's waiting for more favorable winds to start pushing it again, said spokesman John Myers.

Senior Reporter Ben van der Meer has details about why CalPERS paused the sales push for 301 Capitol Mall.

Lifestyle brand Tommy Bahama filed plans last month for a new retail location at 1198 Roseville Parkway, Suite 100, in the Fountains at Roseville shopping center.

Tommy Bahama currently operates one retail location in the area, which is across the street from Fountains inside the Westfield Galleria at Roseville. It's unclear if the Fountains site will be a relocation or an additional store. Reporter Jake Abbott explains what else you need to know about Tommy Bahama at Roseville's Fountains.

Regal Cinemas in downtown Davis, which closed in May, would be replaced by a seven-story, 114-unit apartment/retail building, under a pre-application received by the city this month.

Senior Reporter Ben van der Meer explains what you need to know about the proposal to turn Davis' closed Regal Cinemas into apartments.

Women's activewear retailer FP Movement could be in the works for a retail space at Ary Place at 1717 S St. in Sacramento, which was completed in April. Ary Place is a seven-story affordable housing project with 159 residential units and 11,200 square feet of ground-floor retail space.

Reporter Jake Abbott has details about a possible FP Movement store at Ary Place in Sacramento.

Take care of yourselves, folks. Thanks for reading.