Home Care In Rocklin, CA

Sandra Marie Bustillos, known lovingly as Sandra, was born on November 3, 1978, in San Francisco, California, and passed away on September 29, 2026, in Citrus Heights, California, after a courageous journey with bladder cancer. She was a beloved daughter, mother, sister, and friend, and she carried her life with a spirit that was gentle, faithful, and bright. Her life was a quiet hymn of endurance, and her memory remains a blessing to all who knew her.

Sandra was the cherished daughter of Laurie Bustillos and the devoted mother of Alexis Rodriguez. She was the treasured sister of Angelina Chavez and Joseph Chavez, and she held close the memory of her brother, Anthony Cordero, who preceded her in death. Family was one of the deepest notes in the song of her life, and she gave her love with sincerity, warmth, and grace. Those who loved her will remember her tender heart, her steady presence, and the way she made others feel seen, valued, and cared for.

Sandra graduated from West Moore High School, and she carried the strength of that accomplishment with quiet pride. She believed in moving forward with faith and perseverance, even when the road was hard and the night seemed long. Her life reflected a spiritual resilience that shone through every season, and her example spoke softly yet powerfully to those around her. She lived with a humble spirit, trusting that each day held meaning, and she met each step with a heart that kept on singing.

One of Sandra’s proudest accomplishments was celebrating two years of continuous sobriety as a dedicated member of Alcoholics Anonymous. That milestone was more than a number, for it was a testimony of courage, surrender, and renewal. She walked a path of healing with honesty and hope, and she became a living reminder that grace can restore what pain has tried to take. Her journey stood as a beacon to others, showing that even after hardship, a soul can rise, rebuild, and rejoice.

Sandra’s faith was spiritual, and her life carried a reverent calm that touched many. She believed in goodness, in mercy, and in the unseen strength that guides the weary heart. Her days were marked by simple joys and meaningful moments. She enjoyed watching television, found comfort in a very good cup of coffee, and gave her time through volunteering. In these ordinary acts, she revealed an extraordinary spirit, for she understood that love is often shown in the quiet places, where kindness blooms and compassion grows.

Her presence brought warmth like morning light, and her memory now rests in sacred sight. Though her earthly journey has come to an end, her soul is held in the everlasting care of God’s tender hand. Those who mourn her may also celebrate her, for her life was filled with perseverance, devotion, and grace. She leaves behind a legacy of strength wrapped in gentleness, and her story continues to speak of hope, healing, and holy rest.

Sandra Marie Bustillos will be deeply missed and forever cherished. Her earthly path was marked by courage, her heart by compassion, and her spirit by a grace that continues to live on. May she rest in eternal peace, surrounded by divine light, and may those who love her carry her memory with gratitude, tenderness, and enduring love.

Home/Local News/Rocklin advances affordable housing complex, putting a Montessori school's future at risk

Maria Montessori parents and educators fear possible health and safety risks from the development and construction, which could result in the loss of many students.

The Abridged version:

A proposed affordable housing development in Rocklin just cleared its latest hurdle, and local parents and educators worry their Montessori school could close because of it.

After months of contentious public hearings, the Rocklin City Council on Tuesday voted 3-2 to grant the 120-unit Sierra Wilds Apartments a design review and California Environmental Quality Act exemption, moving the project forward.

Parts of the housing development and construction site would sit on land currently occupied by Maria Montessori Charter Academy, a public school serving preschoolers through eighth graders living across the region.

School staff said if construction proceeds, they will lose multiple facilities and much of their student population. Several parents told Abridged by PBS KVIE they would likely pull their children out of the school, fearing exposure to pollutants and class distractions from construction, new traffic into the school’s parking and roadway entrances, and potential safety issues.

As a public charter school, Maria Montessori receives state funding that depends on enrollment and attendance, which in turn depends on parents choosing to send their children to the Montessori school instead of other public or private school options. If the school loses a significant number of its students, it risks closure.

“Going to MMCA, we have aspirations of college. I don’t know if that’s the case without it,” said David McClain, a parent of four Maria Montessori students, including one with special needs.

After City Council members voted to move forward with project considerations, some Maria Montessori parents and educators walked away in tears.

Church, state and school

The three-story Sierra Wilds development would consist of a community center and four apartment buildings on a parcel of land between Maria Montessori and St. Augustine of Canterbury Episcopal Church.

The school’s community garden classroom, high and low voltage utilities infrastructure and about a third of the preschool’s playground are currently on the parcel that would be developed.

St. Augustine, which claims ownership of the entire parcel, entered into a sale agreement with development company Pacific West Communities.

Pacific West representative Lauren Alexander said the parcel was chosen because it scores highly in the competitive state system used to determine which housing projects receive tax credits.

“It’s a competitive market in California, so we’re looking for off-market land deals often,” Alexander said. “We think that this is a really good location for housing. It’s a nice place for people to live, and I think it’ll be a beautiful project when it’s done.”

In April, Rocklin city officials received a letter from California’s Housing and Community Development agency ordering the city to approve affordable housing development on the site, and threatening legal action if the city blocks the plans. State law limits a city’s ability to reject or scale down affordable housing developments that do not violate general plans or pose a probable risk to the surrounding community.

Despite reservations, some City Council members voted to move forward after developers agreed to add an additional lane from the main roadway into the development parcel.

“We are being punished for cities that tried to stop housing,” councilmember Jill Gayaldo said before voting to approve the design review and CEQA exemption. “This isn’t where I wanted it, but I don’t get to tell (the developer) to say, ‘this is a great project, we’ll build it somewhere else.'”

‘We 1,000% disagree’

The vote to proceed surprised many parents and educators who expected the City Council to continue discussion at a later meeting.

Whether the church or school owns parts of the parcel is currently in dispute. While the church claims the entire parcel is its to sell, school administrators say that old easement and purchase agreements give them property rights to their facilities on the land.

On Maria Montessori’s campus, dashes of orange spray paint cut through a narrow driveway between school facilities to mark the church’s version of the property boundaries. School administrators call the marking inaccurate.

“We 1,000% disagree with it and think they have mislabeled the property,” Maria Montessori principal Brent Boothby said. “If we end up in litigation work, that’ll be one of the contentions.”

Current plans would turn the community garden, voltage facilities and disputed portion of the playground into an elevated parking lot, which would require over a dozen feet of grading above the school.

Alexander said that the school could relocate its facilities: the developer has instructed the school to move its utilities infrastructure onto its property, and Pacific West has offered to pay for the garden’s relocation to a city park next to the school.

Boothby contended that the school’s remaining property lacks the space to take on the utilities. And Rocklin city manager Aly Zimmerman clarified that the ongoing drafts of the city’s master plan for parks lack provisions for any new garden at that park.

Parent concerns

Maria Montessori educators and parents have protested development plans for years. They say their opposition to Sierra Wilds has nothing to do with its status as an affordable housing development. Rather, they believe the complex’s scale and proximity to the school threatens student health and education.

“There’s construction going on, and we’re dealing with hard materials that need to get dug up by heavy machinery,” Maria Montessori parent Syd Fong told Abridged. “There’s going to be air issues, there’s going to be noise, there’s going to be vibration. A lot going on that would affect the kids.”

Fong is a member of the Coalition for Urban Ethics, a parent group created earlier this year in opposition to Sierra Wilds. Members said they aren’t telling developers they shouldn’t build on the parcel, but that the current plans must change to protect students.

Pacific West modified plans for Sierra Wilds multiple time since first applying for city review, including significantly rearranging its layout. Scaling back the existing design to accommodate the school and parents would render the project infeasible, Alexander said.

Parents and developers disagree heavily on the degree to which construction and the development itself would affect students. Pacific West contracted a study by FirstCarbon Solutions, an environmental compliance consulting firm, that determined there would be no significant health and safety effects associated with the project.

But the coalition and its allies dispute the report’s validity, arguing that the type of soil the study is based on differs significantly from the terrain of the project site. Coalition members are calling for a new independent study that would be more site-specific, which they say could result in project mitigation reducing children’s exposure to dust and other particles in the air.

To Pacific West, there’s nothing to mitigate.

“I understand parents’ concern for their children’s safety, and there are a multitude of studies that we’re required to do that depend on the type of project and where the project is located,” Alexander said. “We’ve studied everything that needs to be studied.”

Parents and educators haven’t been assuaged by those reassurances. Beyond health concerns, they worry that noise and the presence of large machinery close to classrooms will disrupt learning.

“Children simply cannot tune out construction noises when they are learning to read, solving a difficult math problem, taking a test or listening to their teacher explain a new concept,” Maria Montessori parent Heidi Pojda said.

Because land will be graded for construction, the apartment building located adjacent to school property will look out directly over the children’s outdoor cafeteria, playground and outdoor bathroom facilities, another aspect of the project with which parents have expressed discomfort.

What’s next?

As a public charter school, Maria Montessori receives state funding based on enrollment counts and student attendance rates. Some families have already left the school in expectation of the project, Boothby said, and if it continues forward, others will follow suit.

Maria Montessori parent and Urban Ethics Coalition member Brandi Armstrong said her children are thriving at the school. But without stronger reassurance that development won’t harm her kids, she wouldn’t feel comfortable sending them to school if the city approves final project plans.

“I feel like I’d be failing them as their parent, because I’m allowing them to possibly get health effects and be harmed,” she said. “It’s insane that we have to be put in this situation. I feel like we’re living in the Twilight Zone.”

Parents and teachers said the school’s Montessori style makes it a more nurturing learning environment for students with special needs or challenging early childhood circumstances. That environment may not last if the school closes due to declining enrollment or failing to find space to relocate its utility infrastructure.

Aside from his role as principal, Boothby coaches girls’ basketball at the school. Prior to the announcement of development plans, he’d never imagined the school would be in its current position.

“We’re the only school in this region that’s got California distinguished school status the last two cycles in a row,” Boothby said. “I’d love to talk about that and our students and their success, but I’m instead talking about how this potential apartment complex could shut down my school.”

(FOX40.COM) — Another local man has been arrested in connection with an alleged plot to a UFC event at the White House in June, federal prosecutors announced Friday.

Christopher M. Perry, a 38-year-old from Rocklin, was indicted Thursday by a grand jury, U.S. Attorney Eric Grant announced in a news release. The case was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California, where he faces charges for illegally possessing firearms and destroying records in a federal investigation.

Perry came to the attention of law enforcement through the FBI’s investigation into a planned attack against the Ultimate Fighting Championship event that was held at the White House on June 14. Eight men have been indicted for the plot itself, while others — including a costume-wearing Elk Grove TikToker — have been charged for other alleged crimes discovered during the investigation.

FBI investigators first found Perry’s Signal account while looking through the cell phone of one of the eight alleged co-conspirators, including chat logs that show Perry’s involvement in discussions planning the attack.

According to court documents, Perry also was part of plans to attack targets in California, including data centers and an unnamed data analytics company. Specific targets included data centers in Santa Clara, Sacramento and one near San Francisco, along with two offices in Palo Alto.

On June 12, FBI agents spoke with Perry at his Rocklin residence, where he denied knowledge of the plot, and agents left the home at 8:03 p.m. According to court documents, he deleted the Signal app less than an hour later at 8:45 p.m.

Perry was previously convicted of two drug-related felonies in Placer and Solano counties. He was charged with being a felon in possession on a firearm — four, to be exact — and for destroying records by deleting his Signal account.

If convicted, Perry would face a maximum of 15 years for the firearm charge and 20 years for destroying records. He is set to be arraigned Monday in Sacramento.

USA Properties Fund has secured a $148.2 million financing package to develop The Frances, a 324-unit affordable housing project in Rocklin, Calif. Construction kicked off this month and completion is expected in 2029.

Merchants Capital structured a $72.1 million private placement bond through AllianceBernstein and issued a $76.1 million bridge construction loan. The project was also recommended for $7.4 million in annual 4 percent LIHTC and will benefit from Section 8 vouchers, according to a staff report by the California Tax Credit Allocation Committee.

The Steven will encompass one- to three-bedroom units catering to residents earning at or below 30, 50, 60 and 70 percent of the area median income. Amenities are set include a swimming pool, playground, gym, dog park and computer room, among other features. Social services such as health and wellness programs, as well as adult education and skill-building classes, will be provided by nonprofit LifeSTEPS.

READ ALSO: How the Affordability Crisis Could Be Solved Within a Generation

The nearly 13-acre site sits along University Avenue, near Jessup University, a Christian institution. California State Route 65 runs to the west, connecting to Interstate 80 within less than 10 miles. Downtown Sacramento, Calif., is about 26 miles southwest.

A dedicated Sacramento affordable developer

USA Properties Fund is based in the neighboring city of Roseville, Calif. Founded in 1981, the firm has since developed, acquired and rehabilitated 138 properties totaling 19,913 apartments, including senior housing communities.

One such project is The Steven, an 180-unit, age-restricted development also in Rocklin. USA Properties Fund broke ground in May and expects completion in 2028. Merchants Capital provided $45.6 million for the construction.

Over in its hometown of Roseville, USA Properties Fund continues to bolster new apartment construction. The firm delivered Terracina at Winding Creek, a $119.2 million, 284-unit affordable housing community, earlier this year. And in 2025, the company kicked off work on another income-restricted project in Roseville, dubbed The Crawford, which is slated for completion next spring.

The city of Rocklin announced Tuesday the passing of former Mayor and longtime City Councilmember Peter Hill, whose decades of service helped guide Rocklin through a period of significant growth and shape the community.

Hill served on the Rocklin City Council for nearly 30 years, including six terms as mayor, making him the longest serving councilmember in Rocklin’s history. During his tenure, Rocklin grew from a community of approximately 7,000 residents to more than 58,000. Hill was a strong advocate for thoughtful, long-term planning as the city grew and was involved in many of the decisions that helped shape Rocklin’s neighborhoods, transportation network, schools and public spaces.

“Rocklin’s leadership joins our community in mourning the loss of Peter Hill, whose commitment to public service left a lasting mark on our city,” Mayor David Bass said. “Peter helped guide Rocklin through decades of tremendous change while remaining focused on building a community that would serve generations to come. His legacy can be seen throughout Rocklin today, and we are grateful for his many years of dedicated service. On behalf of the City Council and the entire city of Rocklin, we extend our deepest condolences to Peter’s family and loved ones.”

Hill’s service to Rocklin began beyond City Hall. After moving to Rocklin in 1976, he served on the Rocklin School Board before joining the City Council in 1980. As the community experienced rapid residential growth, Hill advocated for planning that considered the infrastructure and schools needed to support new residents. He helped champion school impact fees from developers and was involved in planning efforts associated with major developments including Stanford Ranch.

During his years on the City Council, Hill also supported improvements to Highway 65 and the Safe Routes to School Program, which helped bring sidewalks to older areas of Rocklin. He was a strong advocate for preserving the City’s history and downtown heritage area, including efforts connected to the Rocklin History Museum, historic Finn Hall and Old St. Mary’s Chapel. His contributions to Rocklin were formally recognized in 2013 when he received the City’s Ruhkala Community Service Award Pioneer Award. In 2023, Hill was also honored alongside former Councilmembers Kathy Lund and George Magnuson on Rocklin’s Wall of Recognition for their decades of service and contributions to the community.

“Peter Hill was truly an icon in our community, he was the backbone behind many important decisions that helped make our community a better place to live,” Paul Ruhkala said. “His leadership, dedication and commitment made a lasting impact and he will be deeply missed.”