The Village at Gray’s Crossing development project is moving forward with the Truckee Planning Commission’s approval on Tuesday night.

The developers however, dropped a proposed gas station from the project following multiple public comments against it.

“I think this is a crazy idea for lots of reasons,” Andy Brown, a homeowner at Gray’s Crossing, said of the entire project.

---

---

Brown said he and his wife initially thought the project was a great idea, but now feels like it provides no benefit to the community.

“For people living at Grays’ this is a like a 100% tax in that we get all the negatives but there’s no actual benefit to us,” he said. “If my benefit is that the gas station is a little closer, you can keep it.”

---

---

The proposal included an eight-pump gas station and a 1,800-square-foot convenience store, both of which have been excluded from the project. The developers agreed to find another use for the gas station site and bring it back to the planning commission at a later date.

The project proposes a 129-room hotel with a conference center, pool and outdoor lounge area, three commercial buildings with five residential units above and two commercial buildings with three residential units above. Other housing in the project includes 24 attached townhomes, a triplex building with two bedroom units, one fourplex with two bedroom units and two live and work buildings with 4,000 square feet of commercial space each and three units.

To align with the town’s inclusionary housing ordinance, residential projects must make 15% of the units affordable. This would equate to nine affordable units on the site.

‘15, 20 YEARS OF PLANNING’

The approval came after three years of discussion between the developers and the Town of Truckee. North Valley Real Estate Partners, Inc., the applicant on the project, first submitted an application in November 2017.

“What happened through the planning process was significant,” said Martin Wood, vice president of SCO Planning, Engineering & Surveying

The entire Gray’s Crossing site, on the northeast side of Truckee, north of Interstate 80, is based around the 18-hole Gray’s Crossing golf course with four parcels that are currently undeveloped.

The Gray’s Crossing Specific Plan along with the original Environmental Impact Report and development agreement with East West Partners, which has since gone bankrupt, was adopted by the town in February 2004. In March of this year, the Truckee Town Council allowed the original development agreement to expire making the Gray’s Crossing Specific Plan now serves the governing document for the site.

“Based on what the city said was acceptable here we took it on,” said John Abbate of North Valley Real Estate Partners. “I can understand if people are saying they don’t like this project and they don’t like the way it’s laid out, but this is 15, 20 years of planning to put this together,” he said.

Hannah Jones is a reporter for the Sierra Sun. She can be reached at 530-550-2652 or hjones@sierrasun.com.