{"type":"rich","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Transistor","provider_url":"https://transistor.fm","author_name":"KZYX News","title":"Neighbors leery of proposed development in Ukiah's western hills","html":"","width":"100%","height":180,"duration":389,"description":"June 9, 2021 — A proposed development in the Western Hills of Ukiah has neighbors fuming as the city takes steps to acquire and annex about 700 acres off of Redwood Avenue, in the headwaters of Doolan Creek. The property currently belongs to David Hull, who gave the city 188 acres adjacent to the proposed project parcels late last year. The city wants to break 54 acres into seven lots for single family residential parcels, where owners would be allowed to build one main house and one additional dwelling unit each. According to city documents, no purchasers have been identified and the timing of the sale and development of the properties is unknown. The remaining 640 acres would be rezoned public facilities, which is the same designation used for city parks. The property is still on county land, and the project would need to go through Ukiah’s planning commission and City Council before the city could even start the annexation process, which could take a year.\r\nBut last month, when the item was scheduled to come before the planning commission, thirty-eight letters came in, only three of them supporting the project. A few others, from agency representatives, offered analyses of what would be needed to carry out the proposal, but most expressed opposition on the grounds of increased traffic, fire risk, and impacts to wildlife.\r\nTed Aff is a retired Oakland firefighter who remembers fighting the Oakland Hills firestorm of 1991, before wind-driven blazes that jumped over freeways had become a way of life in California. \r\nAff and other members of the Firesafe Council are worried because the homes would be on the wrong side of a firebreak meant to protect the city from fires coming in from the west. But Maya Simerson, a project administrator in the city manager’s office, says that’s been vetted with CalFire, the Ukiah Valley Fire Authority, and the city fire marshall.\r\nShe also said that homeowners would have to maintain the properties according to fire code and the...","thumbnail_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/xZpAumwbhFUpJUYcwaQ1-q6snzOyqAm13l7cW6AWPCM/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:400/h:400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS9mMzkz/NjAwNjc2OWMyZmFk/YWY2YTdmYjI5M2Mz/YWMxNy5qcGc.webp","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300}