The Rancho Cordova City Council on May 18 took three actions that together move two major housing projects forward: a new affordable apartment complex called Asteria Flats and a residential expansion known as Steelridge inside the larger Suncreek area of the city.
The headline action was the council’s approval of a loan agreement with Rancho Cordova Owner L.P., the development partnership building Asteria Flats, a rental project reserved for lower-income households. City loans like this one typically fill the financing gap between what private lenders and tax-credit investors will cover and what it actually costs to build deed-restricted affordable housing — the kind where rents are capped based on a tenant’s income rather than set by the market. For residents, that means the city is putting public dollars on the table to make sure the apartments get built and stay affordable for decades, rather than converting to market-rate rents later. Households who qualify will eventually be able to apply directly to the property’s management once construction is complete.
In a related item, the council adopted a resolution declaring the results of a mail ballot election on a stormwater utility fee — a per-parcel charge that pays for drainage and runoff infrastructure — tied specifically to the Asteria Flats site. Because California’s Proposition 218 requires property owners to vote on most new property-related fees, even a single-parcel project like this one has to run its own mini-election before the fee can be levied. With the vote now certified, the property will pay into the stormwater system like other developed parcels, clearing one of the last administrative hurdles before the apartments can be built.
Separately, the council held the second reading — the formal final vote following an earlier preliminary one — of an ordinance amending the Suncreek Specific Plan to accommodate the Steelridge project. A specific plan is a detailed zoning rulebook for a particular area of the city, spelling out what can be built where, at what density, and with what design standards. Amending it for Steelridge means the council has now permanently changed the rules for that piece of the Suncreek area to allow the Steelridge homes as proposed. For nearby residents and prospective buyers, the practical effect is that Steelridge can now move into the permit and construction phase under the revised standards, adding new for-sale housing inventory in the Suncreek area in the coming years.
What’s coming up: with financing, fees, and zoning now in place, the next public touchpoints for both projects are likely to be construction-stage permits and design review rather than new council votes. Residents who want to track timing or apply for future affordable units at Asteria Flats can watch the city’s housing page for leasing announcements as the project nears completion.