First Heritage Grove development anticipated to break ground in 2018

A rendering of the gateway to Heritage Grove, one of three Urban Centers identified by the Clovis General Plan. Each Urban Center will accommodate a population of approximately 30,000 citizens with the intent of nurturing communities where neighbors know each other, shop together, share the same schools and identify with an authentic sense of place. (City of Clovis)

In November, the City of Clovis finally met the long-awaited 60 percent threshold on its Loma Vista community to the east. The county required the milestone be met before Clovis could proceed with plans for its second community-within-a-community to the north, Heritage Grove.

Now, Dwight Kroll, the city’s director of planning, said citizens can expect to see dirt overturned in the block of land bordered by Shepherd, Clovis, Willow and Copper Avenues, by the end of 2018.

Two developers have already filed entitlements for housing developments within Heritage Grove—Wilson Homes intends to develop 35 acres on the soon-to-be northwest corner of Shepherd and Clovis avenues, while Lennar Homes plans to develop the 160-acre Ricchiuti property on the Willow Avenue side of the planned community.

With these two major developers already on board, Kroll said he’s sure more plans for Heritage Grove will come forward soon. The best thing about these particular two developments though, Kroll said, is they are located on opposite sides of the community and can establish the two gateways for Heritage Grove.

“This is good in a number of ways, one is that it would establish our gateway to Heritage Grove, and it would set the bar for development as it occurs north and we will be prepared to work further on it as we get the fee schedules for development in that area,” Kroll said.

While Kroll is excited to see his vision for Heritage Grove come together just as Loma Vista has, he did emphasize that there is plenty of growth left to be done in the city of Clovis as a whole—squashing rumors that there is no more land to develop in the city apart from Heritage Grove.

In examining the single family residential development inventory, city staff analyzed all the properties yet to be developed outside of the Heritage Grove area, including properties with newly approved lot developments and tentative maps, and found that the city has 4,100 lots. At a development rate of 800 homes a year, Kroll said the city has a five-year inventory of undeveloped lots. Another 1,400-lot development may also soon be absorbed into the city’s sphere, meaning the city would have a seven-year inventory of homes outside of Heritage Grove.

“We keep pushing to get Heritage Grove opened up, but maybe the sense of anxiety about running out of land to develop in the city of Clovis outside of Heritage Grove is a bit exaggerated,” Clovis Mayor Bob Whalen said, after Kroll reported these statistics at a December council meeting.

Though the inventory available citywide is good, Kroll said developers are eager to move into Heritage Grove and be part of a new small-town community in Clovis.