The planned Rio del Oro development in Rancho Cordova consists of 3,828 acres of land located east of Sunrise, between Douglas and White Rock. “All of downtown Sacramento can fit in Rio del Oro,” said Michael LaFortune, Senior Development Director for Easton Development Company. “Careful planning was done to make sure Rio was woven into the existing city fabric.”

LaFortune spoke in tandem with Price Walker, Elliott Homes Vice President of Project Development, about Rio del Oro at the Rancho Cordova April Luncheon at City Hall on April 21.

“Trails, parks and open space are why people will come to a community and more importantly, why people will stay in a community,” LaFortune said. “Our open space network is both complex and diverse.”

The 800 acres of open space include more than 500 acres of wetland preserve, 16 miles of bike trails, and a large community park of over 100 acres as well as smaller park spaces. Six elementary schools, two middle schools and one high school will satisfy the K-12 requirements.

The project also offers 157 acres of commercial space and 90 of office space, with 269 acres of industrial area. “That may not resonate or sound just how large that is, but that will then translate to development square footage,” LaFortune said. “For example, we have over 1 million potential square footage in office, 1.5 million in regional retail, 2.5 million sq. ft of industrial. This is a significant opportunity as this city grows.”

Linda Budge, vice mayor of Rancho Cordova, said, “We’re at a point where all of a sudden, Rancho Cordova is growing again, growing residentially, growing commercially. When we grow the commercial and the industrial spaces – that of course means another growth in jobs to add to our job base that we have already. And that’s an extremely positive situation for us to be in.”

Cyrus Abhar, Rancho Cordova City Manager, said planning for this area was conceived before Rancho Cordova even became a City in 2003. “The city’s job is to oversee the development process, so myself and my team were involved from the planning aspect to engineering to financing of the project,” said Abhar.

Communities and people change over the long period of time required to go to completion of a project like this. “So we have a thing called a development agreement, and the development agreement can be revised from time to time,” said Budge. “You want to ensure that in your formal approvals you’ve given everybody the ability to make a different decision if they need to in subsequent years.”

Phase One will involve about 450 lots starting in the southwest corner of the project, near Costco. “The first houses are the most expensive to build, because you’re bringing infrastructure to them,” said Walker. “But it’s our anticipation that hopefully we’ll be under construction early next year; we’ll see how that works out.” Planned residential acreage is 1,500 plus for single family residential, 280 plus for medium density and 95 plus acres for high density residential.

Though Easton Development and Elliott Homes are two different organizations, they have functioned as one entity in getting this project approved. LaFortune has been with Easton for 12 years and has an MBA from UC Davis. Walker holds a degree in urban planning from San Francisco State and has been with Elliott Homes for the last 27years. The men coach Little League together; in fact, Walker said that their team is undefeated right now.

“Neighborhoods, that’s what we do,” said Walker. “We create neighborhoods.”