New approvals granted for 154-unit Pinole housing project
PINOLE — Plans to build 154 homes on a 7.7-acre lot in Pinole cleared another hurdle Monday after planning commissioners approved a final map for the Appian Village project.
Northern California housing developer DeNova Homes has been seeking to build its 154-unit residential project at 2151 Appian Way since 2021. The proposal calls for the construction of 26 three-story buildings, which would include both stacked flats and townhomes ranging in size from 1,249 to 1,825 square feet.
The project will result in fully electric homes, 20% of which will be affordable units, according to city planning documents. Of the below-market-rate units, 15% will be listed at the moderate level for people earning up to 120% of the county’s median income and 5% will be at the low-income category for people earning up to 80% of the county’s median income.
In Contra Costa County, the median income is $109,000 annually for a single-person household with a single low-income earner making about $84,600 and a moderate income earner making at least $130,800 per year, according to California Department of Housing and Community Development 2024 income levels.
The homes will be built just south of Maloney Reservoir, across the street from Pinole Middle School on the former site of Doctors Medical Center, which closed in 2000. The boarded up medical campus was demolished to make way for the new residential development.
New infrastructure, including water, sewage and storm drainage, curbs, sidewalks, pedestrian paths and outdoor space will also be developed under the plan, according to city documents.
Planning commissioners asked few questions and gave little feedback on the proposal during its Monday meeting but the project had already received various approvals in 2022, including an environmental review exemption, a comprehensive design review and a tentative subdivision map.
The commission voted unanimously Monday to approve a final subdivision map, finding that it aligned with the tentative version adopted in 2022. Pinole Planning Manager David Hanham lauded the maps for their near identical configurations and said the DeNova development team has been easy to work with.
“We’ve got a good working relationship with them and continue to move this project forward,” Hanham said Monday.
Hanham and representatives with DeNova Homes did not immediately respond to requests for comment from this news organization.