The Contra Costa Jewish Community Center in Walnut Creek has scaled back a proposed condominium complex on land it hopes to sell, according to project manager John Wyro.
At a public meeting July 23, Wyro, who was hired as a development consultant by the CCJCC, and center officials discussed the revised plans with more than 70 local residents, many of whom continue to oppose the project due to traffic and parking concerns, and the issue of developing property originally zoned for open space.
Others voiced their approval of the development by discussing the importance of the JCC and the necessity to remodel the current campus, a 1950s-era elementary school sitting on a massive tract of open space, according to Wyro.
“There seemed to be a less strident attitude by many,” Wyro said. However, “There is still a core opposition group that doesn’t care how many units we go to, they would still be opposed.”
Wyro said architects assigned to the project “just started with a blank sheet of paper” when redesigning the scaled-back plans. A roughly 120-unit condo complex with subterranean parking deemed “too dense” by the Walnut Creek City Council has been downsized to 80 units.
The housing is slated to be built on approximately 2.6 acres of undeveloped land, a parcel the JCC hoped to sell more than two years ago to raise money for the estimated $35 million reconstruction project.
Modeled after the JCC of San Francisco, the Walnut Creek campus would include new classrooms, adult areas, a teen club, day school, fitness center and an auditorium/banquet room.
Wyro said he hopes to bring the item before the City Council sometime in the fall, but that no definitive date has yet been set.