Monday, February 27, 2006
Roseville Automall Expansion
In an area full of automalls, the Folsom Automall is a powerhouse in the Sacramento area. If the Automall and neighboring rocket producer Aerojet get there way, the mall soon could see expansion.
An automall, or a large area of land designated to be used solely by auto dealerships, has become a very popular development choice for politicians in the Valley. The products, expensive automobiles, make a huge contribution to the local area's sales tax. Cities and counties have embraced these developments as darlings of their budgets, bringing in millions of dollars of tax revenue. In Sacramento county, Roseville Automall became one of the first in the world, and now claims to be the world's largest automall. The relatively new city of Elk Grove also boasts an automall, and recently allowed for growth. The Elk Grove Automall has not yet reached full build-out. It has added dealerships, some from the Florin Road corridor in Sacramento city, resulting in a significant loss of revenue by the city.
The Folsom Automall is now seeking expansion. Still a remote location along the Highway 50 corridor, the mall has worked with real estate development-minded Aerojet to expand across the road onto its property. Aerojet has recently decided to sell-off and develop some of its acreage near the highway. It has one high accolades from the community in trying to build dense housing in the near vicinity of one Sacramento's new light rail station.
However, the automall expansion would also be near the station. It is thought that the automall would add very little riders to a fledging regional transit system. Sacramento Regional Transit costs billions, with costs being shared by area communities and state and federal grants. There are grave worries that the federal government would be less inclined to support RT if Sacramento "wastes" planning opportunities near stations.
Sadly, Aerojet has decided to play hardball, trying to force the project through with threat of lawsuit and the modification of proposals the community feels are beneficial near the station. These stations are set, and may remain so for decades, or possibly centuries. The land use choices made today will affect the success of the transportation system in the future. Besides, for the possibility of future RT expansion, federal funding is a necessity. To become more viable, RT must expand to the airport and to Sacramento's arena and stadium venues. It must grow to more successfully connect Sacramento State to the rails. RT must expand into Elk Grove, riding past Cosumnes River College on the way to providing congestion relief to highway 99.
Will RT fail in Sacramento if Folsom Automall expands? Probably not. The fact remains that Sacramento must decide carefully to support projects near its very expensive investment into the region's future.
An automall, or a large area of land designated to be used solely by auto dealerships, has become a very popular development choice for politicians in the Valley. The products, expensive automobiles, make a huge contribution to the local area's sales tax. Cities and counties have embraced these developments as darlings of their budgets, bringing in millions of dollars of tax revenue. In Sacramento county, Roseville Automall became one of the first in the world, and now claims to be the world's largest automall. The relatively new city of Elk Grove also boasts an automall, and recently allowed for growth. The Elk Grove Automall has not yet reached full build-out. It has added dealerships, some from the Florin Road corridor in Sacramento city, resulting in a significant loss of revenue by the city.
The Folsom Automall is now seeking expansion. Still a remote location along the Highway 50 corridor, the mall has worked with real estate development-minded Aerojet to expand across the road onto its property. Aerojet has recently decided to sell-off and develop some of its acreage near the highway. It has one high accolades from the community in trying to build dense housing in the near vicinity of one Sacramento's new light rail station.
However, the automall expansion would also be near the station. It is thought that the automall would add very little riders to a fledging regional transit system. Sacramento Regional Transit costs billions, with costs being shared by area communities and state and federal grants. There are grave worries that the federal government would be less inclined to support RT if Sacramento "wastes" planning opportunities near stations.
Sadly, Aerojet has decided to play hardball, trying to force the project through with threat of lawsuit and the modification of proposals the community feels are beneficial near the station. These stations are set, and may remain so for decades, or possibly centuries. The land use choices made today will affect the success of the transportation system in the future. Besides, for the possibility of future RT expansion, federal funding is a necessity. To become more viable, RT must expand to the airport and to Sacramento's arena and stadium venues. It must grow to more successfully connect Sacramento State to the rails. RT must expand into Elk Grove, riding past Cosumnes River College on the way to providing congestion relief to highway 99.
Will RT fail in Sacramento if Folsom Automall expands? Probably not. The fact remains that Sacramento must decide carefully to support projects near its very expensive investment into the region's future.
