No loan, yet, for Springs apartments

A developer’s bid to get a $1.36 million loan in county redevelopment money got shelved for at least another month at the April 5 meeting of the Sonoma Valley Redevelopment Advisory Committee.
The committee’s members wanted more information from Irvine-based Global Premier Development Inc. before they would recommend approval for a loan to help fund a multi-million-dollar proposal to tear down an existing 36-unit apartment complex on three acres at 18360 Sierra Drive and replace it with a 55-unit, seven-building low-income apartment complex.
Committee members wanted know such things as the number of large trees that would be cut down, whether the complex could provide such amenities as basketball courts, and if Sierra Drive would be widened to accommodate the proposed apartment complex’s additional traffic.
Global representative Al Benavente couldn’t answer those and other questions, explaining that he’d have to find out from the construction project’s manager, who wasn’t at the meeting.
Committee member Steve Cox said of Benavente’s reply, “’I’ll talk to the project manager’ doesn’t really give me lot of confidence.”
Committee member Lisa Murray said, “We have very specific things that we need addressed.
“Unless it makes sense for the people who live here, I don’t approve funding for it,” she added.
The committee asked Benavente to return to next month’s meeting with the project manager.