A proposal to transform a blighted shopping center in western Antioch into a 210-unit apartment complex and small retail center has been put on indefinite hold.
The Antioch City Council voted 3-2 Tuesday, with Mayor Sean Wright and Councilwoman Lori Ogorchock dissenting, to pause a plan to demolish the 73,546-square-foot Delta Fair Shopping Center and replace it with the five-building residential-commercial Delta Fair Village complex.
Located near the corner of Buchanan Road and Delta Fair Boulevard, the project site is surrounded by a shopping area to the west and a commercial center to the north. The 13.5-acre Delta Fair Shopping Center saw anchor tenant Food Maxx leave nine years ago, along with multiple other tenants since then.
Some residents questioned the need for new apartments at the site.
“Instead of using the site for apartments, a better use would be to restructure it into transitional housing for the homeless and for resource offices … wraparound services,” Leslie May said.
“Antioch is not having a housing crisis; Antioch is having a job crisis,” Moussab Atassi added. “There are plenty of houses in Antioch for sale. So why is it exactly we are talking about changing the city (general) plan just to bring 200 more families into Antioch when we don’t have the job structure to support these families? This seems wildly unnecessary at best.”
Kyle Jones of Antioch Residents for Responsible Growth also opposed the project, saying its impact on air quality and greenhouses gas emissions was underestimated.
Although the Planning Commission unanimously recommended approval late last month, council members questioned whether the applicant, Chui Family LLC, would fix the center’s numerous code violations or keep up the proposed new complex. The center has a history of code violations in the past five years, including for boarded-up businesses, graffiti, rubbish and inoperable vehicles, according to staff reports. Chui Family LLC was not available to answer questions for the council but, reached by this news organization the next day, a company representative said the violations have all been addressed.
“The project we were going to build would improve the area 100%,” Gabriel Chui said.
Mayor Pro Tem Joy Motts said many of these violations were ignored “for an extensive period of time and some of these violations have still not been resolved.” She noted that the applicant also owns other properties in Antioch where there is an extensive history of code compliance issues.
“Until we have an answer on this, I don’t feel comfortable with this,” she added. “We have a responsibility to the residents of this community to ensure that we have quality investments come before us. We have a history in the past of haphazardly building a lot of homes and developments, and that has dramatically affected our quality of life. … We don’t need another problem in Antioch; we don’t need another blighted area, and that is my biggest concern.”
Council members Lamar Thorpe and Monica Wilson said they also had misgivings.
“And I am also concerned that it’s already dense with apartments. … It’s going to be very dense,” Wilson said. “I just need some assurance that the property will be well-managed and maintained.”
Councilwoman Lori Ogorchock, however, said she liked the proposal but with some adjustments, including reserving some units as senior-only and requiring a project labor agreement.
“I think we all have the same concerns about the applicant, but I think we need to move forward because this is an infill project, and we’ve been asking for infill projects. There are jobs that can come from this project; I think we need to move forward.”
Mayor Sean Wright also urged approval of the project.
“If we say ‘no’ to this project, five years from now we’re still dealing with code enforcement issues, we’re still dealing with blight,” he said. “This is an opportunity for us right now to be able to bring a project into that area to score development. … This is a crucial opportunity for Antioch, and if we say ‘no,’ then I think we are saying ‘no’ to not just this developer but quite a few developers that might be looking.”
Ogorchock moved to approve the plans, but Thorpe floated another motion to hold off indefinitely. Even so, Wright was hopeful that staff can work with the applicant to allay their concerns.
“I think this is an opportunity for us to be able to drive huge change into a much-needed area of town,” he said. “I hope by postponing it, we can work with the applicant because I think this is a needed project in town.”
Chui later said he hopes to continue working on the project with the city but that it remains to be seen.
“If they don’t like progress for the city, I will take my money elsewhere and invest it elsewhere,” he said.
