Planning commission approves townhomes on Central Avenue site that sat vacant for two decades

The Richmond Planning Commission voted 4-0 last week to approve a 47-unit townhome development on Central Avenue, clearing the way for housing on a 2.58-acre lot near Interstate 80 that has sat vacant for more than two decades and cycled through a half-dozen failed proposals since the Dolan Lumber Company closed in the early 2000s.

The commission approved a design review permit, tentative parcel map, and creek setback waiver for the Cascade Townhomes project at 5620 Central Avenue, proposed by AMG & Associates of Encino. Commissioners Timmons and Benitez were absent. The vote came near 10 p.m. after a hearing in which no one spoke in opposition.

A 2026 aerial view of the 2.58-acre site at 5620 Central Avenue. Image/ AMG & Associates/Dahlin Group.

Gene Broussard, a principal with AMG, told commissioners his firm has been pursuing a buildable project on the site for a decade.

"I've been with AMG for 20-plus years. I've worked on this project for 10 of the 20 years," Broussard said. "It's just, unfortunately, one of those projects that has morphed through the years. I think I first got it approved in 2015 and then again in 2019, like three, four different times, and so we're just trying to evolve with the times."

The site, straddling the Richmond and El Cerrito city limits just east of I-80, has been through a series of dramatically different schemes. An earlier AMG proposal for 46 units was reviewed by the Design Review Board in December 2018 but failed to advance. A 393-unit apartment building was approved under Senate Bill 35 in 2023, but that project also stalled. The current proposal, far more modest at 47 three-bedroom, two-and-a-half-bath townhomes priced for ownership, was submitted in November 2024 and was previously before the Design Review Board in January.

"It's Bay Area, it's difficult from a structural foundation standpoint," Broussard said. "It's four feet into the flood zone, there's the channel, there's the water board, there's this ongoing dedication, so there's a lot of constraints with this site that have been kind of a challenge for us."

The project would span eight buildings of contemporary design using stucco, lap siding, and metal finishes, with 94 parking spaces, including two covered spaces per unit in ground-floor garages and six shared surface spaces near a central recreation area. Five of the units would be priced affordably to moderate-income households, qualifying the project for density bonus concessions and waivers under state law.

Planning Manager Avery Stark and planner Dana Ayers presented the project to commissioners, with Ayers noting during the presentation that the site is protected under Senate Bill 330, the Housing Accountability Act, so only objective standards can be applied to the review. The project also qualified for an exemption from the California Environmental Quality Act under a state law adopted in July 2025.

Because the site was previously listed in Richmond's housing element as capable of accommodating 393 units, the city was required to make a "no net loss" finding, documenting that other sites elsewhere in Richmond can absorb the difference. Ayers said the large pipeline of projects in the Hilltop area provides sufficient capacity to satisfy that requirement.

The project's eastern boundary runs along a concrete-lined drainage channel, and Commissioner Bruce Brubaker pressed staff on what would happen to it.

"What is the worst-case scenario for the creek channel for this development?" Brubaker asked. "Is it that nothing happens there?"

Stark confirmed that it was one possibility. "One option would be that nothing happens. It maintains its current status, other than general maintenance and upkeep," Stark said. "The alternative would be through partnership with the city, and potentially other organizations. With the applicant, we would apply for funding to do continued daylight within that creek, which would also require other subsequent permits from, like, the Army Corps of Engineers."

Brubaker said the ambiguity troubled him, noting that several units would face the channel directly.

"That seems problematic for this development, that it's at least possible that nothing happened there, because there's a whole building that has units facing that muddy channel that's filled with trash," Brubaker said. “The site plan is strange; much of it is good, but in that case, the buildings face away from the center, which is where they park, and the doors are lined along that channel.”

The project also involves a right-of-way dedication along both Central Avenue and San Mateo Street to accommodate the planned I-80/Central Avenue interchange improvement project, a multi-agency effort involving Richmond, El Cerrito, and Caltrans that would widen the roadway, relocate an AC Transit bus stop, and add wider sidewalks.

A conceptual rendering of the Cascade Townhomes project.

Stark told commissioners that Richmond Public Works is on track to secure construction approvals by the end of this year and begin work in the spring of 2027, and that the Cascade project's land dedication is essential to the interchange's success.

Because the right-of-way dedication reduces the buildable footprint, the project was granted a zoning waiver, reducing the required 30-foot creek setback to 27 feet, a 10 percent reduction allowed under Richmond Municipal Code. Staff said the reduction was appropriate given the circumstances.

Brubaker noted the combined dedications along both street frontages made it difficult to ask more of the developer. "There's a lot of dedication, a lot of right-of-way dedication, because there's San Mateo Street as well as Central, so it's really hard to try and exact anything else out of this process," he said.

The project also includes a condition requiring the first building permit application to go to El Cerrito for an initial conformance review, since the property falls within both cities’ jurisdictions. Under a joint agreement between Richmond and neighboring cities, the city containing more than half of a project site’s land area is responsible for handling entitlements.

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