Yucaipa, California

Toomey: “Our current population is about 55,000 and growing. Yucaipa is pretty much a bedroom community. We’re working to offset that, but of the 18,000 residents that have jobs, 16,000 commute to work somewhere else. And about 4,000 come in to work. So, our jobs/housing balance isn’t where we’d like it to be. Our major private employer is Sorenson Engineering; a precision, micro-machining company that makes electrical components for the defense and space sectors. They have an employee base of about 425, having doubled their employment in the last three years. The school district is our other large employer. “Like most cities, Yucaipa wants to provide a variety of housing options. We certainly have a predominant single-family style development, but we also need to have product types for other residents in various stages of life. The City updated the Uptown Specific Plan that establishes different land uses and architecture requirements for the uptown area. We densified that area to accommodate multi-story residences, to encourage residential development over commercial on our major corridor. And we added higher-density in the residential areas as well – 16 to 24 units per acre, which is pretty dense by Inland Empire East Valley standards. But it’s an appropriate location for the younger cohort that is interested in the walkable environment. There is a seniors’ affordable housing project located in uptown, as well. Both of those age groups find proximity to services beneficial, so our plan accommodates that.” BVM: Any other major infrastructure projects on the go? Toomey: We have a major boulevard connecting the center of town to the I-10 freeway. It’s been under construction over the last 10 years to widen it from a four-lane to a six-lane divided roadway. A recent, more complicated phase has occurred near the freeway, where street widening and sewer and water main extensions and underground transmission lines have all been undertaken in a block-and-a-half distance. It’s a $12 million project and we’re about three quarters of the way complete. This infrastructure project has also spurred a developer to undertake an adjoining YUCA I PA , CAL I FORNI A