Business View Civil and Municipal | April 2021

63 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL APRIL 2021 F I LLMORE , CAL I FORNI A are driving people closer to what Fillmore has to offer, including its own wide variety of residential offerings. “Our developments are solely residential for the most part,” says Planning and Community Development Director, Kevin McSweeney. “People are living here in town and commuting out to Santa Clarita, Oxnard, Camarillo and also Los Angeles.” One large subdivision under construction now that will be complete within the next four years is known locally as The Bridges. “It’s a master planned community,” McSweeney explains. “It’s comprised of high-end homes with lots of amenities. It has parks, new schools, new bridges, new traffic signals, and really retro kind of houses. Very traditional and attractive to families and professionals.” There are also private builders who are working on an affordable housing project that will include 77 units, as well as a 101-acre site which is proposing another 140 units of homes. In addition, KB Homes is currently selling two-to- three-storey townhomes with prices starting in the mid-$400,000s. “I’ve also got a couple of other large apartments being proposed right now,” McSweeney adds. “We are probably about a year away before I get to the city council with those projects. But we have had a balance of single family detached homes, with some affordability, and finally some apartments at a market-rate level.” Fillmore is hoping the diverse range of residential development options will help encourage more people to move to the sunny city and, in turn, spur more development. “If we are able to do at least the first phase of the market-rate apartments, that would hopefully bring in individuals between the ages of 25 and 30,” says Fillmore City Manager Dave Rowlands. “And then that would push some different type of growth in the downtown area, with additional restaurants, and microbrews, and those type of items that would come with it as well.”