Northwest Clovis expansion continues as city approves 813 single-family lots for development
Development proposals for three massive residential projects approved in Clovis since December are the latest moves in the city’s push to the northwest, which will one day blanket the area’s already dwindling farmland with tract homes.
Last week, the Clovis City Council approved 385 single-family lots to be developed by Lennar Homes between Minnewawa and Clovis avenues, less than a half-mile north of Shepherd Avenue. Last month, the council approved 162 single-family lots to be developed by Bonadelle Neighborhoods immediately north of the Lennar project. That same night, councilmembers OK’d another 266 single-family lots to be developed by De Young Properties south of Behymer Avenue and between Peach and Minnewawa avenues.
That means another 813 single-family homes are coming to Heritage Grove: The 4-square-mile area that surrounds the Enterprise Canal and is bound by Copper Avenue to the north, Shepherd Avenue to the south, Willow Avenue to the west and Sunnyside Avenue to the east. The city will be annexing about 240 acres west of the canal in this area, including the roughly 110 acres where the new homes will be built.
“We’ve been building on Heritage Grove now for a little over five years,” Clovis City Planner Goerge Gonzalez told The Bee, “and we are going to be bringing more projects to the council.”
The number of homes built or currently under construction in Heritage Grove already tops 700, Gonzalez said. But the council’s approval of the three new subdivision maps marks a major step toward the long-planned urbanization of Heritage Grove with houses, apartments, mixed-use spaces, parks and trails.
These developments will eventually add thousands more to a population that increased more than 30% between 2010-2023, and that some residents say is already too large for the public services that the city is equipped to offer. Other residents have lamented the city’s fading rural feel.
Bill Smittcamp, president of Wawona Frozen Foods, indicated during the Dec. 16 council meeting that the land south of Behymer Avenue for the De Young project is ready for change. He said he knows because he has been farming that land for the past 30 years.
“This is the best project and the best thing for this piece of property,” Smittcamp said. “I hear you about ag, but this piece of property doesn’t have any water. ... We’re better off to go to the south or the southeast to farm peaches.”
Gonzalez said the city takes residents’ concerns about the adequacy of public services seriously, adding that staff closely analyze each project’s potential impacts before bringing them to the council.
Plans to fill the Heritage Grove area go back decades and were refined in the city’s 2014 general plan update, he said. The city is now in the early stages of another general plan update, creating the possibility that Clovis changes course on growth and development.
“It could be a possibility that enough citizens provide concerns to where it’s going to come upon the City Council to make that tough decision of, ‘Do we scale back development for specific reasons or not?” Gonzalez said.
De Young homes
Brandon De Young, of De Young Properties, said during the Dec. 16 council meeting that this development is nearly 20 years in the making.
“Generation two of home builders in our family bought this before the recession, so this is a long time coming,” he said.
The 266 homes De Young Properties will build on about 37 acres will be constructed in three phases, with each including some of the three home types this development will offer. At full-buildout, the Compass and Discover series units will ultimately cover 177 lots and the smaller Freedom series homes will cover 89 lots.
“Trying to make sure that we have multiple product types throughout the whole development ... so that multiple types of buyers and types of families can afford homes in this throughout the entirety of the build out – that was very important,” De Young said.
This neighborhood will not be gated or have a homeowners association. De Young Properties proposed a 13,000-square-foot park for the development. The developer will also improve East Behymer Avenue to a “community boulevard” and install a trail and bike path on Minnewawa Avenue. In total, this development will span about 37 acres.
Bonadelle homes
This nearly 15-acre project will offer 162 homes from Bonadelle Neighborhoods’ “Legacy” series, which the developer has built in Madera County’s Riverstone community, in Fresno and other parts of Clovis.
Apart from the Legacy homes in Riverstone, this series is always built in gated communities, said John Bonadelle, of Bonadelle Neighborhoods. He said this neighborhood will be gated and have an HOA, and will include two parks: one with a pool and the other with a pickleball court.
“This is an opportunity for first-time buyers to come into Clovis,” Bonadelle said during the Dec. 16 council meeting. “We studied the market rents of the luxury multi-family projects in the area and ... we believe that our pricing, our mortgage payments, will be very similar to what you have in rent in the area.”
He said “we are bringing a lot of critical infrastructure to the area,” including a curb-to-curb buildout of Clovis Avenue, and improving Perrin and Minnewawa avenues.
“We’re working with the flood control district to potentially install the master storm facilities in the area to eliminate ponding basins, which are a strain on city resources, developers and homeowners alike,” Bonadelle said.
Lennar homes
The largest of the three projects recently approved by the council, Lennar’s development will add 92 homes from its “Treasures” series, 103 homes from its “Core” series and 190 homes from its smaller “Wilde” series.” This neighborhood will operate with an HOA but will not be gated.
Lennar will be including two “pocket parks totaling approximately 43,850 square feet,” according to the approved planned development permit. The developer will also be contributing $95,450 to the portion of the Sunnyside Avenue trail next to the PG&E station in Heritage Grove.
Councilmember Lynne Ashbeck said during the Jan. 21 meeting that she was concerned about the “piece at a time” development in the area during discussions of the Lennar development. Gonzalez, the city planner, said Lennar will likely propose more projects for Heritage Grove and will bring presentations that show its broader development plans for the area.
He said staff are working on a specific plan with the Heritage Grove Development Company that will cover 900 acres and 1,400 homes. That plan should be ready by the end of the year, Gonzalez said.
This story was originally published February 1, 2025 at 7:00 AM.
