Editor: I have been overly busy, and failed to send out a timely notice about the City of Benicia’s call for public comments on the 2026 version of Seeno’s proposal to build in Benicia’s northeastern hills, the so-called “Rose Estates” proposal. I missed alerting you to the July 16 meeting and the July 24 deadline for public scoping comments, but many of you did not miss those important dates. See the following two pieces and good links… I will follow this post with several important public comments submitted under the July 24 deadline. – R. S.

Good recent background piece:

The Benicia Bridge, “Rose Estates Update: Public Comments open for housing development” July 16, 2026

A housing development is proposed in Benicia’s rolling golden hills, northeast of the Valero lands and downslope from a former toxic landfill.

Rose Estates, as currently designed, would bring 1,440 single-family homes and 180 multifamily residential units – including hundreds of affordable units. It also includes retail and commercial development, parks and open space. The development would occupy a 527-acre stretch of land between Lake Herman Road and East 2nd Street, surrounding the city’s Water Treatment Plant.

The Seeno family is behind the project – homebuilders with a long and storied record in the Bay Area. The applicant is… [continued]

About the maps…

Marilyn Bardet, “Tentative Maps for Rose Estate tell a story: Scoping comments for EIR preparation due tomorrow by 5 pm!” by email, July 23, 2026

Dear fellow Benicians,

A picture is worth a thousand words. A plan view map of a massive development project proposed for our northern hills is a picture worth looking at closely.

Have a look at the Tentative Maps for the Rose Estates as currently proposed. [below]

For your benefit— a bit too late, admittedly— I’ve attached screenshots of a few of the Tentative Maps the developer provided to the City, and which are posted on the City’s website, where all of the maps are presented, somehowing enlarged sections of various “village” areas of the development site. I’ve selected only a few to show you to highlight the extent of the massing and design of the plan.

If you haven’t yet seen them yet or have forgotten about what’s proposed, here in a nutshell you can see a few of the maps and imagine the whole development of 527 acres of our northern hills.

The entire property has been owned by Seeno for decades, and several times Seeno has proposed developments that were ultimately rejected and then withdrawn, in 2005, and again in 2007-’08, the latter for a business park for mainly warehousing. Now the project proposal is predominantly for residential, to be developed by WCHB Development LLC.

The maps show the suburban layout of 1,440 single family homes, each averaging 2,500 sq ft with 45% lot coverage. There are 180 multi family units located together at the east end of the site, and, two commercial areas, one along East 2nd and the other wrapping around toward Lake Herman Rd. There are 3 small parks.

Please put on your thinking caps and ponder what these maps tell you and call up.

For example: notice on the “Overall Map” [Rose Estates Project] that old Reservoir Rd, (which currently leads up to Lake Herman Rd from East 2nd St, and which borders the City’s property dedicated to our city water supply intake), is “erased”— removed. Notice that two new major boulevards would link Lake Herman Road to East 2nd Street.

On the last map below [TRACT MAP], you’ll see a blowup of the planning area farthest east on the site where the 180 multi-family housing units are proposed to be located: all clustered in one place, next to one of the two proposed commercial areas, and far from the 3 parks.

— Look closely: right above the area for the multi family units, e.g., outside the boundary of the site, you’ll see the entrance to the IT Panoche Class I Hazardous Waste Dump, which was “closed” way back in the early 90’s. BUT all the toxic materials impounded in that site are still in the ground, held back by a porcelain cement “earthen dam”, which is located right at the base of Lake Herman Rd. and across from the site for multi-family housing. Our former mayor Jerry Hayes reminds us of the liability that future homeowners will bear should those toxins move in the ground, leach into Paddy Creek, etc etc. CalEPA’s Dept of Toxic Substances is supposed to be monitoring the dump site for any water intrusion and contamination….

The city is inviting our comments on what the full extent of the scope of the environmental review should address. The Environmental Impact Report [EIR] is the public’s legal tool for understanding and evaluating a development’s various foreseeable impacts, such as impacts pertaining to traffic; air quality; geotechnical/soil stability; GHG climate (vehicle miles traveled ), energy; water supply; City services; infrastructure, protections for streams, creeks, wildlife, and scenic vistas.

Maps can tell you lots! Just imagine. This is your city, this could be its future. . .

Editor: the public comment period closed on July 24. Please disregard this paragraph…
You can send in your comments to planning@ci.benicia.ca.us (the name of the planner in charge of receiving Scoping comments was not identified on the City’s website for Rose Estates— or I couldn’t find it!) The City says, “Project information will be posted and maintained on the City’s website at www.ci.benicia.ca.us/roseestates.”

I believe the public comment period should be extended so that more people can become aware of the project as a whole and have their say. See maps BELOW…

Onward!
🙂 Marilyn

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From the City’s website: Rose Estates
The City of Benicia has received a Development Application for Rose Estates, a proposed site development of the 527 acre “North Study Area” property for residential and commercial/industrial uses. The applicant, WCHB LLC, asserts that the Development Application is filed under provisions of the so-called “Builders Remedy” (Government Code section 65589.5(d)(5) of the Housing Accountability Act).
The project proposes:
• Development of approximately 1,440 single-family residential units and 180 multifamily residential units
• Construction of approximately 110,000 square feet of retail and 152,000 square feet of commercial/light industrial
• Provision of three parks of approximately 2.6 acres, 2.7 acres, and 6.0 acres
• Preservation of approximately 245 acres of undeveloped land for open space, including sensitive habitats, wetlands, and natural slopes