You think traffic is bad already (Loomis News, 8-14-08, Dave Harris column). Wait until two huge projects now proposed in Loomis at Horseshoe Bar Road and I-80 are built. These projects will definitely increase traffic dramatically and could undercut existing Loomis businesses.

The “Loomis Marketplace” is proposed for the old Turtle Island site, on the south side of I-80 and both sides of Horseshoe Bar Road. That Marketplace is the biggest commercial development to come along in town in a long time - a 63.5-acre complex with two hotels with 120 and 151 rooms and almost 400,000 square feet of retail and commercial uses.

”The Village at Loomis” is a 54-acre project behind Raley's along I-80 past Library Drive up to Laird Street including about 40,000 square feet of shops, restaurants and professional office spaces, plus a wide variety of single-family houses, apartments, parks, open space, trails and possibly senior housing.

Will these projects increase traffic and change the character of our town? Of course!

I don’t agree with some that feel developers know what’s best for our community. The Town needs to actively engage residents, businesses and developers to help design these projects to be unique to Loomis. The Town needs to figure out how these two projects can help downtown businesses, not compete with them. The Town needs to organize a public workshop on-site so we all can walk the project areas.

To design these projects right will require more than the minimum of public notice to those within the legal minimum distance from the project. The Town should do everything it can to encourage, facilitate and educate residents, businesses and the developers on how best to address the Town's values in the design of these projects. All of the documents that are submitted by the developers should be posted on the Town's website (or link to the developer's website) for all to see as soon as they are submitted.

The Village had an early series of public meetings that was very helpful for getting such input. As a result, The Village has been designed to be a more walkable, pedestrian-oriented area connected directly and supportive of the existing downtown.

Both projects were highlighted in a Town meeting last year at which they received lots of public input, however, very little of that input is in the current project description of the Marketplace and The Village has yet to submit a revised project description.

More active public engagement will help crystallize what and how the community believes the General Plan should be implemented here. The Town should organize a public workshop on site so all involved could walk the project areas to bring to life the written descriptions and plans that have been prepared to date.

The process itself should be a point of great community pride once it is done, because it will reflect the best ideas of the Loomis community.

Existing Loomis businesses that may want to expand into these new developments should be provided with developer incentives to be able to afford the rents there. The developers of these projects could also help find tenants for empty spaces in the downtown area if they viewed their goal as building a new downtown, instead of just pursuing their own project independent of its effect on the downtown.

A shuttle service should go frequently between the Marketplace, The Village, the Train Depot, and the rest of downtown. A non-motorized path should connect the Marketplace with The Village for pedestrians, bicyclists, and electric carts to use (either under or over I-80). Another path should be provided for horses to be ridden from the South side of I-80 to the North (both at Horseshoe Bar Road and King Road).

The architectural design of these projects needs to look more like a "downtown" area, than your average "shopping mall." That means having smaller buildings, each with unique attributes, and centered in the middle of the site, rather than having a large imposing parking lot out front. And the interchange from I-80 and the I-80 overpass should not be expanded like they have done at Sierra College Boulevard. This needs to be done in scale to Loomis.

Planning tools that the Town could use to more actively engage all those interested would be to concurrently update the Town Center Master Plan and to conduct an "urban blight study" to link these projects with the success of downtown businesses. In addition, the Town and these project developers should work with the Chamber of Commerce and individual businesses directly to identify economic development incentives and tools that would best support and expand downtown businesses. These project developers should also identify how to help in the marketing of existing Loomis businesses along with their marketing of their own projects.

These projects need to be designed well, compatible with our Town's size and scale, in keeping with our community’s values and character. If done right, these two projects could help create a vibrant downtown with more shops, restaurants and public events. That is the challenge Loomis must rise to meet.

Tell the Town now what you would like to see happen there. Send comments ASAP to Kathy Kerdus, Planning Director, Town of Loomis, 6140 Horseshoe Bar Road, Suite K, Loomis, CA 95650, or . The deadline has officially passed for comments on the Notice of Preparation for the Environmental Impact Report (EIR), but staff has indicated they will forward any comments to the developers that they receive for the developers to consider while the Draft EIR is being prepared.

I'd love to get copies of any comments you send in, and would welcome your ideas and comments to me as well: gary@garyliss.com or 916-652-7850.