What Stonelake Taught Us: A Community’s Voice Matters

Connie Conley, Rural Area Resident |

Several years ago, Stonelake residents faced a proposal they believed would fundamentally change the character of their community.

California Northstate University proposed a major medical center in the area. Residents organized, attended meetings and spoke before decision-makers about traffic, infrastructure, compatibility and the future of their neighborhood.

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But Stonelake residents didn't stand alone.

Even though we lived clear across the city, residents of Rural Elk Grove and East Elk Grove joined their fight.

Many of us didn't know each other. In fact, some Stonelake residents didn't even know my name. For a while, I was simply “the lady in the yellow sweater.”

It still makes me smile, but there was an important reason we were there.

You don't have to live next door to someone to be their neighbor.

Rural residents stood with Stonelake because we understood what they were fighting for: the right to have a voice in the future of their community and the expectation that the planning decisions governing that community should mean something.

Ultimately, the proposed CNU hospital did not move forward in Stonelake.

Today, Rural Elk Grove residents find themselves fighting to protect the character of our own community.

The project is different, but the principle is remarkably similar.

Rural Elk Grove was intentionally planned to remain rural. Large parcels, horses, livestock, small farms, gardens, orchards, country roads and open spaces are not remnants of yesterday waiting for development. They are part of the community the City's General Plan recognizes.

Now, the proposed Summer Villas development would bring hundreds of homes to land currently designated rural and would require changes to the General Plan.

That makes this about much more than one development.

It is about whether a General Plan is a promise or merely a placeholder.

Rural residents aren't saying Elk Grove should never grow. We understand our city will continue to grow, and there are areas specifically planned for that growth such as the Southeast Policy Area (SEPA).

But Rural Elk Grove is different by design.

Once rural land begins disappearing parcel by parcel, where does it stop?

If the General Plan is changed for one large development in the rural area, what happens when the next proposal arrives? And the one after that?

That is why Rural Elk Grove residents continue attending Planning Commission and City Council meetings, submitting comments and telling the stories of families who have called this area home for generations.

We are doing what Stonelake residents did.

We are standing up for the community we were promised.

Years ago, residents from opposite sides of Elk Grove stood together because protecting the character of a community mattered beyond neighborhood boundaries.

Back then, I may have been just “the lady in the yellow sweater.”

Today, I am one of many Rural Elk Grove residents asking our fellow Elk Grove residents to stand with us.

 Different community. Different project. Same fundamental principle.

Listen to the residents. Honor the General Plan. Preserve Rural Elk Grove.

And perhaps soon, the final chapter of this story can be written in one simple sentence:

When Rural Elk Grove needed protecting, its residents spoke — and their City listened.