South and west Modesto need more housing. Here’s what two projects could look like

The draft Southwest Modesto Plan, which could soon go before the City Council, outlines how to improve life for current residents while adding a modest amount of housing.

The document covers all of west Modesto, which is generally the Paradise Road and Maze Boulevard corridors, and the south Modesto blocks right along Crows Landing Road.

The plan does not commit the city to any specific projects but does suggest two sites for infill housing that encourages walking.

One would be a two-story building with four to eight rental units at the southwest corner of Madison Street and California Avenue. It is a block west of Modesto High School and three blocks north of MaxxValue Foods and other businesses.

The other project would be at the northeast corner of Crows Landing and Hatch Road. It could have up to 29 townhomes in three-story buildings, some of them above new ground-floor retail. Mi Tierra Supermarket is right across the street. Cardenas Market is two blocks to the south.

The owners of the two properties have not announced any development plans. The Madison Street site is a dirt lot. The other has a few small businesses.

‘These areas are hopping,’ Modesto mayor says

The draft was endorsed on a 3-0 vote Monday, Aug. 5, by the Economic Development Committee of the City Council. The full seven-member council could take it up in a few weeks.

The plan says residents generally have low incomes but are well-served by schools, parks and bus lines. Most houses are rentals and older than the citywide average, but the streets can be pleasant where sidewalks and shade trees are in place.

The plan was written on a $216,000 contract by PlaceWorks , a consulting firm based in Berkeley. It held several meetings with residents as part of research starting in early 2023.

The plan notes a lack of some goods and services, notably a bank in west Modesto, but said residents can still find much of what they need.

“These areas are hopping with economic development,” said Mayor Sue Zwahlen, one of the committee members. “There is shopping. There is activity. There is so much going on.”

The committee also includes Eric Alvarez and Chris Ricci. All three members acknowledged that some blocks still lack sidewalks, lighting and other infrastructure. They have not been annexed to Modesto but instead are served by Stanislaus County government.

Alvarez grew up in the plan area and now represents its annexed portions on the council. “I was one of those kids who walked through the mud puddles,” he said.

The west Modesto area has about 26,000 residents. It is roughly bounded by Highway 99, the Tuolumne River, Carpenter Road and Maze.

Crows Landing Road has neighborhoods on each side, but they are mostly unincorporated and not in the city plan.

The county has an estimated $707 million in infrastructure needs in such pockets, some of them near smaller cities. County supervisors voted in 2022 to direct $50 million in federal pandemic relief to the effort. They kicked in $15 million more last year.

An easier walk to Modesto High

The Southwest Modesto Plan reflects a movement in the city and beyond to ease walking and bicycling.

The most dramatic could be the city project just completed near Modesto High , where H Street becomes Paradise Road. Students returning Aug. 13 will find two traffic lanes instead of four, and crosswalks much more visible than before.

Crows Landing Road got similar attention a few years back between Pecos and Whitmore avenues. The city and county installed raised medians, flashing crosswalk beacons and other measures and bike lanes. They had earlier abandoned a plan to widen this street from four to six lanes to aid truck traffic.

Even with the upgrades, this streetscape can be unappealing because almost all of the businesses sit behind large parking lots. The plan urges a mix of homes and businesses right up to the sidewalk, and the same on Paradise Road.

The plan meshes with a council vote last year for mixed-use projects on other underused commercial strips. It involves Sisk Road, McHenry Avenue, Oakdale Road and Yosemite Boulevard.

Such projects would provide most of the 11,248 housing units that Modesto aims to build through 2031 in a document required by the state.

More details on life in south and west Modesto

The Southwest Modesto Plan includes these findings about the area:

• Residents have a median household income of $49,052 a year, compared with $68,368 in the county overall.
• Only 46% of plan area residents own their homes, versus 60% countywide.
• Latinos make up 68% of the plan area and 46% of the county.
• The plan area has 13 schools besides Modesto High, but no post-secondary education within its border. Both campuses of Modesto Junior College are a short drive away.
• West Modesto has not had a bank since the 2019 closure of the Bank of America branch on Paradise, which drew a protest .
• Such services came to south Modesto with last year’s opening of the Self-Help Federal Credit Union on Crows Landing.

• Several neighborhood parks serve residents, as does a three-mile stretch of Tuolumne River Regional Park . The city secured a pair of $8.5 million state grants for major upgrades to the parks named for Cesar Chavez and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

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