On March 10, the Pleasant Hill Planning Commission held a public hearing on a proposed Habitat for Humanity housing project that drew mixed reactions from residents.

The project proposes to build four affordable, attached single-family homes on a vacant lot at 85 Woodsworth Lane in Pleasant Hill, within the Gregory Gardens community.

But the proposal would require several approvals to move forward, including changes to zoning and permission to divide the already existing lot on Woodsworth into four separate legal parcels.

Upon learning those details about the project, the crowd in attendance murmured some disapproval, including criticism about the limited space of the lot and the amount of units to be built there.

In particular, some residents said the new houses would aggravate an already existing parking shortage in the area.

“The parking issues that we are having will only be more problematic for us,” said resident Mara Soloman. “Having to deal with four additional families moving in, I don’t know how the community is going to respond to that.”

Residents also said they feared the addition of the homes would increase traffic in the populated area.

According to Greg Ridley, a long-time resident of the community, “it’s a very busy corner, and for a lot of the people within that community [it] is our portal to Gregory Gardens.”

Other residents spoke about the overall density of the project, often agreeing on one topic: building four homes in a single lot may be too much for that space.

However, some residents supported the Habitat project, including Derak Wurst, a Pleasant Hill resident and member of the Gregory Gardens Community Crew, who said the lot has been used for all the wrong reasons in the past — including as a dumping ground.

“I’m excited to see this vacant lot transformed into a project that provides much needed housing for our community,” Wurst said.

Once approved, the plan would allow 85 Woodsworth to be developed into four attached, single-family, three- to four-bedroom units in two separate buildings. One of the units has been modified to accommodate accessibility needs, with key living areas located on the first floor. This unit does not include a garage, but instead provides a two-car parking space on the side.

Habitat for Humanity’s senior project manager, Melanie Mantenko, explained the goal of the project is to bring people together to build affordable, safe homes and communities.

“We are aiming to, within reason, get the most affordable housing that we can and use that to build as many affordable homes that we can,” she said.

In addition to being affordable to build, the houses are designed with energy efficiency in mind. For example, Habitat says it is going to include solar EV chargers and all-electric appliances to make the houses net zero energy.

“We’re really aiming for these homes to generate more electricity than they use to keep the cost of living down, and benefit the environment,” said Mantenko.

Before Habitat can start work, it needs to secure permits and funding for the project, though the estimated amount was unspecified in the meeting.

“We are still looking for different funding sources,” Mantenko added. “We are also accepting any grants or loans that may become available for us in the near future.”

Habitat uses volunteers for help with construction, and hires subcontractors for certain portions of the work, like plumbing and electrical, she said.

For the construction of the project, builders are estimating three months for site work and another 15 months for the unit construction, with the site available for residents to move in by 2029.

Another representative of Habitat said “the homes would be owner-occupied and cannot be rented out,” with buyers required to live in the houses as their primary residence.

Handling concerns about parking and traffic, the city commissioners explained that the issues need to be addressed by the Traffic Safety Commission.

In the end, the Planning Commission voted unanimously to approve the project, sending it to the City Council for final consideration.