GALT, CA (MPG) - The Galt Planning Commission voted to table a design review on a planned development in the north Galt area after concerns that the designs didn’t match what the City Council originally approved nearly five years prior. 

The point of contention for commissioners swirled around a project condition called “A-20” requiring “executive-style housing,” a loosely defined term used when the project was entitled in 2020. 

The development, dubbed Summerfield at Twin Cities, is slated for 211 “executive style” single-family homes across 58 acres. The development will also include a 1.9-acre private park, available to residents of the development, and nearly 8 acres of open space along the northern boundary. 

Commissioners almost unilaterally said the designs presented at the March 13 meeting looked too ordinary to garner the “executive-style” title. The commission ultimately supported a motion from Commissioner Keith Jones to table the discussion and asked the developers, Lennar, to return later with updated designs that included more upscale amenities. 

“These plans, in my opinion, look like something you would build in one of our other communities that are currently in the works and not the executive style homes that we were sold on,” Planning Commission Chair Dan Denier said. 

While there is no official definition for “executive-style housing,” Galt commissioners took it as meaning homes with features that could not be found in other Galt neighborhoods. 

Those included prominent entryways, single-story floorplans, covered patios, three-car garages and “upscale” amenities.

“The whole thing has been sold as executive-style homes, not an executive-style community, but executive-style homes,” Denier said. “My question is, with the plans that we have here, what does Lennar describe as an executive-style home, versus a home they would build someplace else?”

A representative for Lennar said executive-style homes could mean homes that have varied floorplans, a “Next Gen Suite,” an attached living quarters with a private entrance, a kitchenette, an open common area and a multi-use room, as well as floor plans with dens and other upscale amenities. 

“I wasn’t here when this community was approved,” she said. “But I would say an executive-style community is one that would be more central with more walkability to your business and things like that.”

Denier said Galt already has homes in the community that have those amenities.

“What makes this stand out from what we already have or what we already approved over the last year or so?” Denier said. “That’s what I want to see: What makes this stand out?”

When the project was first approved, the council required five separate-size tiers, each making up 20% each of the total homes. The tiers were cut into 2,000, 2,400, 2,800, 3,200 and 3,500 square feet, respectively.  Homes by Towne purchased the entitled project and in 2022 attempted to modify those conditions during a planning commission meeting, stating that the breakdown in sizes would result in too many two-story homes. They added that market pressures made homes more than 3,000 square feet undesirable.

The planning commission denied the request, but the council ultimately agreed. The meeting included a lengthy discussion regarding concerns from local ranchers, including fencing around the project due to concerns for nearby livestock. 

Lennar purchased the project in December 2024 and is currently seeking to continue to buildout, with a mix of one- and two-story homes between 2,000 and 3,300 square feet.  

Mayor Shawn Farmer, who was the lone council member to vote against the appeal in 2022, said the designs presented are not what “the council I was on was sold.”

“What we are being brought is not that project and it upsets me personally because we represent the citizens of this town and we do things for a certain reason and then those reasons change,” Farmer said. “Well, we can’t go back and un-annex the land, we can’t unzone it; that ship has sailed.”

“We appreciate Lennar’s commitment to this project,” Farmer added. “I think if I was Lennar, I would be upset about the people you bought the project from.”