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A rendering of Silvergate Rancho Santa Fe's central club house and entryway. Courtesy photo/Silvergate
A rendering of Silvergate Rancho Santa Fe's central club house and entryway. Courtesy photo/Silvergate
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Silvergate project meets opposition from Rancho Santa Fe residents

RANCHO SANTA FE — A proposed 160-unit retirement community intended to bring needed senior housing to Rancho Santa Fe faces pushback from residents who claim the project does not match the area’s rural character or zoning requirements.  

The Silvergate Rancho Santa Fe project proposes a mix of rental cottages, apartments and memory care units for residents 60 years and older at a long-vacant 28-acre site at the corner of Calzada del Bosque and Vida de la Valle, across from Chino Farms. 

The developer, Solana Beach-based AmeriCare Health and Retirement, Inc., purchased the property in 2021 after eyeing it for years. Leaders say the plan is to provide a close-to-home retirement option for Rancho Santa Fe’s aging population. 

This would be AmeriCare’s fourth Silvergate location, with other facilities in Fallbrook, San Marcos and Rancho Bernardo. 

“The property at the corner of Calzada Del Bosque and Via de la Valle was listed for sale and offered AmeriCare the unique opportunity to secure a site large enough for the development of a new, second-generation, campus-style retirement community at a location that could best serve the needs of Rancho Santa Fe and the area’s growing senior population,” said AmeriCare President and COO Greg Petree, who runs the company with his father David Petree and brother Matt Petree. 

A rendering of the memory care suits at the proposed Silvergate Rancho Santa Fe retirement community, planned for a long-vacant piece of land at Via de la Valle and Calzada de la Bosque. Courtesy photo/Silvergate
A rendering of the memory care suits at the proposed Silvergate Rancho Santa Fe retirement community at Via de la Valle and Calzada de la Bosque. Courtesy photo/Silvergate

For the past three years, AmeriCare has been involved in entitlement planning and design review with the Rancho Santa Fe Art Jury, which reviews development and building applications “to ensure new projects maintain the ‘high artistic result’ described in the Rancho Santa Fe Protective Covenant.”

During the jury’s most recent review of the project in October, which drew a crowd of residents, the jury listed several items for the developer to address regarding the architectural design before it could be approved. 

In response to design concerns, AmeriCare said they have worked with the Art Jury to make the structures match Rancho Santa Fe’s rural characteristics, with elements like cantilevered wood balconies, Juliette iron balconies, and the removal of all window stacking. 

Silvergate Rancho Santa Fe plans to host at least 200 residents, which is the “sweet spot” for creating an energetic and involved community without being too large, Greg Petree said. 

While AmeriCare boasts a long waiting list of Rancho Santa Fe seniors interested in moving into Silvergate, many residents say the project does not fit the rural, low-density style that the community has preserved for decades or the site’s zoning. 

Zoning, permitted uses and flooding  

Rancho Santa Fe is governed by a nearly 100-year-old Protective Covenant outlining permitted property uses in different areas. The Silvergate lot is zoned as Class C, which only allows residential uses such as multi- and single-family dwellings or an “apartment house, hotel, private school, fraternity dwelling, club, dormitory, boarding house or lodging house.” 

Some residents argue that Silvergate’s amenities, such as a clubhouse, restaurant, spa, and sports facilities, are not permitted under Class C. They also say Silvergate’s inclusion of 24 memory care units will violate the covenant, which prohibits institutions for the “care, cure or restraint of the mentally impaired” anywhere in the ranch.

A rendering of the entrance to the proposed Silvergate Rancho Santa Fe retirement community, planned for a long-vacant piece of land at Via de la Valle and Calzada de la Bosque.
A rendering of the entrance to the proposed Silvergate Rancho Santa Fe retirement community. Courtesy photo/Silvergate

In a recent petition, residents opposing the project stated that Silvergate could only be permitted if the language of the covenant is changed, which would require two-thirds approval by Rancho Santa Fe Association members. 

The petition asked the RSF Association Board of Directors and Art Jury to pause any actions regarding the project until after this vote. 

“The Project, as presently envisioned, is a for-profit business whose scale, density and metrics far exceed anything undertaken in Rancho Santa Fe’s almost 100-year history and would drive a stake in the heart of all the RSFA’s Governing Documents, especially the Covenant itself, and likely will lead to further similar large scale developments that will destroy historic Rancho Santa Fe,” the petition states. 

Dick Clotfelter, an 87-year-old Rancho Santa Fe resident and former association board member who has lived in the ranch most of his life, said residents had voted many times over the years regarding changes to the language of the covenant. The Silvergate situation should follow the same standard, he said. 

“It doesn’t fit the zoning of what that land is zoned for. That would require a modification,” Clotfelter said. “The covenant is very clear that if there is disagreement, it should be brought to the people.” 

AmeriCare states that the project is permitted under the current zoning and will be developed below the maximum density allowed for Class C, which permits up to 50% site coverage and building heights up to 35 feet. The project will have less than 25% site coverage and a mix of single- and two-story structures.  

A 29-acre site at the corner of Calzada del Bosque and Via de la Valle in Rancho Santa Fe is being eyed for the development of a Silvergate retirement community. Photo by Leo Place
A 29-acre site at the corner of Calzada del Bosque and Via de la Valle in Rancho Santa Fe is being eyed for the development of a new Silvergate retirement community. Photo by Leo Place

“We have had earlier conversations with the County’s planning department and they have confirmed that the Silvergate Retirement Residence project that we are proposing for the Rancho Santa Fe site is allowed under their Land Use Matrix, subject to receiving an approved Major Use Permit for the project,” said AmeriCare CEO David Petree.

Some Art Jury members have also raised these questions, and on Nov. 19, the jury agreed to hire a land use attorney to consult on this matter. 

Residents have also raised concerns about the land being in a flood plain, especially considering rising water levels and the higher frequency of rain and flooding events in recent years. 

On Tuesday, Clotfelter sent a letter to the RSF Association board claiming that AmeriCare has not used an updated flood map to plan their project and that the project poses liability and risks for Rancho Santa Fe and its residents. 

While the site is largely flat, Greg Petree said only the southwest corner is located within the flood plain, and all building pads will be elevated safely above flood levels. The site also has two bioretention basins to capture stormwater runoff and sits several feet higher than the agricultural site to the south, he added. 

If Silvergate passes muster with the Art Jury, the project will still require approval from the RSF Association Board of Directors and a major use permit from the County of San Diego. AmeriCare leaders said they hope to start construction next year and open the facility in 2028. 

“Any further delays to the approval process for this project would simply exacerbate the shortage of senior living housing in Rancho Santa Fe and the neighboring proximate areas,” said Greg Petree. 

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