RANCHO SANTA FE — A retirement community project proposed for the northeast corner of Calzada del Bosque and Via de la Valle has been approved by the Rancho Santa Fe Association Art Jury to proceed to the next phase of design development, clearing a significant step in the approval process.
The Silvergate project includes 168 units spread between rental cottages, apartments, and memory care units for residents aged 60 and older. AmeriCare Health and Retirement, Inc., the Solana Beach-based developer, purchased the nearly 29-acre site back in 2021 with the goal of developing a close-to-home retirement option for Rancho Santa Fe’s senior population.
Over the past several years, AmeriCare has been working on the project with the Rancho Santa Fe Art Jury, which reviews development and building applications within the boundaries of the Rancho Santa Fe Protective Covenant.
On March 10, the Art Jury unanimously agreed to advance the project from the conceptual review phase, which focused on bulk mass and design, to the plan review phase, which will further refine landscaping and lighting plans.
“We appreciated the way the Art Jury conducted the meeting, allowing for ample public comment while maintaining a clear focus on the design considerations within their scope,” said AmeriCare President and COO Greg Petree. “We’re encouraged by their decision to move the project into the next phase.”
Silvergate still has a way to go before it can break ground. It needs to obtain approval from the Rancho Santa Fe Association Board of Directors and then from the County of San Diego, which will review the project’s environmental and road impacts.
During the conceptual review phase, AmeriCare said it made 25 changes to the project design. The most significant change was the removal of two county parcels from the project area, reducing its footprint from around 29 to 23 acres.
AmeriCare was planning for the county parcels to be annexed into the covenant boundaries in order for all the parcels to be under the Rancho Santa Fe Association’s jurisdiction.
However, some residents argued that any annexation of property must be approved by a vote of covenant members and raised concerns about whether the Art Jury had the authority to review a project that still included lands outside its jurisdiction.
Petree said AmeriCare ultimately decided to remove the two county parcels from the project plans so that Silvergate could move forward and eliminate any risk that the annexation would not be approved.
“We still own those two parcels, we’ll just bank them for the future, but they’ve been taken out of the project at this time,” said Petree.
The Art Jury also agreed to allow the proposed memory care building to be two stories instead of one, reversing the direction they had given earlier in the review process. This allows for a total of 44 memory care units, in addition to 94 apartments and 30 cottages.
Support and criticism
Silvergate has drawn immense public attention since its proposal, with a mix of support and pushback from ranch residents. Petree said over 200 residents have signed up for the waitlist, indicating a need for a project like this in the area.
This would be the first retirement community within the boundaries of the Rancho Santa Fe covenant. Resident Kathi Mallick said Silvergate provides options for seniors to stay close to the communities they love.
“There are so few options for downsizing and staying in the community that many of us have called home for decades,” said Mallick. “I hope Silvergate can change that. A retirement facility does not compete with our community, it completes our community.”
However, some residents have argued that the project does not fit the character of the ranch and has been allowed to bypass local zoning requirements outlined in Rancho Santa Fe’s historic Protective Covenant.
The nearly 100-year-old covenant classifies the Silvergate lot as Class C, which 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 this zoning does not allow Silvergate’s proposed amenities, such as a clubhouse, restaurant, spa, and sports facilities, nor does it allow memory care units, as the covenant prohibits institutions for the “care, cure or restraint of the mentally impaired” anywhere in the ranch.
Resident Dick Clotfelter said that allowing this project to move forward without meeting the zoning requirements could open the door to other projects that don’t fit the neighborhood’s character.
“It’s just such a bad precedent,” Clotfelter said. “This is a situation that shouldn’t have gotten to this point, and is now gonna have more and more problems.”
In 2024, some residents presented a petition arguing that Silvergate could only move forward if the language of the covenant was changed, which would require two-thirds approval by Rancho Santa Fe Association members.
Clotfelter said he and a group of residents were in mediation with the association board over this issue, but the board members eventually walked out.
In February 2025, after receiving a legal opinion from a land-use attorney, the association board of directors adopted a resolution formally recognizing that Silvergate’s proposed use is consistent with Class C zoning standards.
“With respect to project uses, the Association conducted due diligence and confirmed that the proposed uses may be permitted under the Protective Covenant as it applies to this site,” Rancho Santa Fe Association Building Commissioner Joel Levanetz told The Coast News.
Some residents have also raised concerns about the project’s location in a floodplain and potential impacts on traffic and emergency vehicle access if the site needed to be evacuated.
Petree noted that the project is well below the required zoning for the area, which allows for 50% site coverage and up to 35-foot-tall buildings. Around 26% of the lot will be developed, and the buildings range from one to two stories.
He characterized the residents opposed to Silvergate as a vocal minority of NIMBYs trying to derail the project.
AmeriCare has also opened Silvergate locations in Fallbrook, San Marcos, and Rancho Bernardo.
