Development Decoded

As you travel around Roseville, you may notice new construction occurring in long-vacant areas. But this activity is actually the result of decades of thoughtful and comprehensive planning coming to fruition.

These efforts help fuel a healthy economic environment and create a place where residents and businesses invest in the future. 


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Anticipating the future

For the past 35 years, Roseville has used a master-planning process, or what’s called a Specific Plan, to anticipate and manage growth.

A comprehensive look at land use accounts for the city’s needs and plans for the right balance of residential, commercial, office, and industrial land. It also examines parks, open space, and other municipal operations like utilities, traffic and public safety. 

This planning ensures economic health and that future city services are available as the population grows.  

Because Roseville is a full-service city, we’re able to effectively coordinate these services and infrastructure more easily than many other communities. 

View a map of planned development in Roseville and neighboring Placer County.

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Retail often follows residential growth

We’re often asked why commercial centers can take longer to develop than housing. 

As you can imagine, economic demand drives retail development. For stores and restaurants to be financially viable, they need a sufficient population within a given area. This gives businesses more certainty to move forward. 

Additionally, lending practices have changed and it can take time for companies to secure the necessary financing and leases. 

The City of Roseville’s role is to create an environment that attracts businesses so they can thrive. 

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Development pays its way

It's the City's policy that new development must have a positive fiscal impact on Roseville.

Roadways, and amenities like trails and parks, are typically built as development occurs. 

Developers pay fees which are gradually collected as new areas are built. These fees fund infrastructure to meet changing needs.
 
When existing roadways are later widened to accommodate increases in traffic, this isn’t a reaction. Rather, these phased improvements are anticipated many years before you ultimately see them constructed. 

By making changes incrementally, additional road maintenance costs aren’t incurred decades before extra lanes are needed.
 
View a map of current City of Roseville infrastructure projects by visiting roseville.ca.us/projects

View future projected roadway projects in Roseville here

For planned regional transportation improvements in south Placer, visit keepplacermoving.com

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Reliable utilities

Sound and stable utility services are critically important as Roseville grows. Therefore, as part of the specific planning process or development review, our electric and environmental utilities are engaged to ensure that we can provide reliable services to new water, wastewater, waste services (trash and recycling), and electric customers. 

We also conduct planning, assessments, and forecasting to make sure we have enough capacity for water delivery, wastewater treatment, and equipment needed to haul trash and recycling—this level of planning is inherent in the utility business. 

Our planning horizon looks at immediate and long-term impacts and determines ways to mitigate those impacts while also balancing economic prosperity. 

Water Utility

We conduct water assessments to ensure enough supply, even in dry years, to accommodate the added demand from new development. These efforts help us pinpoint current capacity, assess necessary expansions to infrastructure to access, and deliver additional water resources. 

New development must identify and bring water as part of the development agreement. Given our planning efforts, we have a growing water portfolio to have a go-to supply regardless of water supply conditions. 
It’s important to note that periodic conservation in droughts is part of our water supply planning and always has been; the level of conservation expected in the future is very similar to the conservation requested in current-day droughts.

Wastewater Utility

In wastewater, we analyze treatment capacity at our two regional plants to determine when we will need to add more capacity through an expansion project. Treatment capacity considers both the liquid volume and the amount of waste flowing to the plants.

Based on regulatory requirements and best practices, a predetermined flow to the plants triggers the need to start an expansion to meet growth projections. Therefore, we look at development trends and permit data as part of our analysis. 

For example, we are undergoing a significant expansion at our Pleasant Grove Wastewater Treatment Plant to add additional treatment capacity over the next ten-plus years. We identified this capital improvement project over a decade ago, and the additional treatment capacity will kick in early next year, 2023. 

Waste Services Utility (trash and recycling)

In waste services (trash and recycling), we forecast the number of homes and businesses to have the appropriate number of trucks and staff to haul and process trash, recycling, and green waste.

Funding expansion of utility services

Additionally, all new development includes capacity fees collected to expand service delivery to those new customers. This means existing customers do not bear the burden as growth happens in our community. 

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Housing is essential

A common question we get asked is why so many homes are currently under construction. 

Sometimes parcels do not develop for 15, 20, or more years, but they have been approved and anticipated by the City since the adoption of a Specific Plan by the City Council.

Additionally, homebuilding in California is essential and mandated as the state faces a continuing lack of affordable housing. 

State of California housing law defines how housing needs are determined. This law directs a greater share of affordable units to communities with the most jobs and opportunities. The state also specifies the number of housing units each community needs through a process called the Regional Housing Needs Allocation. For Roseville, 12,066 units are allocated, and 6,178 must be lower income. 

Many of the amenities, stores, and restaurants you enjoy are a result of Roseville’s residential and economic growth.

View a map of residential development activity.

Learn about the spectrum of housing categories you may see in Roseville.

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Maintaining public safety

Maintaining a safe and healthy community is the top City Council priority.

The Roseville Fire and Police Departments continually work to ensure public safety service levels are maintained as the city grows.