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Front St.Real Estate Section - Clovis Free PressLinks St.
Vol. 17  No. 21 Final Edition
Clovis Free Press
Wednesday, March 1, 2000
Mass Produced Mansions vs. Schools!
Aiming to take the high-end subdivision to another level!
By Howard Hobbs, Valley Press Media Network


     CLOVIS -- Over the past decade major new home builders have sold only a handful of homes selling for over $850,000 in the Clovis area. But, the costliest and most exclusive new homes are planned for an area adjacent to the San Joaquin River hiking trail, the Copper River development east of Clovis. The new community represents a hign-end estates on-spec, or without pre-signed buyers.
      These are tract homes in the $1 million range. Homes selling in that price range accounted for less than 2% of all transactions in California, last year. But, a million dollar home isn't what it used to be. In fact, such houses are a radical departure from the values of the past. Today million dollar homes are mass produced, as more boulders are moving into this high-end real estate market.
     In Clovis, everyone wants a piece of the countryside with a view. So these mansions with at least four-thousand square feet, with four car garages, master suites large than many Clovis homes, and high-speed digital hookups to the Internet are on the horizon at the Copper River Country Club.
     These new mansions are the perfect answer for those who don't have the time of patience to build themselves a traditional custom home on San Joaquin River bluffs.
     No wonder. This Spring Clovis will connect to the rest of the world via its spiffy new Highway 168 cross-town freeway. At capacity, it is expected to carry 100,000 vehicles daily. The Clovis City Council in July rezones more than 10 acres on the north side of Herndon Avenue east of the freeway and north of Blackhorse Center from rural large-lot housing to commercial. This makes way for huge shopping malls and big-screen movie theaters fronting on State 168 freeway off-ramps. Adjoining landowners are poised to cash in. The rapid growth of homea and businesses in the area has given rise to population explosion. Currently Clovis boasts of nearly 70,000 souls. But, the way things are changing, City planners expect the population to more than double by the year 2020 as Clovs bumps up against Fresno.by the year 2020 as Clovis bumps up against Fresno.
      In a surprise, this week, Clovis schools learned that additional costs of building new schools to accommodate the district's sudden growth will cost $292.4 million more than the administration has in the bank. And when that's gone, there's going to be some very hefty school bonds to contnue to provide a quality education to the expected 41,000 students by the year 2010, according to Asst. Supt. Roger Oraz.
     Until now, the Clovis schools have used Developer Fees and other sources of local monies to leverage construction funds from the State of California.
     Worse yet, the Clovis Redevelopment Agency is looking into expanding Clovis schools attendance boundaries to take in the Viking Elementary School, currently in the Fresno Unified School District.
     Meanwhile, poor air quality spells bad news for business and quaity of life in the Clovis area. The progressionof air quality in the region has already gone from bad to worse. The federal Clean Air Act requires the EPA to take action within six months.


     [Editor's Note:The championship Copper River Country Club is locared at 11500 North Friant Road. Holes: 18 -- Yardage: 6629 -- Par: 72 -- Telephone: (209) 434-5200, Fax: 434-8962 Semi-private course, opened in 1994.]

Copyright© 2000 Clovis Free Press. All Rights Reserved.

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