Newark council approves Maori Village despite heated debate over wetlands, flood risk and contamination

Newark City Council voted on Dec. 11 to approve the Maori Village residential project, authorizing a suite of entitlements that include certification of the final environmental impact report, general plan and specific plan amendments, rezoning and a vesting tentative map for the project site currently occupied by an auto dismantling business.

The development, proposed by Integral Communities and partner Lennar, would build roughly 196 single-family homes and 30 deed-restricted affordable apartments plus a manager unit on about 29 acres adjacent to Mowry Avenue. The applicant and city staff said the project will remediate contaminated soils and raise site elevations to address future sea-level scenarios.

"We've been working on this site since 2018," developer Evan Knapp said in his presentation, calling Maori Village "a passion project" and saying the cleanup would cost about $10 million. Knapp said the project is all-electric, includes an on-site affordable building and aims to add infrastructure such as widened roads, bike lanes and improved railroad crossing safety.

City staff and the project's environmental consultant told the council the final EIR found most impacts could be…