By Mike Hazlip—
In a weekly “Meet Me Monday” series that began broadcasting last year on the city’s social media channels, the city’s associate planner, Alison Bermudez, talked about what its like living in Citrus Heights and working for the city.
As an employee working in the city’s Planning Department, Bermudez works with developers seeking to create new projects in Citrus Heights.
“We work with new projects coming in,” she said highlighting new housing, commercial, and redevelopment projects. “We’re a pretty built out city so we have a lot of redevelopment and reformatting and reuse of existing space.”
Bermudez is a resident of Citrus Heights and says she has seen the city go through several changes over the years. She has worked for the city since 2000, just a few years after incorporation.
“I do live here in the community,” she said, responding to a question about what she enjoys about her job. “Certainly not a requirement to work here, but it is very nice and convenient so my commute is about six minutes so that’s great for me personally.”
Although Citrus Heights has little undeveloped land left, Bermudez says the city is still relatively new. She looks back with pride at the efforts made in the early years of the city to form its own jurisdiction after separating from Sacramento County.
“We had to start from scratch, start from the beginning, and so its taken a long time,” she said. “We’ve done some great things in our short tenure and its been really prideful to be a part of that and see the changes and introduce new things to the community that those opportunities didn’t exist before.”
Bermudez highlighted the Mitchell Village development and a pre-approved accessory dwelling unit program as projects she is most proud to see realized. She estimates using pre-approved plans can save residents as much as $6,000 in permits and fees.
Related: Citrus Heights promotes permit-ready ADU’s as way to increase housing supply
“We have a lot of people that live in the community for a long time and so its a great opportunity for people to be able to continue to live here,” she said, highlighting benefits to family members. “We want people to remain in our community and not move on to some of the newer developments they find in surrounding communities.
As a former volunteer with area schools when her children were young, Bermudez says it is important to be involved with the community. She said there are enough organizations in Citrus Heights that anyone can find a cause that suits their passion.
“There’s so many social and service groups in our community that’s great if someone could just find a little bit of time, look at their own passion and find a way to give back a little bit,” she says. “It really does make a difference in the community.”
