By Sara Beth Williams—
After being on the market for a year for $1.2 million, a vacant 2.3-acre lot on Mariposa Avenue near Old Auburn Road is now seeing preliminary signs of development.
After selling for $500,000 in October 2022, the lot was then re-listed at more than double the price in 2024, following the Citrus Heights Planning Commission’s approval in April of the same year for a tentative subdivision map to divide the 2.3-acre property into five parcels.
According to prior reports, plans to subdivide the lot into five parcels were submitted to the city in 2023, and drew criticism from nearby neighbors and the previous property owner who contested the proposed loss of parking spaces due to a higher-than-expected number of proposed parcels in the subdivide request.
Development work appears to have begun on the property beginning earlier this summer, with neighbors observing heavy construction equipment, surveyors, and cable and utility companies at the property.
The 2.3-acre lot which sits on Mariposa Avenue between Church Lane and Old Auburn Road, has also been mowed and leveled, with temporary gravel driveway entrances created allowing large construction equipment to enter the property. Dead trees have also been observed being chopped down and removed from the property.
Citrus Heights spokesperson Marisa Brown confirmed that the developer is currently completing tree removals and frontage improvements, including the street, curbs, sidewalk and utilities, along with site grading.
“Once the infrastructure and site work are complete, the five-lot map can be recorded. Following recordation, the developer will apply for building permits for each lot.”, Brown said.
At an April 2024 Planning Commission meeting, four of six present members of the Commission voted to approve the request to subdivide the lot at 7401 Mariposa Ave. into five parcels.
Then-Vice Chair Oleg Shishko recused himself from the vote because he lives within 500 feet of the property site. Commissioner James Remick was absent from the meeting.
Representatives of former lot owner Citrus Heights Fellowship told The Sentinel after the April 24 meeting that they did not plan to appeal the decision.
After being listed for sale, the property was removed from the market later in May, and the property was relisted in mid-December 2024 for $1.2 million. The property was then taken off the market exactly one year later in mid-December 2025.
The five parcels were outlined in the listing, with the largest L-shaped parcel totaling 37,700 square feet, two smaller lots of 18,400 square feet each, and two more lots of 10,600 square feet each.
There is no known timeline for future construction on the property.
*Editor’s Note: The publisher and founder of The Sentinel lives within 500 feet of the proposed project. A staff writer who does not live near the project was intentionally assigned to cover this story and the article was not discussed with, proofread, or edited by the publisher to ensure no conflict of interest.
