Long-Standing Jibboom Housing Project to Go Before Planning Commission, Whether Hearing Limit is Reached to Be Determined
Residences at Jibboom, a mixed-use development comprising 62 residential units across four buildings and ground-floor commercial space, has been working its way through the Town of Truckee planning process since January 2018. On Monday, May 4, the Truckee Planning Commission will review the project at 5 p.m. in the Town of Truckee council chambers (10183 Truckee Airport Rd.). The item was pushed from the commission’s April 21 meeting after a noticing error.
“I think it’s going to be very similar to 2024,” said Sean Whelan, developer of the project, in reference to when the Truckee Planning Commission approved an earlier version of the project. “I walked out of that planning commission meeting, and I felt vindicated. I felt supported. Those commissioners in 2024 gave our team everything we wanted and more. Really a pretty pleasant experience. I don’t think it’s going to be any different this time around.”
The Residences at Jibboom site is located at the intersection of Jibboom and High streets in downtown Truckee. The four-building project imagines “a multifamily housing development set in old town Truckee that exceeds the Town of Truckee’s goals for workforce housing and sustainability practices,” according to the project website. Ten of its 62 units are deed-restricted and dedicated to low-income housing. The four buildings of the project range from three to four stories tall. Moonshine Ink has reported on the project often, and Whelan has written multiple opinion pieces.
In the nine years since first being submitted, the proposed development has stalled for various reasons, including: incomplete applications, re-zoning efforts, unmet conditions of approval, and construction amendments. The project falls under the auspices of California’s State Density Bonus Law (SDBL), which entitles developers to, according to the the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD): “an increase in allowable density, concessions and incentives, waivers or reductions of development standards, and reductions in parking requirements” if they include a certain percentage of affordable housing units in the development.
Further, a preliminary application for the project was submitted in August 2023 under SB 330, or the Housing Crisis Act, which streamlines approval for new housing projects. This means the project in question can only be subject to the objective planning and zoning standards in effect at the time of submission.
In an October 2025 My Shot, Whelan said of the state housing laws’ applications, “In just nine months, we accomplished what had been impossible in the prior seven years: full entitlements.”
On Sept. 17, 2024, the Truckee Planning Commission approved a previous version of the Jibboom project. Among the conditions of approval, Whelan was required to obtain an access easement to an adjacent property and submit plans that complied with ADA regulations.
Per a notice from the attorneys for Jibboom Street, LLC, “the Applicant could not secure an access easement through the neighboring property at 10102 Jibboom Street. In addition … the approved floor plans needed to be modified. Thus, under the existing approval and conditions, the Applicant could not obtain a building permit.”
The project underwent modification to address the issues at hand. “The proposed changes,” states the same notice, “involved a 6.6% increase in square footage, with the Project’s use, density, affordability, height, and overall project scope and intensity remaining the same.
“Notably, the proposed changes were below the Town’s 10% threshold for administrative review for minor changes and the 20% threshold set by state law for which projects can lose their vesting rights. The applicant submitted the modified plans to the Town in October 2025.”
Between October and November 2025, Whelan and town staff held several meetings, after which Whelan said the town considered the changes major, requiring the project be submitted under the newly adopted development code and objective design standards.
The town also determined that with new project amendments, Residences at Jibboom no longer retained its August 2023 SB 330 vesting. Vesting “freezes” in place the “ordinances, policies, and standards adopted and in effect when a preliminary application … was submitted” (Gov. Code § 65589.5(h)(5), (o)(1).)
In response to the town’s devesting claim, Whelan submitted complaints with the California Housing Defense Fund (CalHDF) and HCD. Both agencies sent letters to the Town of Truckee disagreeing with the determination — Cal HDF on Nov. 20, 2025, and HCD, overturning the ruling, on Feb. 20, 2026.
Statute requires a 2.5-year timeline to commence construction. “For the project at 10090 Jibboom St., the project vesting date has been established as Aug. 29, 2023,” wrote HCD Specialist Xjvirr Thomas in an email to the town. “The final approval was given by the Planning Commission on Sept. 17, 2024, with the appeal period expiring Sept. 30, 2024. The 2.5-year period date to commence construction would run from Sept. 30, 2024, to March 6, 2027. After March 6, 2027, the vesting expires.”
“After HCD issued its ruling confirming the project’s vesting,” Whelan shared in an email, “the planning department then required us to revise the application once again to conform with the HCD determination, effectively requiring us to redo much of the work a second time.”
On Thursday, March 26, Truckee’s Historic Preservation Advisory Committee (HPAC) unanimously voted to recommend denial of the project’s Historic Design Review Amendment entitlement request, which is a discretionary permit. Among the committee’s specific points for recommending denial are that the overall design of one building does not reflect historic building guidelines and a proposed yellow color for another building is inconsistent with historic color patterns.
While HPAC is not a decision-making authority, it makes recommendations on housing projects as they relate to historic and cultural heritage resources of Truckee, among other duties and responsibilities.
Regarding Residences at Jibboom, “the feedback from the HPAC could assist the Planning Commission in its overall review of the proposed project, even though a lack of consistency with the Historic Design Guidelines would not be a basis for denial of the project under SB 330,” noted a town staff report.
On Monday, April 13, Brian O’Neill, attorney for Jibboom Street, LLC, gave the town a course of conduct notice claiming the jurisdiction’s actions “have caused unnecessary delay and have needlessly increased the cost of the project” and must cease. Whelan told the Ink that the town has moved the conversation about the conduct notice to outside counsel.
California code prohibits more than five hearings once a housing development project application is deemed complete. A key difference in interpretation between town planning staff and Whelan and his counsel places the Monday hearing as the critical fifth-and-final hearing (Whelan’s argument) or as the second hearing (the town’s). In short, Whelan argues that the project as a whole has had four hearings so far, while the town is interpreting the project’s amendments as deserving of their own hearing count, this being the second.
Town staff’s recommendation to the planning commission is to approve the requested amendments with 80 conditions of approval. Whelan said he’ll be asking the commission to revise four of those conditions.
Members of the community, through public comment, have expressed concern over slope-minimization, lack of a fire access and evacuation plans, a parking space shortage, and more.
Residences at Jibboom will provide 60 parking spaces, including 11 parallel spaces on Jibboom Street. Under the SDBL, projects can be allowed reduced onsite parking requirements.
“My goal as chair is, however it gets decided, I want the public and applicant to understand why it was decided that way,” said Truckee Planning Commission Chair Jason Toups. “That’s really important to me. Land use planning and approvals can be a very confusing process … Even if people disagree with the findings we make, I want them to understand why we made them. I see us spending time in the hearing to really explicate for the community what the standards are, what applies here, and why they apply.”
Should the project be approved by the planning commission on May 4, additional steps will need to take place prior to construction, including:
- Recording of the final project map, which can take several months to undergo review by the town surveyor and engineer, as well as be publicly noticed; and
- Adherence to the annual grading period, which limits ground disturbance between Oct. 15 and May 1.
In a March 13 email from Town Planner Jenna Gatto to HCD Specialist Thomas, Gatto wrote, “We are concerned about the ability for this project to meet the March 2027 deadline and more immediately, the Oct. 15, 2026, deadline for grading commencement.”
Whelan said once he has a grading and foundation permit, he’ll have a contractor grade the lot, dig trenches, and start on the foundation before Oct. 15. That’ll allow Whelan to build through the winter to meet the 24-month build requirement. Subcontractors for the project, he added, will be almost entirely local.
View the project’s amended plans here.
