"The fact is that there is no moratorium on housing on the Valley's Edge site." Chico City Councilor Addison Winslow wrote that sentence in comments to the state, as KRCR reported in April 2026. He made the point while urging the state to uphold the vote that stopped the project.
If you're comparing homes in and around California Park, that sentence matters more than the headlines. Many people remember Valley's Edge as the project voters rejected. The vote was real and the margin was decisive. The vote reversed one set of approvals. It didn't change what the city's long-range plan expects to happen on that ground. The foothills at the eastern end of E. 20th Street are still a growth area waiting for its next plan, and a court case and a state bill could still shape what that plan looks like.
What the 2024 vote reversed
On January 3, 2023, the Chico City Council approved two resolutions for Valley's Edge. One adopted the Valley's Edge Specific Plan. The other amended Chico's General Plan to match it. The project as proposed covered about 1,448 acres of vacant land just east of the city, with more than 2,700 homes, about 57 acres of commercial development, parks, open space and a school site.
Opponents put both resolutions on the ballot. Voters rejected them in March 2024, and ChicoSol has covered the long aftermath. KRCR reported the margin as 62 to 38 percent.
The referendum targeted two specific actions: the Valley's Edge plan and the amendment written to fit it. The land underneath kept its designation from before Valley's Edge existed.
What the General Plan still says about the same ground
Chico's 2030 General Plan names four Special Planning Areas. The city describes them as areas "with significant new growth potential that require more detailed subsequent land use planning in the form of a specific plan, planned development, or other comprehensive plan." The land behind Valley's Edge is one of the four: the Doe Mill/Honey Run Special Planning Area. Appendix C of the plan, updated August 20, 2025, still lists it.
Here's how Appendix C describes it:
| Doe Mill/Honey Run SPA | What the General Plan says |
|---|---|
| Location | Lower foothills at the eastern end of E. 20th Street, east of Potter Road, north of Honey Run Road and Skyway |
| Size | About 1,441 gross acres; 1,287 acres used in the capacity table, which leaves out roads and other rights-of-way |
| Assumed homes | 2,095 dwelling units |
| Assumed nonresidential space | 374,247 square feet |
| Neighbors named in the plan | Residential development along E. 20th Street and in Stilson Canyon to the north |
| Key road links | Skyway and E. 20th Street |
The written vision is specific. It calls for "a recreation oriented, mixed-use development" with a village core of offices, neighborhood retail and services, retail along Skyway, and very low to medium-high residential densities. It also includes a community park designed with the Chico Area Recreation and Park District, neighborhood and pocket parks, a possible elementary school site, and creekside preserves.
Open space is part of that vision too. The plan says open space areas "will provide a buffer along the entire Stilson Canyon rim to the north and along Honey Run Road to the south, and will establish a permanent buffer against foothill encroachment to the east." The city also says these conceptual maps "do not represent precise proportions or locations of future land uses," and that any future plan is checked against the written description and the assumed capacity.
So the city's plan still expects roughly 2,000 homes on this land, with protected edges whose exact lines would be drawn later. Tom Lando, Chico's city manager from 1992 to 2005, put it plainly to ChicoSol in June 2026: "The fact is that the General Plan called for development in that area, and this project was doing what the General Plan called for."
Where the court fight stands
The developer, Believe in Chico, LLC, argued that the referendums broke the Housing Crisis Act of 2019, a state law that limits certain local restrictions on housing. The case turned on a deadline. The city argued that challenges to a decision adopting or amending a general or specific plan must be filed within 90 days under Government Code section 65009. The developer argued for a three-year window.
Here's the timeline, taken from the Third Appellate District docket and the court's opinion:
- March 20, 2025. Believe in Chico files its petition in Butte County Superior Court, case 25CV01135.
- August 2025. The trial court ends the case, ruling it was filed too late.
- September 2025. The developer appeals.
- March 16, 2026. The city files a statement that "The City Council was unable to give direction on filing a respondent's brief in this appeal."
- August 6, 2026. The Court of Appeal affirms the trial court in an unpublished opinion, case C104553.
- August 24, 2026. The court denies the developer's petition for rehearing.
- September 14, 2026. Believe in Chico asks the California Supreme Court to review the case, S298539. The Supreme Court docket lists the petition and the record request, both entered that day, and no ruling.
Two more tracks run alongside the court case.
The first is in Sacramento. AB 2676 would treat certain referendums that restrict housing as subject to the Housing Crisis Act, and would apply the change to pending proceedings. It passed the Assembly 49 to 10 on May 28, 2026. The Legislature's status page shows it in the Senate Housing Committee, with June 24, 2026 as its last recorded action.
The second is an environmental case. The Sierra Club, AquAlliance and the Center for Biological Diversity sued the city in 2023, arguing the project's environmental review fell short of California Environmental Quality Act standards. After the vote, both sides asked for a dismissal. ChicoSol reported that Judge Michael Candela paused the case instead, noting that a project might come back to that land.
All three tracks point the same way. The Supreme Court petition, the bill and the paused lawsuit all exist because a project could come back on that ground.
Why this matters for a California Park buyer
California Park already has one feature that looks natural and turned out to be something else. The lake is HOA-run infrastructure left over from a much larger 1968 plan, as we covered in what buying "lakefront" in California Park actually costs. The open foothills to the southeast work the same way. They look like permanent scenery. On paper, they're a planned growth area that hasn't been planned in detail yet.
That changes a few practical questions when you're comparing homes on this side of Chico.
- Read the edge, not the view. The protected land the General Plan describes is the buffer along the Stilson Canyon rim, the buffer along Honey Run Road, and a permanent buffer to the east. The rest of the area is assumed for homes, a village core and retail along Skyway. If a listing's appeal depends on open country beyond the fence, check where that land sits against the written description in Appendix C.
- Watch E. 20th Street and Skyway. The General Plan names these two roads as the area's key links, and the 2022 Valley's Edge plan put its main entrance on Skyway with a second one at E. 20th Street. Any future plan would likely lean on the same roads, which are the ones much of southeast Chico already uses every day.
- Track the court calendar. A ruling on S298539, any new action on AB 2676, or a new application to the city could each reopen planning for this land. None of them will show up on a listing sheet.
- Price both outcomes. Development next door could mean a community park, trails and retail closer to home. It could also mean construction traffic and more cars on the same corridors. Weigh both before you decide what a view is worth.
Our buyer's guide covers the rest of the due-diligence steps, and the California Park neighborhood page has the lake, trails and current listings.
Quick answers
Is Valley's Edge cancelled? The approvals from January 2023 were reversed by referendum, and both courts that have ruled sided with the city. A petition for review is pending at the California Supreme Court, and the environmental case is paused rather than dismissed.
Does the General Plan designation mean homes are coming? Not on its own. A Special Planning Area needs a later specific plan, planned development or other comprehensive plan before building can happen, and that plan goes through the city's approval process.
Would a new plan have to look like the old one? No. The 2022 Valley's Edge plan proposed more homes than the General Plan's 2,095-unit assumption, and that plan is gone. A new proposal would be measured against Appendix C's written description and capacity numbers.
This post reports public court and planning records as general information. It isn't legal advice, so check anything that affects your purchase with a qualified attorney or the City of Chico Planning Division.
If you're thinking about buying or selling near California Park and want to know how this land affects a home's value, Lora Trenner can show you how nearby sales compare and what's on the planning record for the surrounding land. Start with a home valuation, and we'll walk through the planning context together.
