A Novato-based property owner has filed preliminary permits for a new housing proposal that would carve 40 acres of wooded Oakland Hills land into 56 separate lots, with 54 single-family houses and six multifamily buildings adding up to 216 dwelling units at full build-out. The site sits at 5885 Skyline Boulevard, tucked into terrain that overlooks the highway roads approaching the Caldecott Tunnel and the North Oakland Regional Sports Center.
The filing was detailed by San Francisco YIMBY, which reports that SJ Management LLC, the Novato firm that owns the property, is behind the latest iteration of plans for the parcel. The land sits near Skyline Boulevard, Grizzly Peak Boulevard, and Tunnel Road, and was once part of the historic Merriewood tract, according to the same report. Today the property remains covered with eucalyptus trees, oaks, redwoods, and other trees, a wooded character that has shaped how the site has been approached over nearly a decade of shifting plans.
Oakland describes its Wildland-Urban Interface Fire Area as terrain marked by steep slopes, hot and dry seasons, high winds and limited emergency access—conditions that make fire safety a significant consideration in hillside development. The city says the 1991 Tunnel Fire killed 25 people and destroyed 3,469 houses and apartments, and expanded its very-high-hazard zone to cover the WUI area. Those citywide designations do not establish this parcel’s specific status; Oakland provides an address lookup map for that determination. Oakland’s wildfire-area and hazard-zone information
A Decade of Changing Blueprints
This isn’t the first time SJ Management has tried to develop the hillside parcel. Back in 2016, the company submitted a proposal for just 50 single-family houses and a senior care facility, the outlet’s report notes. By 2019, that plan had grown substantially — the company expanded its proposal to 198 dwelling units, which in one account included 67 single-family homes alongside a 131-unit senior housing complex…