If a deal can be reached with Placer County, a Roseville affordable-housing developer could soon be building on a controversy-prone parcel off Silver Bend Way in Bowman.

But a foe of past affordable housing proposals on the site is waiting in the wings and is contemplating the possibility of taking the county to court again.

USA Properties Fund, with more than 8,000 units constructed in California since 1981, was given the go-ahead Tuesday by the Board of Supervisors to negotiate a potential development agreement. Envisioned is a project that would provide about 65 affordable apartment units.

The agreement stipulates that the preliminary scope of the project includes very low-, low- and moderate-income rental units.

Jim Lo Bue, Placer County Redevelopment Agency deputy director, told supervisors that USA Properties Fund had emerged as the best of four proposals on a 6.2-acre site owned by the agency. The land is located at the Foresthill exit behind the Raley’s supermarket and is already zoned for multi-family use.

Lo Bue said USA Properties has developed several projects in Placer County and the Sacramento region, including one in the Auburn area. The business’ Web site shows that it developed and now owns the 56-unit Terracina Oaks affordable apartment development at 12200 Gateway Court.

With the exclusive negotiating agreement in place, USA Properties will have an initial 180 days to forge a deal with the redevelopment agency. Lo Bue said the agency has up to $2 million in financing, there is not obligation in the agreement to provide the land for any particular price. Any agreement would have to come back to supervisors for approval, he said.

If the two sides are making headway, the negotiating agreement could be extended for a further six months.

The property has a stormy past, with nearby residents and other concerned citizens forming an organization in 2002 to fight affordable housing there.

For more than two decades, the Auburn Elks Club held the property on the premise that it would eventually become a convention center. But earlier this decade, the non-profit sold the land to Affordable Housing Development Corp. of Clovis for what was initially approved as a 72-unit affordable housing project.

Subsequent court action by local group Residents Against Inconsistent Development stalled the project and led to an agreement to develop the land as rental-market housing, with no more than 15 percent of the units earmarked for needy renters.

That never occurred and the developer’s out-of-court settlement with RAID prohibited the Affordable Housing Development Corp. from applying for a government-subsidized low-income housing project on the site until at least April 2008.

When Affordable Housing Development Corp. defaulted on payments, the redevelopment agency accepted the Silver Bend Way parcel in return for terminating a $230,000 outstanding loan and paying $410,000 the corporation was in default to the Auburn Elks.

Since taking over ownership of the property late last year, the county has done some improvements, including grading to provide a better emergency access, removing trash and dried brush, and removing several encampments, Lo Bue said.

With the new move by the county, RAID member Judy Maxwell said the grassroots organization has already sent a letter expressing concerns about a new project through its attorney. Issues such as traffic congestion, fire safety and the amount of hazardous materials underground on the property have never been addressed properly, Maxwell said.

And RAID isn’t ruling out another court battle.

“It depends on the county,” Maxwell said.