County supervisors' decision allows Menifee condos

By: BRIAN ECKHOUSE - Staff Writer | Wednesday, November 8, 2006 2:35 AM PST ∞

RIVERSIDE -- With the backing of several Menifee residents, the county Board of Supervisors agreed Tuesday to change the zoning of a 30.5-acre parcel near Craig and Antelope roads to allow for a large condominium complex.

The supervisors voted 3-0 to approve the project, which was proposed by Brenson Communities. Supervisors Jeff Stone, who represents Menifee Valley, and John Tavaglione were not present. Stone was in Orange County for the funeral of Pablo Cerda, one of five firefighters who died from injuries in the Esperanza fire in late October.

Two weeks earlier, the Board of Supervisors postponed its vote on the 327-condominium project dubbed Christensen Ranch after two Menifee residents voiced concern about the shrinking number of parcels zoned for business.

The site is south of Craig Road and Mt. San Jacinto College's Menifee campus and east of Antelope Road.

Menifee resident Les Nursey said two weeks ago and again Tuesday that land zoned for businesses is critical for Menifee Valley, where many residents support incorporation.

To become a city, incorporation leaders will need to prove to the county Local Agency Formation Commission that the community will generate enough tax revenues to support essential services.

"The success or failure (of incorporation) relies on financial viability," Nursey said.

But county planners, who have supported the condominium project, contend a business park would yield very little sales tax revenue for the valley.

Significant revenue, they say, will flow in from future development on the long corridor fronting the west side of Interstate 215 between Scott and Newport roads.

Supervisor Marion Ashley was a proponent of the Christensen Ranch proposal.

"Ample commercial area does exist," said Ashley.

Several Menifee Valley residents, including Diane Homand, touted what they believe are the merits of the project, including:

Cheaper housing alternatives to most new homes in the valley;

Less traffic on already congested Antelope and Scott roads than a business park;

A better transition from large, two-story homes to the commercial developments at Antelope and Scott roads.

Barbara Spencer, the president of the Menifee Valley Historical Association, spoke in support of Brenson. She told the supervisors she was impressed that the company's representatives had approached her group for their feedback early in the planning process.

"(They) had the desire to honor the valley's founding fathers," said Spencer of Brenson's architecture and design plans for the site.

The subdivision is planned to include two- and three-story units consisting of three different building types, a county report states. It also would include a community building, a pool, an exercise room, a tennis court and a play area.

Had Stone been present Tuesday, he would have sided with his colleagues on the board -- even though he was inclined to "kill" the proposal just two weeks earlier, a spokesman for the supervisor said.

Stone's questions, which paralleled Nursey's concerns about revenue generation and traffic flow, were adequately addressed, his chief of staff, Verne Lauritzen, said Tuesday afternoon.

"Philosophically, the supervisor's not supportive of changing zoning from industrial to residential," Lauritzen said. "That's why when this came before him, he asked for a continuance."

Stone was moved, in part, by the $1.7 million Brenson will pay the county for area road and sewer improvements, including the widening of the notoriously congested and narrow Scott Road, Lauritzen said.

The project, Lauritzen added, has been in the planning system for about three years and predates Stone's tenure as a supervisor.

-- Contact staff writer Brian Eckhouse at (951) 676-4315, Ext. 2626, or beckhouse@californian.com.

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