Lawsuit over proposed development dismissed
By: JOHN HALL - Staff Writer
Action comes after residents, developer negotiate a settlement | ∞
LAKE ELSINORE -- A group that sued the city over a planned development near Lake Elsinore's southeast border with Wildomar has withdrawn its lawsuit after negotiating with the developer.
The lawsuit was filed in May 2006 by a group calling itself Wildomar and Lake Elsinore Residents for Responsible Growth. It alleged that the city did not fully gauge the potential environmental effects of an annexation officials approved a month earlier.
It involved nearly 250 acres of land the city annexed in the area of Lost and Navajo Springs roads, south of the city's Canyon Hills development.
Developer Trumark Communities plans to build a 350-home community on that land.
The lawsuit was dismissed Oct. 1, according to documents filed in Riverside County Superior Court.
A Wildomar resident who is a member of the group that filed the lawsuit said the suit and the resolution were efforts to protect their own community.
One of the key issues that led to the lawsuit was the entrance to the development, which initially was to be on Navajo Springs Road, Paul Metivier, whose home would be next to the proposed development, said Tuesday.
"As part of the agreement (with Trumark), another avenue of entry will be proposed," as well as the developer providing money toward repairs of the unpaved road, Metivier said. The private road has been maintained thus far by the residents themselves, he added.
Other negotiations involved smaller homes and lots in some parts of the proposed development, Metivier said.
"We negotiated the best we could," Metivier said. "If (Trumark does) what they say they're going to do, I think as a community, we will generally be happy," he said.
Trumark now must present its new proposal to city officials for consideration.
A spokeswoman with Trumark did not return telephone calls for comment Tuesday.
At a city Planning Commission meeting in January, Trumark director Vicki Mata called the development "a luxury master-planned community providing homes for a variety of economic means and lifestyles."
Mata told commissioners that "extreme care was taken" to design a site plan for the proposed Canyon Hills Estates.
-- Contact staff writer John Hall at (951) 676-4315, Ext. 2628, or jhall@californian.com.
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No Clue. wrote on Oct 10, 2007 8:56 AM:They talk a good talk but the bottom line is they only filed this lawsuit to squeeze money out of the developer, they did not have the best interest of the residents of wildomar, and not all wildomar residents are behind this.
Hoot wrote on Oct 10, 2007 10:59 AM:Trumark Development, nor any other developer, will be building anything in or near Lake Elsinore for the next decade. The lawsuit was no doubt dismissed because it is clear to any intelligent observer that real estate speculation in sw riverside county is dead. Period. The only remaining question is who, or what, will pay for the re-election campaigns of the elsinore city councilmen now that developers are history.
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