WILDOMAR: County buying land for new park

The first recreational area on the east side of Interstate 15 fulfills promise

By AARON CLAVERIE - Staff Writer | Tuesday, April 29, 2008 10:36 PM PDT ∞

WILDOMAR ---- County officials recently wrapped up months of negotiations with Fort Worth-based home builder D.R. Horton to buy 26 acres in Wildomar for a new park.

The agreement with D.R. Horton will be announced by Supervisor Bob Buster and members of the Wildomar City Council-elect during a press conference scheduled for 10 a.m. Wednesday at the site, which is on the west side of Porras Road south of Ronald Reagan Elementary School.

The agreement will be presented to the Board of Supervisors for ratification next week, Buster said Tuesday.

When the park is eventually built, it will fulfill the promise made to Wildomar area voters who in 2006 approved the formation of a parks assessment district.

That annual assessment of $28, which property owners pay to maintain the parks, will increase to $45 when the new one, which will be the fourth in the community, is built.

During the campaign for the formation of the district, supporters said there soon would be a fourth park on the east side of the freeway, an area with a lot of new tract homes but no large parks.

After the assessment was passed in 2006, residents on the east side of the freeway, including some vocal critics of incorporation, started asking for their park, which was supposed to be built in early 2007. One resident, Steve Beutz, filed a lawsuit, since dismissed, claiming the assessment was illegal because none of the city's parks was slated to be larger than 15 acres.

During the incorporation campaign last fall, the assessment district became an issue with opponents of incorporation, who claimed that some of the pro-incorporation candidates, who also were supporters of the assessment, misled residents on the east side of the freeway, who were paying an assessment to fund maintenance of parks on the west side of the community.

Buster said Tuesday he is happy to close the book on that assessment district campaign and give Wildomar a large parting gift before the community incorporates on July 1.

Buster's chief of staff, Dave Stahovich, said the slumping housing market, which has forced some home builders to delay new projects, enabled the county to secure a larger, better piece of land than originally intended.

When the assessment district was pitched, supporters said there would be a 10-acre park on the east side of the community.

Stahovich said there was a tentative deal at one point to purchase a 10-acre parcel for $1.6 million, but county administrators thought it was too expensive.

Late last year, Stahovich said negotiations were started on the larger, 26-acre parcel, which had been appraised at $2.4 million.

The county will buy that parcel for $1.9 million and give D.R. Horton waivers that will allow it to avoid some park fees in the future.

The land features a stream and a trail that Stahovich said can be incorporated into the park's design, which also could feature other uses, such as sports fields.

"It's a big enough area with enough diverse landscape to try to address all the parks needs (Wildomar residents) have," he said.

The vice chair of the Wildomar City Council-elect, Bridgette Moore, said she was thrilled to hear the news.

Because she worked so hard on rallying support for the assessment district, she said, she frequently would hear from residents anxious to get their promised park.

As for what sort of park it will eventually become, Moore said that would be decided by residents during workshops.

"2008 is turning out to be a great year for Wildomar," she said.

Paul Williams, a City Council candidate who made securing a park on the east side of the community the main focus of his campaign, said he was happy to hear about the deal that could lead to a new park.

But Williams, who has moved back to his home in San Jacinto, wasn't completely sold.

"I tell you what, when they do it, I'll believe it. I've got to see it," he said.

Contact staff writer Aaron Claverie at (951) 676-4315, Ext. 2624, or aclaverie@californian.com.

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