LAKE ELSINORE: Castle & Cooke moving forward with housing plans

Council approves amended version of housing plans

By AARON CLAVERIE - Staff Writer | Saturday, November 29, 2008 5:00 PM PST ∞

LAKE ELSINORE ---- Construction won't start anytime soon, but Los Angeles-based Castle & Cooke is moving forward with plans to build hundreds of new homes in northern Lake Elsinore.

The City Council last week approved a modified version of plans for a Castle & Cooke development called Murdock Alberhill Ranch, a proposed tract that will feature almost 300 homes built on 511 acres of land just west of the Nichols Road-Interstate 15 interchange.

The new plans reduce the size of a public park within the development from 10.8 acres to 4.8 acres. The plans also call for more landscaping along streets and bigger, likely more expensive homes, on larger lots.

The plans do not change the number of homes proposed for the land.

Outgoing Councilwoman Genie Kelley, a strong advocate for the city's parks during her 13 years on the council, said she was initially disappointed to see a proposed reduction in public park space.

However, after reviewing the other changes submitted by Castle & Cooke ---- changes she supports such as the additional landscaping ---- she threw her support behind the project.

"In this case it balanced out," she said after the council's Tuesday afternoon study session.

After Tuesday night's meeting, Tom Tomlinson, a Castle & Cooke vice president, said the changes were requested to "clean up a map" that was due to expire.

He said work on the development would not begin for some time because of the economy.

Regarding the open space changes, Tomlinson said the reduced park space was a trade-off to accommodate the bigger homes on larger lots that had been removed from another Castle & Cooke project in the area.

If all of Castle & Cooke's plans go through in coming years, the Nichols Road interchange would become a major hub for residential and commercial traffic.

The 500-acre development discussed Tuesday would be on the west side of the freeway.

On the east side of the freeway, the developer is planning to build 820,000 square feet of commercial space on 80 acres, a plan approved by the council in 2004, according to published reports.

That commercial development likely will complement the Lake Elsinore Outlets, the shopping center southwest of the Nichols Road interchange.

Castle & Cooke purchased the outlets, about half the size of the proposed new center, from the original developer in the late 1990s.

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