MURRIETA - A proposal to bring 146 apartments to Jefferson Avenue just south of Los Alamos Road is set to be reviewed by the Planning Commission tonight, but a decision on the project is likely to be postponed for four to six weeks.

The developer, MJW Property Group of Canoga Park, has requested the commission hold off considering the proposal to allow its lawyers and Murrieta City Attorney John Harper to discuss some of the nearly 200 conditions set by city staff, spokesman Bart Buchalter said Monday.

The project would include a 146-unit apartment complex set in eight buildings on 9.55 acres on the east side of Jefferson.

One of the conditions the developer wants to discuss involves affordable housing. According to a city document, 15 percent of the units must be rented below market rate, as required by state law in a redevelopment area, which MJW's property falls in.

Buchalter said MJW is not contesting the requirement, just seeking clarification of the document's language, as it pertains to law.

Harper agreed with that assessment, calling discussions "relatively amicable."

MJW also owns the adjacent 30-acre property to the south of its 9.55-acre lot. The proposal for the larger property calls for 11 acres to be developed as retail and the rest of the lot would be set aside to build about 270 apartments.

"It should get to the commission in the next few months," Buchalter said.

Buchalter said the developer may want to explore moving the affordable housing units onto the 30-acre site.

Also at issue is when the project's proposed map was declared completed by the city. If it was deemed complete in early 2003, as the developer believes, different ordinances would be in effect for the project.

Fifteen months ago, some area residents contested the scope of MJW's proposals for its Jefferson Avenue lots. A few contended that Jefferson, a major thoroughfare, is unsafe for children who would live in the apartments. Others, including Cathy Forkey, have said apartments would drain city services.

Forkey still doesn't like the proposal.

Earlier this week, she said the Jefferson corridor needs retail and commercial properties - not apartments.

"There are enough apartments in the city," she said. "There are apartments on each street corner. We need retail … (which) supports the city. The apartments don't. We need money to support the city, not more cars."

The land, however, is zoned for multifamily use.

"This is a properly zoned site for this use, and we're not seeking something that's particularly special," Buchalter said.

The Planning Commission meeting begins at 6 p.m. tonight at City Hall, 26442 Beckman Court.

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