More Homes in Lake Forest?

The Council met in closed session Tuesday night to discuss a proposal from Toll Brothers to build as many as 890 homes in the 122 acre Nakase wholesale nursery property, smack dab in the middle of Lake Forest, between Lake Forest Drive and Bake Parkway, near the 241 Toll road.

(Note - the photo in this article is not from the Toll Brothers proposal, which had no plot plan associated with it)

The Brown Act forbids me from sharing the details of the meeting, but I am able to disclose some details that are public information available from the Planning Department since December.

Toll Brothers is considering as many as 890 homes using 10 different styles, including the possibility of affordable senior housing. They also are considering a clubhouse and a community park, walking trails, as well as an elementary school. (FWIW – Baker Ranch also proposed a school but ultimately a school was not built).

According to Toll, they met with SVUSD and “District officials were very excited about the possibility of having a new elementary school site to help relieve the overcrowding at Foothill and Portola Hills…” (bold added).

What amazed me about this remark is that for years SVUSD and the developers and 3 of my colleagues on the Council (Hamilton-Voigts-Robinson) have insisted that there is no “overcrowding” at the Foothill and Portola elementary schools. As recently as last month a resident shared with me correspondence with a SVUSD official that perpetuated the argument that there is no overcrowding at Foothill. So what happened in the last month?

It’s nice to know that, at least according to Toll Brothers, SVUSD now admits that we have overcrowding at Foothill Ranch and Portola. Now that they admit it, I'm wondering what measures will be taken to alleviate the problem. Surely the future possibilities of a new elementary school years away is no cure for what are now admitted to be existing conditions.

Putting aside the issue of a school, 890 new homes would generate more than 7,000 additional vehicle trips per day in the City. Moreover, the new homes would be located in the area close to the 241 where more than 2,000 new homes have yet to be built. A lot of new development in the County is being built close to the 405 and 5 freeways to lessen the impact of traffic on a City. Building smack dab in the middle of a city means that the major flows of traffic impact a much wider area.

If Toll Brothers does submit a proposal to rezone the agricultural area into residential, the issue will ultimately come before the Planning Commission and the Council. There will be opportunities for public comment. I’ll keep you posted.

FWIW – My 3 colleagues (Hamilton-Voigts-Robinson) have voted for every proposal put forward by every developer, even when those proposals have been opposed by staff, the Planning Commission, and/or the general public.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Dr. Jim Gardner is on the City Council for Lake Forest. You can check him out on LinkedIn and/or Facebook and you can share your thoughts about the City at Lake Forest Town Square on Facebook. His comments are not meant to reflect official City Policy.

Dr. Gardner has office hours every Tuesday from 4 pm to 6 pm at the City Hall. In addition, he holds a Town Hall meeting every quarter. The next meeting will be in May.