Yorba Linda : Petition Drive Started to Halt Development Plan

Residents calling themselves OUCH, or Organization of Unified Concerned Homeowners, have started a petition drive to stop development of 275 hillside homes on a 275-acre site owned by Shell Oil Co.

The group opposes any residential development denser than one house per acre on the vacant parcel, said its president, Tom Render. Although the average density for the property, at the foothills of Chino Hills State Park and northwest of Fairmont Boulevard, would be one house per acre under the “residential estate” zoning category, plans call for a denser clustering of homes on part of the land, with the rest remaining open space.

Planning Commissioner Ron DiLuigi said the panel is recommending to the council that the developer have some homes on half-acre lots and some on third-acre lots. The rest would be open space. The developer wanted to cluster the homes three per acre and leave the balance as open space.

Render said his group is circulating a petition now so that when the development plan has a public hearing on Feb. 19, the City Council will be aware of the opposition.

About 100 members met last week to pick up petitions. Their goal is to collect 3,000 signatures in the next two weeks, Render said.

“We want to keep a rural atmosphere,” Render said. “Whether you like horses or not, the point is people can buy large lots and have animals.”

Residents formed OUCH in November because of their opposition to the City Council’s amendments to the general plan allowing more high-density developments, Render said.

DiLuigi called the commission’s plan a compromise and said it would “preserve the integrity of the surrounding neighborhood.”

Render disagrees:

“This interpretation of the density is a new philosophy of smaller homes on smaller lots, which they think they can get away with by using the hills as a trade-off.

“There is a growing tendency or attitude among some city planning commissioners and councilmen to deviate form the original intent of the general plan.”