Drive Time Is Big in Moreno Valley

When the story ends, Moreno Valley might go down as the city built on mileage and money--well, perhaps lack of money.

Many of the people living in the area, formerly known as Sunnymead, went there because they could buy a single-family home for as little as $70,000.

That’s about half what they’d pay for a median-priced house 63 miles west in Los Angeles, and an even bigger discount off the cost of a home in Orange County.

The city’s population now stands at about 80,000, nearly four times what it was just six years ago.

But while home prices there are low, so are the wages. As a result, the bulk of Moreno Valley’s residents have to spend hours each day commuting to jobs in far-away locales.

Larry Alexander, his wife and three children moved into their $83,500 home, located 45 miles away from their jobs, two years ago. The couple commuted together to Orange County daily for 18 months until the miles led to marital woes.

The Anaheim print shop worker said that his wife, Nikki, requested a job transfer from the Santa Ana to the Riverside branch of the Automobile Club of Southern California, about 10 miles from their home, after little things became amplified over months in their car, he explained.

“The commute was physically and mentally taxing on us. There was a lot of hostility and anger between us,” Alexander said.

That situation is in the past, but the miles continue to wear on him. He has put 9,000 miles on his brand-new Chevrolet Sprint in three months.

“There are days when I come home mad at the world because of the traffic and I don’t want to be bothered by anything,” he said.

Like many other Moreno Valley residents, the 35-year-old Alexander wants to hang up his wheels, but can’t find the right salary locally to support a family.

That could soon change. Several proposed commercial and business developments promise to liven the city’s economy and employment situation in the next few years.

Three of the larger proposed projects are the mixed-use Canyon Springs and TownGate developments of 400 and 596 acres, respectively, and the Moreno International Trade Center, a planned 2,600-acre business park. The trade center--the first designed especially for the aerospace industry--would include an airport.

The first phase of the TownGate project, developed by the Fritz Duda Co. and Homart Construction Co., is expected to break ground this fall. The infrastructure (streets, sewers, sidewalks, curbs, gutters) and grading work will begin in about a month, according to John Jay, Duda’s vice president.

The first phase calls for the construction of 485 single-family units and a community shopping center on 166 acres southeast of where the Pomona (60) and 215 freeways meet. The center will include a Mervyn’s department store, a home improvement store, and an eight-plex movie house. It is scheduled to open next July.

Moreno Valley Mayor Judy Nieburger expects a hearing for the Duda/Homart project in November, during which the City Council, sitting as a redevelopment agency, could give $14 million to the project for the infrastructure.

Canyon Springs, located directly across the street from TownGate and southwest of the freeway interchange, is being developed by Riverside’s T. & S. Development Inc. and Ohio-based Edward J. DeBartolo Corp.

Project spokesman Richard Lemire said construction has already begun on a shopping center that will include a National Lumber and SoCal Cinemas movie complex. He also expects to announce the signing of two major tenants for an even larger project--a sprawling regional mall of about 1 million square feet--within 60 days.

But the Duda/Homart partnership plans to build a mall about the same size on a site across the street from the proposed T. &S.;/DeBartolo mall. Both developers agree that the community, although flourishing, can’t support two malls of that size. Whichever company fails to break ground first will probably be forced to use the land for another purpose.

The future of the proposed trade center is also up in the air.

Benzeevi Cohen Corp., the Los Angeles-based group that wants to build the center, recently received Federal Aviation Administration approval to incorporate a 10,000-foot airplane runway in its proposed business park. The runway is a key component of the park because it could accommodate large planes and would create thousands of jobs for Moreno Valley residents.

Oppose Airstrip

Many residents oppose construction of the airstrip, and so do officials at March and Norton Air Force bases. The residents are concerned about potential problems with noise, pollution and the possible destruction of the area’s rural life style.

The military is concerned about the air traffic mix of the center’s cargo flights with those from the bases and airfields in Hemet and Ontario.

Johnny Barragan, a four-year area resident, has heard enough to welcome the center. The 28-year-old shipping clerk works in the aerospace industry and is waiting for the chance to eliminate the daily 100-mile round-trip drive to Costa Mesa from his life.

He wants to dump the drive because it takes away from his time with his wife and daughter. However, he also admitted that he would be for any development--malls, hospitals, business parks--”so long as it adds value to my house,” he said with a laugh.

See Job Prospects

The Moreno Valley Chamber of Commerce, as well as neighboring chambers, have voiced their support for the project because of the amount of tax dollars and the numbers of jobs it would bring to the region. The Moreno Valley City Council has remained neutral thus far.

“The people don’t understand everything that is going on with the trade center and to be honest, neither do I. There will be more hearings on this,” Nieburger said.

In the meantime, residents will have to continue their commutes until the centers, malls and business parks open.

Jon Crupi said that there isn’t much demand for swimming pool suppliers/wholesalers in the community yet so his 75-minute commute to his Garden Grove office will have to continue for a while.

Expensive Housing

“I just had to accept the fact that to own a home I would have to live a sizable distance (54 miles) from work,” he said.

He moved his four-member family to their $83,000 home three months ago, after he tired of renting in Orange County and had no luck in finding his dream house at a dream price in that area.

“The best price for a three-bedroom home was $145,000,” he said.

Sam Ruston, a former Los Angeles police officer now a policeman in Riverside, moved to Moreno Valley with his wife and young son because he wanted to get away from Orange County’s older homes, higher prices and residential congestion.

The Rustons bought a $73,900 home, but according to the policeman, he has called the police on several occasions after a man he once arrested in Los Angeles caused scenes near his home by yelling at him. Ruston said he and his wife will consider leaving Moreno Valley if things get worse.

Three-Hour Commute

His biggest headache after the move was commuting to the South-Central Los Angeles station, 60 miles away.

“The real nightmare was when I had to go to the Compton court which, if there were an accident on the freeway, could stretch the drive time to about three hours. That was really killing me,” he said.

The sacrifice is common among residents who live a life style of those not so rich or famous, but who own a home in Moreno Valley.

Many of those interviewed planned to stay in Moreno Valley long enough for their homes to gain in value and then come back to the Los Angeles and Orange counties markets. Others said they would let the community’s urban direction lead their decision.

“This is the place to start,” Crupi said. “I realize that we are on the ground floor of a growth explosion, but you can’t have malls and business parks encroach on you to the point where you can’t go anywhere.”