Preservationists Join With Mining Firms to Fight Corona Plan

It may not be all that far from the city, but Eagle Valley remains a bucolic reminder of the way life used to be around these parts, before bulldozers and builders arrived in force.

The 1,105-acre parcel is just 10 minutes from downtown Corona, yet it is largely uninhabited and secluded--and nearby residents want it to stay that way. But like most areas surrounding Corona, one of California’s fastest-growing cities, the neighborhood has caught the eye of developers, who have pegged it for a huge residential development.

The Eagle Valley Development Co. proposes to build 3,204 dwelling units on the site in the next seven to 10 years. In addition, the plan calls for several schools, a fire station and police offices.

Curiously, opposition to the project has placed environmentalists and mining companies on the same side. Residents say the proposed development would endanger wildlife, create even more of a traffic burden on Corona and open the area up for further development, bringing an end to their rural lifestyle.

Several mining companies that have operated for years in the sparsely populated area do not want the burden of new subdivisions and neighbors complaining about the noise of drilling and blasting.

But such concerns, developers say, are to be expected.

“It’s a pretty standard feeling that people in general become uneasy when change is being proposed,” said Dennis Bushore, vice president of the Eagle Valley Development Co., which bought the land last year.

Eagle Valley, named for golden eagles in the area, is about three miles southeast east of Corona and west of Lake Mathews, a reservoir for the Metropolitan Water District.

The fate of the project depends on the Riverside County Local Agency Formation Commission approving Corona’s bid to annex about 3,163 acres of unincorporated land. The annexation, expected to come before the commission late this summer or early this fall, would include the Eagle Valley development site, several homes and mining companies.

Several residents plan to raise objections at the hearing, alarmed that Corona is growing well beyond its original borders. Starting in 1985, the city has been on an annexation binge. That year, it gobbled up 900 acres of unincorporated territory to the west to make room for Sierra del Oro, a 3,196-unit planned community. Several other parcels have been annexed since then.

“Corona is like a monster at the moment,” said Art Cassel, who lives near Lake Mathews. “They’re like a monster on a one-way ticket to metropolis-ville.”

But city officials argue that their bid for the unincorporated land stems from a desire to have more control over what goes on around them. If Corona has authority over the land, the city can regulate zoning, traffic and utilities. Some officials suggest that Corona has gotten the rap for problems created by growth all around Riverside County.

Developers “are going to go somewhere,” said Councilman Dick Deininger, a supporter of the development in Eagle Valley. “I’d rather have it developed in our area, where we have some control. . . . If we’re going to get the blame for it, I want to get the whole blame.”

Councilman Bill Franklin said he believes that the city should speed up annexation of fringe areas before they become more populated.

“I would like to see that occur as quickly as possible and as uniformly as possible,” Franklin said.

Among neighbors’ major concerns is that the Eagle Valley development will damage the environment, including the habitat for the Stephens kangaroo rat, which is on the federal endangered species list.

Cassel said: “It’s an abomination against nature. . . . The City Council seems to be waging a war against nature. This is another one of the many.”

An environmental review presented and approved by the Corona City Council earlier this year concluded that the impact to the kangaroo rat can be reduced but not eliminated.

The review “showed that it was going to be terrible, but (the City Council) passed it anyway,” said Jim Sparks, who lives near the project area just south of Cajalco Road.

Bushore of Eagle Development, however, said the project will reserve 450 acres--largely on ridgelines surrounding the valley--for natural open space, plus an additional 32 acres of parkland, which will provide ample room for the kangaroo rat to travel freely in and out of the development.

The developer will also pay Riverside County for the creation of any new habitat needed for displaced kangaroo rats, Corona senior planner Ron Running said.

Meanwhile, mining companies have voiced fears that new homeowners in Eagle Valley would complain about noise from drilling and blasting. Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing, which has a rock-mining plant bordering the site, had planned on being part of the annexation to Corona, but it pulled its 900 acres out of the project area and will remain unincorporated Riverside County land.

“I don’t see any good things for mining companies,” said Bud Sloan, plant manager for Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing.

But he doubted that the mining will affect the sale of new homes: “If it’s attractive enough, people will even buy next to an airport.”

Bushore countered that new neighborhoods in Eagle Valley would be sufficiently buffered from the mining noise: “It’s in a valley all to its own.”

But neighbors have other complaints, in particular worries that the project will add to already-nightmarish traffic jams on the Riverside and Corona freeways. Residents of El Cerrito, an unincorporated community west of Eagle Valley, suggest that traffic from the project will spill over onto their streets.

Whatever the case, most residents doubt that they can stop the project. Dan Wishard, an architect who lives near Eagle Valley, said a better tack would be to adopt an approach of “if you can’t beat em, join em.”

Residents battling the development, Wishard argued, “have no say in anything. They’ve lost every battle they’ve fought.”

He suggested instead that foes try to work with developers to see that their concerns are addressed. “You can fight it and lose, or you can join it and have a hand in it,” he said.