Backlash Hits Growth-Loving Moreno Valley

Backlash against growth may be increasingly common in the nation’s suburbs, but here in Moreno Valley--notorious for its explosive expansion in the past decade--that sentiment has been at odds with the pro-development ethos.

So it was surprising on a recent evening to find a crowd descending on City Hall to deliver the message that, even here, enough may be enough.

The critics wanted to stop the proposed mega-development known as Moreno Highlands, a mini-city of almost 30,000 to be scooped out of the northern end of the San Jacinto Valley, one of the area’s few remaining swaths of open space and untouched wildlife habitat.

“Would you build a large city in the middle of Yosemite Valley?” asked Alan Schwartz, a pediatrician. “I think not.”

Marcia Narog, a longtime resident, added: “I don’t think every place has to look like Orange County.”

In recent years, the attitudes of many have begun to shift in this Riverside County bedroom community of more than 118,000, one of the nation’s fastest-growing cities. Hellish commutes, bursting schools and parks, escalating urban-style crime and the rapid-fire transformation of vast expanses of grasslands and sage scrub into columns of look-alike tract homes have left many weary of “progress.”

“People come to Moreno Valley for the American Dream, but for a lot of them it becomes the American nightmare,” said Theresa Canady, vice chairwoman of the city Planning Commission. “A lot of people hardly get to spend any time with their families.”

A coalition of environmentalists, homeowners, hunters and others has formed to fight the planned $2-billion Moreno Highlands plan, a residential and commercial project that would sprawl over more than 3,000 acres along the city’s eastern edge. City planners voted 6 to 0 last month to approve the plan. As the protracted battle enters its decisive phase--City Council hearings are slated to start Tuesday--both sides agree on one point: The outcome will represent a critical juncture for Moreno Valley, an incorporated city for only seven years, almost as long as various incarnations of this project have been on the drawing board.

Proponents say Moreno Highlands--to include a 500-acre business center, two golf courses, a village square, schools and 7,763 residences, mostly private homes at an average selling price of $160,000--will create thousands of jobs in this employment-starved city.

With commercial development lagging behind the sprawl of new homes, commutes of three to four hours a day have divided families and forced many to doubt the wisdom of their moves here.

Moreno Highlands also will promote sensible settlement of one of the city’s last remaining large undeveloped areas, backers say, in contrast to the piecemeal development that characterized the community’s first years.

“I think this (project) does nothing but enhance the community in all aspects,” said Robert Vernlund, executive director of the Moreno Valley Chamber of Commerce. “It’s like creating a whole new city.”

Paul Gill, the city’s community development director, said the prospect of hometown jobs is what makes the development desirable. “If this were just a residential community, it wouldn’t be as attractive,” he said.

But to opponents, the vaunted promise of jobs is illusory--no permanent jobs are guaranteed--as is the pledged relief from freeway gridlock. Real, critics say, are the traffic congestion and clutter that the new growth will add to already burdened thoroughfares, schools and parks, along with the likely destruction of unique wildlife habitat and one of the last vestiges of the city’s not-too-distant rural past.

“This can only mean a further deterioration of quality of life in Moreno Valley,” said George Hague, a schoolteacher and former city planning commissioner. In 15 years he has observed the area’s evolution from a rural backwater into a symbol of fast-paced, jumbled suburban development.

“Right now our city is breaking down, just like a chain letter breaks down,” Hague said.

What alarms many opponents is that the project site and nearby wild lands provide foraging grounds for scores of bird species, including golden eagles, burrowing owls and peregrine falcons. The northern San Jacinto Valley is also a study area and habitat for the Stephens’ kangaroo rat, a nocturnal rodent listed as a federal endangered species. The valley is one of its last strongholds, and many fear that the project could precipitate its extinction.

Moreover, Moreno Highlands would be built adjacent to two state preserves--the San Jacinto Wildlife Area and the Lake Perris State Recreation Area, both Stephens’ kangaroo rat habitats--that conservationists and officials say could be threatened by high-density growth next door.

“As proposed now, the project will have an adverse effect on the wildlife area,” said Tom Paulek, manager of the wildlife area, where more than 200 avian species have been spotted, making the 5,000-acre preserve one of the nation’s premier bird sanctuaries.

In an effort to protect the sensitive rodent, the developer has pledged to create 300- to 600-foot-wide buffer zones between the construction site and the state wildlife area. The buffer area would include fences, thick plantings and other obstacles designed to discourage neighborhood cats and dogs from hunting the rats.

However, while the developer and Moreno Valley officials say the buffer will be effective, scientists at UC Riverside who are the foremost experts on the rodent contend there is no reason to think so.

“There is no scientific evidence at this time to suggest that any buffer zone will be adequate to support survival of the species,” said Patrick A. Kelly, a biologist and rodent expert who has studied the rat’s behavior for two years.

The future development site is a mostly flat expanse of barley fields and farm buildings, reflecting its agricultural use for most of the past century. In earlier times, however, the land and surrounding area were part of the watershed of Mystic Lake, described as “a most beautiful lake, several leagues in circumference,” in the March 19, 1774, diary entry of Juan Bautista de Anza.

“To its natural beauty is added another object of diversion,” De Anza wrote, “namely the numberless birds which live on it, especially white geese, in such multitudes that they look like great sand beaches.”

Flood-control projects and other water diversion efforts have shrunk the once-majestic body of water. But enough wetlands and ponds remain to lure migrating birds along the Pacific Flyway.

“This is one of the last open valleys that there is in Southern California, period,” said Tony Metcalf, a biologist who represents a local Audubon Society group. “Maybe someday this whole area might be a national park.”

Metcalf and other opponents want a scaled-down version of the Moreno Highlands project, perhaps concentrating home construction farther away from the wildlife.

“Let’s keep the jobs, but we don’t need another (almost) 8,000 new homes,” said Hague, the schoolteacher who envisions even worse commutes if the entire project is built.

“Just think of the worst traffic jam you’ve ever been stuck in, and that will be Moreno Valley’s life,” Hague said. “And once that reputation gets around, we won’t attract the jobs we need.”

Project proponents reject that scenario, contending that the development actually will improve the traffic flow, siphoning commuters to a job center in the east--rather than the traditional western destinations in Orange and Los Angeles counties.

“I think the people who are very frustrated with the commute are our biggest supporters,” said Stephen F. Eimer, the project’s managing partner. Project opponents, he says, are “essentially no-growthers, people who don’t want to see any development in Moreno Valley, period.”

However, while he emphasizes the project’s employment-creation potential--the developer asserts that Moreno Highlands could create as many as 21,000 permanent jobs over 15 years--Eimer said that no employers have yet agreed to relocate to Moreno Valley.

“The changes are going to take place anyway, and we need to make sure we get the best out of the changes,” said the Rev. O. J. Philpot, pastor of the Wesleyan Methodist Church here and a 31-year resident. He favors the project, citing the job-creating potential.

The city can do better, others say. “There’s no reason to do this, except to get some fast bucks for the city in development fees,” said Schwartz, the pediatrician, who moved here four years ago. “They’re missing the point that people come here for the beauty. And now we’re ruining it.”

City of Moreno Valley

Moreno Valley, incorporated in 1984, is among the fastest-growing cities in the United States. The proposed Moreno Highlands development on the city’s eastern edge has stirred a debate over growth and open space in the Riverside County community.

Moreno Valley: Facts and figures. POPULATION BREAKDOWN * 1990 population: 118,779 * 1980 population: 30,219 * Increase: 293% * Anglo: 67,815; 57% * Latino: 27,165; 23% * Black: 15,656; 13% * Asian: 7,258; 6% * Under age 18: 43,939; 37% * 18-64: 70,206; 59% * Over 65: 4,734; 4% HOUSEHOLD SNAPSHOTS * Households w/married couples: 69% * Households w/children: 58% * Single-parent homes: 10% * One-person households: 4% * Owner-occupied housing: 74% * Renter-occupied housing: 26% * Median home value, 1990: $140,800 * Median monthly rent, 1990: $602 * Homes valued under $200,000: 89% * Rents under $650/month: 63% SOURCE: April, 1990 U.S. Census.