PLACENTIA : City Delays Vote on Zone Change Request

The City Council postponed a vote Tuesday on a developer’s request for a zoning change that would reduce the density of homes in one area while increasing the number of homes in another.

The proposal would reduce the area where homes could be built on two parcels in the center of the Alta Vista Country Club golf course from 54.4 acres containing up to 565 units to 45.5 acres containing a maximum of 455 units. The proposal also would mean moving the 10th hole at the golf course.

The controversy is over a plan to increase the density on the smaller, 25-acre parcel, which is zoned to allow up to 4.5 single family homes per acre, to allow up to 10 homes per acre.

The developer is offering to rezone 29.4 acres now designated for up to 15 units per acre--anticipated as 440 condominiums and townhomes--down to 25.8 acres allowing 10 units per acre. The balance of that property would become part of the golf course when the 10th hole is reconfigured.

The developer’s goal is to build detached, single-family homes on small lots on both parcels.

Landowner Gil Kraemer and his planner, John Chapman, said the main factor in the request is home-buying trends that make detached homes on small lots more popular than larger homes on larger lots or attached homes and condominiums.

Residents of The Masters tract, across the street from the property that would gain in density, opposed the plan, saying it would bring their property values down.

The plan is scheduled to return to the council April 18.