San Clemente : Forster Ranch Homes Plans to Be Restudied

Plans to build as many as 1,600 homes on about 1,100 acres in the Forster Ranch area are on hold.

The developer, Centex Homes of Corona, told city officials this week that it needs time to re-evaluate the project.

“We decided that maybe we’d better restudy our plans for the development,” said Michael McGovern, Centex’s director of the Forster Ranch community project.

McGovern cited several factors that led to the decision to table the project, including a slowing economy and Centex’s inability so far to reach a development agreement with thecity.

The city had already approved a development plan for the project, McGovern said, but recently asked Centex to make revisions.

In a letter to City Manager Michael W. Parness, Centex division President Larry Ludwig wrote: “We are disappointed that notwithstanding substantial good faith efforts on the part of the city and on the part of Centex, we were unable to craft a new development agreement that meets your goals and ours.”

McGovern said Centex will likely decide within 30 to 45 days whether to pursue the Forster Ranch project. Until then, the city will honor Centex’s request not to conduct public hearings on it.

“The changes in the housing market and in the economic conditions mandated that they table the item,” said Bonnie McKenna, the city’s principal planner. “We’ll just have to sit backand wait to see what they do.”