Suit Seeks to Halt Huge Project

Accusing Riverside County of turning a blind eye to habitat destruction, urban sprawl and gridlock, several civic organizations and environmental advocates said last week that they will try to block a 4,367-home development between Calimesa and Beaumont.

They said many Inland Empire officials have long been too welcoming to development, prompting a population explosion in Riverside and San Bernardino counties without creating enough accompanying industry and jobs.

Opening a new front in the war over growth, they filed a lawsuit to block a project known as Oak Valley and slated for about 1,700 acres in an area known as the Badlands.

Riverside County spokesman Ray Smith declined to comment because of “pending litigation.” Other county officials did not return phone calls seeking comment. Supporters said the project will bring needed jobs and economic development to the region.

The plans call for at least 4,300 new homes, shopping centers and schools, plus several parks. It is one piece of a giant master-planned community that developers have sought for 15 years--a proposal, critics said, that would effectively mean the rapid creation of a city of 50,000.

Lawsuit Cites Water, Habitat, Traffic Issues

Officials have failed, said opponents of the plan, to weigh the effect of such development on the county.

Among other criticisms, the lawsuit says:

* There is not enough water to serve the houses--a legal tactic that has blocked smaller developments in the past.

* There are at least 38 endangered, threatened or sensitive species on the land slated for development. An environmental impact report ordered by the county in recent months downplayed the effect of construction on those species’ habitats.

* Riverside County has failed to assess the effect the project will have on traffic, which is already extensive on both highways and internal roads. The county’s environmental assessment says the Oak Valley project will generate more than 72,000 new car trips each day.

Supervisors OK Project Planning Panel Rejected

In late July, the Riverside County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved the Oak Valley project--a month after the county Planning Commission recommended against it.

Unlike the Board of Supervisors, the Planning Commission spent weeks weighing the impact of the development on San Timeteo Canyon, a collection of rolling hills east of Moreno Valley and Redlands, said Kassie Siegel, an Idyllwild attorney for the Center for Biological Diversity, one group behind the lawsuit.

“The Planning Commission met several times, had a lot of back and forth, listened to the comment of a lot of people, and had some very thoughtful critiques of the project,” Siegel said. “The Board of Supervisors didn’t seem to even consider what the Planning Commission said. They just seemed to ignore it.”