Yorba Linda Officials to Parley With Developer

The Yorba Linda City Council may have failed in its attempt this week to delay construction of 1,000 hillside homes, but that didn’t stop one council memberfrom saying Wednesday that city officials plan to meet with the developer in hopes of negotiating amendments to the plan.

“It makes good business sense for [developer Shappell Industries] to recognize that there’s a new majority on this council that recognizes how important it is to listen to the community and work out neighborhood issues,” said Councilman Ken Ryan, who had proposed the ordinance to delay construction at least 45 days.

Though three of the five council members voted for the measure, it was an “urgency” action that required four votes for passage. The ordinance, voted on late Tuesday after a long public hearing, would have temporarily overturned a decision by the previous council.

Beverly Hills-based Shappell had won approval of its plan about 1:30 a.m. on Nov. 6, just hours after the polls had closed on election day.

Ryan and at least one newly elected council member contend that that original vote had been rushed. Tuesday’s measure, Ryan said, “would have bought us a little bit of time, and that’s what everybody was asking for.”

Even though it failed, he said, just having the item on the agenda “caused a great deal of dialogue that I think is positive between [Shappell] and the city.”

As a result, he said, city officials will meet with Shappell soon to discuss such issues as density, design, park space and the promised site for Yorba Linda’s first high school.

To accommodate the development, the previous council had voted to amend the city’s General Plan to eliminate open space in favor of new homes, allow a major extension of Bastanchury Road and increase the area’s density from 300 to about 1,000 homes, including 385 apartments or townhomes for senior citizens.

“Both sides have indicated a willingness to talk about resolving their differences,” Assistant City Manager David Gruchow said Wednesday.