Riverside County supervisors on Tuesday again will consider a plan to build 11,150 homes in a scenic valley between Perris and San Jacinto, creating a new community of some 30,000 people on what is now mostly farmland.
The supervisors held a public hearing in December but postponed a decision on the proposed Villages of Lakeview. They asked staff to answer questions about a buffer zone between the homes and the neighboring San Jacinto Wildlife Area, where hunting is allowed, and to gather information about the county's existing stock of homes and approved developments.
Randall Lewis, executive vice president of Upland-based Lewis Group of Companies, expressed confidence in the development.
"This project has gone through many public hearings and significant reviews," he said.
The 2,786-acre development is opposed by environmentalists and some Lakeview-area residents, who say it would ruin the rural character of the area and harm the state-owned wildlife area.
Sue Nash, a member of Friends of the Northern San Jacinto Valley, said Thursday that the noise, traffic, lighting and stray cats and other pets from the new community would not be compatible.
"It would destroy the wildlife area," she said.
California Department of Fish and Game officials have said they are concerned that a portion of the project would put 1,780 homes between the wildlife area and Ramona Expressway. Future residents there most likely would be uncomfortable with hunting so close and could lobby to ban it, the department said in a comment letter.
The developer and Riverside County Supervisor Marion Ashley, who represents the region that includes Lakeview, have countered that a 500-foot buffer zone between homes and the hunting area would adequately separate the two land uses.
The development proposal is on the supervisors' afternoon agenda, starting at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Riverside County Administrative Center, 4080 Lemon St., Riverside.
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