ORANGE : Peralta Hills Project Is Finally Approved

Surviving seven years of planning and a lawsuit, the first phase of construction for a 727-acre planned community in Peralta Hills was unanimously approved by the City Council this week.

Frank Elfend, a planner for the Woodcrest Development Co.’s Serrano Heights residential community, said grading for the project should begin by early next year.

The first phase of the project will include 223 single-family homes, a park, three parcels dedicated to some type of multifamily dwellings and a 179-unit townhouse complex. Serrano Heights will eventually consist of about 1,800 homes and apartments in the rolling hills north of Santiago Oaks Regional Park, south of Anaheim Hills and southwest of Nohl Ranch Road.

As part of the development agreement, Woodcrest will construct an extension of Serrano Avenue, from Orange Park Boulevard to Nohl Ranch Road before any home is occupied.

The project also will include a new fire station, a reservoir, trails that will connect to a system of local paths and drainage improvements in the area, Elfend said.

Overall, developers agreed to meet 71 conditions outlined by the city Planning Commission before receiving council approval.

The project was delayed last October when a group from Mabury Ranch and Peralta Hills sued the city and Woodcrest Development, charging that environmental reports on the project were inadequate. The neighbors charged that the development could endanger the California gnatcatcher, among other sensitive wildlife species.

A settlement was reached in May after Woodcrest Development agreed, among other conditions, to restore coastal sage scrub, a habitat for the gnatcatcher, and provide funds to neighbors to solve some noise and other environmental problems caused by the development.

The plan will still involve filling in a canyon in the southern part of the project and massive grading that will level some hills and knoll-tops. But Elfend said that lot sizes will be larger than planned and that three main ridgelines will be preserved.