Lake Forest may add more housing to its Meadows Residential Community where a new school had been thought to go.
The City Council on Tuesday, Dec. 5, is set to consider the next steps of the Meadows neighborhood, specifically what Lake Forest will do with a parcel of land designated for a proposed new elementary school, months after Saddleback Valley Unified School District officials said it was not needed.
As outlined in the meeting’s agenda, the City Council is slated to consider whether to change the site of the previously proposed school to a new low-density residential neighborhood on that track of land. According to Lake Forest’s land use and design plan, low-density residential neighborhoods consist of single-family and accessory buildings at a maximum of seven units per acre of land.
Notices were mailed to all property owners within a 300-foot radius of the project site to inform them of the upcoming meeting. Additionally, the agenda item was relayed at various recent town hall meetings regarding the Meadows site.
Lake Forest spokesperson Jonathon Volzke said developers can build additional housing under the agreement signed in 2020.
“The plan is going forward like any other proposal,” said Volzke, “with multiple opportunities for public input.”
The City Council green-lit plans for the construction of the new Meadows community in January 2020. The month prior, Toll Brothers signed a memorandum of understanding with Saddleback Valley Unified, giving the district until 2024 to accept its donation of a site for a school.
The initial Meadows project proposed a new elementary school to be built in the middle of the neighborhood, accommodating up to 1,000 students from kindergarten to sixth grade across multiple buildings with outside sports courts, fields and parking lots.
But in March, Saddleback Valley Unified denied the school. In doing so, the district now receives $10 million for not taking the land, Volzke said in September.
The decision upset some residents, who said they felt they had been promised a school in the neighborhood.
“There was no promises for the school to be built,” said City Attorney Matthew Richardson during a September City Council meeting. “Lake Forest has no authority when it comes to school sites and how they are created.”
District trustees, according to a City Council staff report, were concerned about projected enrollment numbers and said the school would not “accommodate the area properly.” Other nearby schools in the district are well below enrollment capacity, the staff report said. Enrollment is expected to continue to decline, and the cost of building a new school in Lake Forest would be both “prohibitive and unjustifiable,” said that report.
Saddleback Valley Unified officials recommended sending neighborhood kids to Lake Forest Elementary and Serrano Intermediate School.
Lake Forest Elementary has an enrollment of 1,046 students, a 16% decrease from 2019 when enrollment was around 1,200, according to public data from the California Department of Education. Serrano Intermediate has 1,012 students enrolled this year, down from about 1,200 in 2019, as well.
The roughly 126-acre subdivision project includes five neighborhoods with 541 single-family residences as well as a senior affordable housing project. The luxury neighborhood includes over 20 acres of parks, open space and a habitat restoration area.
The previous site was occupied by Nakase Nursery, one of the county’s remaining wholesale nursery outlets. It was in operation since the 1990s but was bought by Toll Brothers. Lake Forest received $25 million in development fees as well as $2.5 million to improve traffic in the area.
Residents are asked to submit questions and concerns to the city’s website.
The City Council is set to meet at 100 Civic Center Dr. at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday.
