More than 600 homes, including a 64-unit affordable apartment complex for seniors, will replace the Nakase Nursery near the 241 Toll Road in Lake Forest.
The City Council on Tuesday, Jan. 21, unanimously approved developer Toll Brothers’ five-neighborhood project, saying the new homes would help address the region’s housing crisis and assist the city in meeting the state’s mandate for more homes.
“This to me seems like a very nice and promising project,” Mayor Neeki Moatazedi said at the meeting. “To say we shouldn’t build anything anywhere is not really realistic.”
The project is expected to provide seven parks totaling 11 acres, as well as homes from 1,800 square feet to 3,500 square feet, said Rick Nelson, Toll Brothers’ division president. A resident-only recreation center is also a part of the plan.
Nelson said the 605-home project will provide the city with more than $25 million in development fees, as well as $2.5 million to improve traffic in the area.
The plan to redevelop the 122-acre nursery into homes received unanimous support from the city’s Planning Commission in November.
It remains uncertain whether Saddleback Valley Unified School District will build an elementary school in the new community, which the city and many of its residents have been asking for. The area has been growing, with construction in the nearby Baker Ranch neighborhood and homes coming near the new Civic Center.
Toll Brothers and SVUSD in December signed a memorandum of understanding, giving the district until 2024 to accept the developer’s donation of a site for a school.
“We can’t force them to build a school, but I think they want to, more than they have in the past,” Councilman Dwight Robinson said. “This is an area that really needs a school.”
If the district doesn’t accept the donation, the developer could build homes there. But the entire project is capped at 776 homes, with 675 market-rate units.
Despite uncertainty about the school, many of the residents who spoke at the meeting urged the council to approve the project, echoing councilmembers’ comments about a need to provide more housing in the area.
“Our community is definitely in need of more housing to attract younger families into our communities,” El Toro High swim and water polo coach Tim Teeter said. “A project like this would bring more young families.”
Toll Brothers could begin building homes at the site by 2022, Nelson said.
