Lake Forest’s Meadows Residential Community is set to add more housing to its neighborhoods after early plans for a new school were nixed.
The Lake Forest City Council, in a split vote, approved the construction of approximately 70 single-family homes in an area that was originally designated for an elementary school. The council changed the site to be zoned for a low-density residential neighborhood which, according to the city’s land use and design plan, consists of single-family houses and accessory buildings at a maximum of seven units per acre of land.
With this addition, the number of single-family homes in the Meadows Residential Community will total 611, according to a staff presentation.
Toll Brothers, the developers of the Meadows community, originally planned for a school site to be built in the neighborhood, but it had to be agreed upon by Saddleback Valley Unified School District. If Saddleback Valley Unified denied the new school — which it did in March — the developers were contractually allowed to use the site to build more homes.
During the Dec. 5 meeting, Councilmember Benjamin Yu was the only one in opposition to the new housing proposal. He said councilmembers should spend additional time to determine the impacts of not adding a school in the community.
“At the council meeting, we had an uproar from owners of the Meadows community, especially among certain minority or immigrant groups,” said Yu. “It was raised to a level of concern where I hope some constructive dialogue may open between residents and Toll Brothers to address it, in addition to more time to investigate residents’ claims.”
Alongside a residential track, the initial Meadows project proposed a new elementary school to be built in the middle of the neighborhood. The preliminary plans said the school would accommodate up to 1,000 students from kindergarten to sixth grade across multiple buildings with outside sports courts, fields and parking lots.
Instead of a new elementary school in Meadows, Saddleback Valley Unified officials recommended sending the neighborhood kids to Lake Forest Elementary, about eight miles away from Meadows, and Serrano Intermediate School, about 11 miles away.
Yu asked if a third-party school — like a charter or private school — could use the site if Toll Brothers still built the property. But City Manager Debra Rose said the original agreement stated that there were only two options: build a school site if Saddleback Valley Unified accepted or turn the land back into more housing.
Rose said that if the council voted against adding housing to the community, it would violate that agreement.
“We are not involved in promoting or not promoting a school,” said Mayor Pro Tem Mark Tettemer. “Our role was to provide a place for the school district to consider a school, and we did, but the school district decided to decline that.”
“As I see it, there is a big expectation gap,” said Mayor Doug Cirbo. “You as homeowners purchased with some expectation, and now it is different.” But the council, Cirbo said, has to “do the right thing for the city to protect our legal interest, our financial interest and the interest of our residents.”
Councilmember Scott Voigts was absent from the meeting.
The City Council green-lit plans for the construction of the Meadows community in January 2020.
Saddleback Valley Unified had until 2024 to accept or reject the donation of a site for a school. It denied the school, district officials said, because of the declining population within the district. In doing so, the district receives $10 million for not taking the land, Lake Forest spokesperson Jonathan Volzke said.
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.
The district has an enrollment of 24,356 students, an almost 20% decrease since 2013 when enrollment was around 30,250 students.
Not all residents were happy with Saddleback Valley Unified’s decision, with many saying they were “promised” a school.
But City Attorney Matthew Richardson said there weren’t any guarantees a new school would come to fruition. “Lake Forest has no authority when it comes to school sites and how they are created,” he said.
The roughly 126-acre Meadows subdivision project includes five neighborhoods with 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.
