YORBA LINDA : East Lake Development Plan Is Revised to Add 32 Homes

The developer of East Lake Village can build 32 more houses in its newest development in the planned community, the City Council decided Tuesday.

In exchange for the additional units, Shapell Industries agreed to advance the city $170,000 in developer fees to be used to widen a nearby street.

Shapell’s original plan, approved by the city in 1979, was to build 234 houses and a 10-acre commercial development on the 95-acre parcel on the northeast corner of Esperanza Road and Fairmont Boulevard.

Since then, the developer has requested and received approval for three revisions of its plan that incrementally increased the total number of units approved to 284. None have been built, but the developer currently is grading the site in preparation for pouring cement foundations.

Nearby residents opposed the increase because the new plan includes more small lots than did the original plan, and because they think the additional houses will further congest streets.

To ease the traffic problems, the city will widen Esperanza Road between Fairmont Boulevard and Paseo del Prado with fees collected from Shapell and another developer as well as city funds. Shapell will be not be able to sell the newly approved 32 homes until the widening is completed. That provision will remain in effect until March, 1997. If the city has not completed the widening, the restriction will be lifted.

Another concern of residents and city officials is the presence of 27 oil wells on the property, which have the potential of leaking methane gas, and two high-pressure gas lines nearby that could be disturbed during construction.

Shapell said its plan to cap the oil wells with concrete lids and fill the area between the top of the well and the ground with gravel is sufficient to prevent possible emission of methane gas. The plan it is proposing, the developer said, is more than state law requires.

Gas company officials said they would monitor the gas lines during construction.