Up to 760 Fullerton homes could be built after court refuses to hear appeal of West Coyote Hills project

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The California Supreme Court on Wednesday, Feb. 27, refused to hear an appeal from an open space preservation group, ending a three-year legal battle that tried to stop construction of up to 760 homes on the hillsides and former oil fields of West Coyote Hills.

The court did not explain its reasoning.

Friends of Coyote Hills argued in its lawsuit that a successful 2012 referendum, in which voters repealed the City Council’s prior approval of a development agreement with Pacific Coast Homes, Chevron’s homebuilding subsidiary, should have put a stop to the project. But both the Orange County Superior Court and the California Court of Appeal disagreed, saying eliminating a development agreement doesn’t by itself stop a project.

“I’m very disappointed,” the group’s president, Angela Lindstrom, said.  “I felt it was a very important case for the court to clarify what a city can or cannot do in terms of a referendum.”

The city can now start working with the 510-acre property’s owner to begin initial trail improvements, Fullerton City Manager Ken Domer said in a press release. Those improvements would give the public access to the area, including the city’s Robert E. Ward Nature Preserve.

The city and Pacific Coast Homes previously agreed on a “path forward” that allows the city to purchase parts of West Coyote Hills, “allowing limited development but preserving as open space the majority of West Coyote Hills, to include over 217 contiguous acres between Gilbert Street and Euclid Street,” Domer said in the release.

About $29 million has been raised for the city to reduce the project’s size, potentially by about 76 units. But Lindstrom said it seems unlikely the city will be able to buy the entire property, appraised at $150 million, and stop the development altogether.

“The price is going to be quite monumental,” she said.

Pacific Coast Homes’ project manager Ivan Jimenez said the trail improvements are expected to be completed as soon as early next year. He said there was no current timeline on when housing construction would happen, but the project’s planning is well underway.

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