by Andrew Alonzo | aalonzo@claremont-courier.com

A new twist in the saga to develop the 9.77-acre Claremont plot that was once home to La Puerta Intermediate School surfaced Monday when developer Trumark Homes informed city officials of its intention to go back to the 56-unit project it first proposed in 2021.

“The City of Claremont was informed today by Trumark Homes of its intent to pursue its original 56-unit residential housing project,” read a news release from the city. “For over two years, the City worked with Trumark Homes to revise a plan for a 56-unit townhome development on the site of the former La Puerta Intermediate School.”

The plan proposes building 56 single family homes ranging from 2,500 to 3,500 square feet and six accessory dwelling units on the property.

Trumark Vice President of Community Development Eric Nelson shared the news Monday via email.

“As a result of changing dynamics at the City of Claremont, a pathway now exists for our scaled-down, community-driven plan for La Puerta,” read Nelson’s email.

“The city, in the housing element, made the decision that housing will be here,” Nelson told the Courier Tuesday. “The most fundamental [change to the housing element] is that the site now has a ‘housing’ designation on it.”

Before the Claremont City Council approved the most recent housing element update in June, the La Puerta project site’s “General Plan land use designation and zoning were both ‘Public,’ which did not allow for any residential development,” City Attorney Alisha Patterson explained in an email.

“For Trumark’s 56-unit project to go forward, Trumark would have needed the City Council to approve a zone change and General Plan Amendment (among other entitlements). The Housing Element Update changed the site’s General Plan land use designation to a ‘Specific Plan’ overlay and its zoning to ‘Specific Plan’ to allow residential development at up to 30 dwelling units per acre,” Patterson wrote. “As a result, the General Plan land use designation and zoning now allow for residential development. This change has provided an alternate pathway for Trumark’s original lower-density residential project.”

“We’re taking advantage of that opportunity and we’re moving forward with a plan that … most of the community broadly supported over a higher density project,” Nelson said.

Just four months ago, Trumark Homes filed an updated “builder’s remedy” plan which would have seen 91 housing units on the site. “Builder’s remedy,” a provision of Senate Bill 330, allows a developer to fast track a housing project so long as a portion of units are set aside for low-income residents and that a city’s housing element is noncompliant at the state level at the time the application was filed.

“Builder’s Remedy does not require a qualifying project to be consistent with the City’s zoning and General Plan land use designation, so before the Housing Element Update was adopted, Builder’s Remedy provided an easier path forward for Trumark’s residential project (albeit at a higher density to allow for the required percentage of affordable units),” Patterson’s email read.

The April 2024 plan added four additional units to a previous 87-unit builder’s remedy plan, which Trumark submitted in April 2023. The 2024 plan was 35 units more than Trumark’s 2021 proposal of 56 single family homes.

The new/old plan is being met with support.

“I’m encouraged that Trumark Homes is revisiting its original proposal,” Claremont City Council member Ed Reece wrote in the city’s statement. “This ensures the community has a strong voice in shaping this project. Claremont is known for its commitment to inclusive decision-making, and this project is no exception.”

Forbes Avenue resident Judy Quintanilla said she prefers the lower density plan.

“I prefer that they go back to the 56 unit,” Quintanilla said. “As it is, the impact [of the previous 91 unit plan] of what it’s going to do in such a small area and how condensed it’s going to be, it’s not what us and what the neighborhood are looking for.”

Quintanilla added she hopes Trumark will be mindful of the construction’s potential impact on the neighborhood.

“I just hope that the company makes sure … that we are also protected and taken care of because the construction is going to do damage to our homes, and that’s my biggest concern,” Quintanilla said. “What is that damage going to do to the street, to our property, and are they going to also help us out with that?”

Erik Johnson, another Forbes resident, was also supportive of the new plan.

“I think 56 units makes way more sense than the much higher density for this area since there’s no public transportation,” Johnson said. “I think the city has a responsibility to the people that live here to at least try to keep the areas that the development’s going to abut against consistent with the existing feel, along Forbes particularly.”

Claremont Community Development Director Brad Johnson said the city’s planning commission will now look to certify the 56-unit project’s final environmental impact report, the La Puerta Specific Plan and the tentative tract map in October, then send it to City Council for a final decision, likely in November. Architectural and preservation commission final design issues will be revisited at a later date.

One of the barriers halting the project’s progress was the agreement between the city and Trumark on the inclusionary housing ordinance’s in-lieu fee schedule for the project. The issue was finally resolved on July 9, when the City Council voted unanimously to adopt a resolution to update the fee schedule.

In July 2023, a 56-unit draft EIR was circulated and a 45-day public comment period ended that September. Earlier this year, the architectural commission — now the architectural and preservation commission — reviewed the preliminary design of the 56-unit project.

Monday’s move was just the latest in project that has been ongoing for 11 years. In 2013, Claremont Unified School District designated the site as surplus property and put it up for sale. After two failed bids, one by Brandywine Homes in 2013 and another by Claremont Lincoln University in 2015, Trumark paid roughly $12.25 million for the property, Nelson said.

Four proposals have been presented for the site across the ensuing five years, including the first in 2020 for a 65-unit project.

To keep up with La Puerta developments, go to ci.claremont.ca.us, hover over the “living” tab, and click “La Puerta Development.”