Homes, Community and the Environment

Life outside the home is just as important as life inside. That is why Lewis Planned Communities is proposing:

• More than half of The Villages of Lakeview is open space, including almost 1,000 acres for conservation of the Lakeview Mountains and lands adjacent to the San Jacinto Wildlife Area;
• Seven distinct villages, community shopping and office centers where residents can live, work and play;
• Brand new, state-of-the-art schools featuring safe joint-use facilities for use by the school and the community;
• 60,000 square feet of public community facilities including a community center and libraries for use by the general public;
• A new Fire Station located in the Juniper Flats area;
• Extensive private recreational amenities, including clubhouses with exercise rooms and swimming pools;
• 240 acres of public parks including a 36-acre Central Park with a sports park, and a community garden;
• 32 miles of bike lanes, trails and paseos onsite, and 5 miles of equestrian trails offsite;
• Use of Dark-Skies lighting and Lakeview-Nuevo Design Guidelines throughout portions of the site;
• Green Design throughout: drought-tolerant landscaping, turf limitations, recycled water use, a water-wise demonstration garden, smart irrigation systems, Energy Star appliances, tighter homes and commercial buildings, and homes pre-wired for solar panels;
• Transit center with park-n-ride and bus stop, which enables buses to connect to the Perris Valley Line train stations (MetroLink);
• A sanitary sewer line, water systems, and flood control improvements that benefit the existing community.

Protecting the Environment

The Lewis family builds sustainable communities. By definition, sustainable communities protect the environment. In their long history of developing communities, The Villages of Lakeview (TVOL) is the Lewis family’s most sustainable community to date.

Recognizing the value of the San Jacinto Wildlife Area (SJWA), Lewis Planned Communities will invest in its protection. Consequently, TVOL, which shares an edge with the SJWA in the village north of Ramona Expressway, has been designed with extensive protections. That is why an open space buffer, known as the Greenbelt, will be established to transition land uses between homes and the SJWA. And that is why Lewis chose not to fill the San Jacinto River floodplain: there are 145 acres within the floodplain pre-development and there will be 145 acres within the floodplain post-development. Furthermore, TVOL will dedicate almost 1,000 acres of habitat to the MSHCP – for free – and still pay its fair share of habitat fees, nearly $15 million. TVOL is establishing high standards of protection for future developments north of Ramona to consider.

The Greenbelt provides a minimum 500-foot buffer between homes and the SJWA. Uses within the Greenbelt include compatible open space uses adjacent to the SJWA. Beyond the physical separation – nearly two football fields in width – other elements protecting the SJWA include:

• Consultation requirements with the Dept. of Fish & Game, the owner/manager of the SJWA;
• An Environmental Stewardship Program, which will educate residents of the value of the SJWA;
• A source of funds for education and management efforts along the edge;
• Layers of physical barriers, including fences, berms a wide drainage channel, and landscaping along the 1.5-mile edge, which currently has no barrier of any kind;
• Water quality treatment for storm water before it leaves the site;
• Limitations on cats/dogs, types of lighting, invasive plants and pesticide use;
• Enforcement through the creation of Covenants, Conditions and Restrictions (CC & Rs);
• Use restrictions within the Greenbelt, including a requirement for special trashcan lids.

The village north of Ramona will feature no more than 1,500 homes, which means Lewis reduced by one-half its original plan of 3,000 homes. Zoning from the County’s "Very High" density residential category (14-20 dwelling units per acre) and "Highest" density residential category (20-40 dwelling units per acre) has been eliminated north of Ramona. And no apartments will be built north of Ramona.

These protections resulted from Lewis’ outreach program, which conducted more than 200 meetings with the environmental, local, Native American and education communities, and more than 700 meetings with public agencies. Lewis conducted 13 public County meetings, included an EIR scoping session, a site tour, a workshop and five public hearings with the Planning Commission and five public hearings with the Board of Supervisors. Throughout the process, TVOL received more than 100 comment letters – in support of this community.

Enhancing the Community

Lewis Planned Communities looks beyond its project boundaries by supporting community groups, such as Nuview Youth Sports’ Mystic Field, Nuevo Theater Arts Council, Nuevo Citizens Patrol, Nuevo Lions Club and Friends of Nuevo Community Council.

The Villages of Lakeview will:

• Generate $175 million for local and regional roads;
• Produce $100 million for flood control, sanitary sewer, potable water, recycled water and infrastructure improvements;
• Fund $100 million in new schools;
• Plant nearly 50,000 trees;
• Construct $30 million in public facilities including libraries, a public community center, gymnasium, monumentation, onsite
  and offsite community trails, and a pedestrian undercrossing;
• Contribute another $25 million in fees for public improvements serving western Riverside County.

Nuevo Development Company, LLC (“Nuevo”) is the master developer for “The Villages of Lakeview” community (“Lakeview”) in Riverside County.  Nuevo’s affiliate, Lewis Operating Corp. (“Lewis”), will be responsible for entitling, land planning, and mapping the real property that constitutes Lakeview.  Once that process is completed, Nuevo will sell some of the land (and Lewis shall be the listing broker for that sale) to merchant home builders who will construct dwelling units, and a portion will be sold for retail and commercial development.  The various trademarks shown above are crucial to Nuevo’s branding strategy that seeks to identify these trademarks with the entitlement and land planning services that Lewis provides (under Nuevo’s supervision) to the Lakeview community.
 
Lewis Operating Corp. / California DRE Corporate Broker License No. 01252241