A plan to bring more than 700 housing units to Rowland Heights has sparked renewed pushback from critics, concerned about traffic and other impacts in the area, after a state senator who represents region endorsed the project.
The Royal Vista Residential Project would replace the eastern half of the closed Royal Vista Golf Club with 200 single-family detached homes, 58 duplex homes, 30 triplex homes and 72 townhome units with recreational trails to separate the new homes with existing homes, officials said.
It was endorsed by state Sen. Bob Archuleta, but on Aug. 12, his field representative got an earful from community members at the Rowland Heights Community Coordinating Council meeting.
Community members on the council and some residents rebuked the project, arguing that Rowland Heights’ infrastructure cannot handle that many new residents.
Council members opposed to the project expressed that they felt excluded from the decision-making process. Those opposed suggest the golf course instead be turned into a park that would “preserve nature.”
Kile Miller, field deputy for the office of Archuleta, rejected opposition opinions, noting that many new developments generally are not accepted by communities but the development’s benefits far-outweigh the harms.
He explained how the new housing would be 23% moderately affordable and give future residents a chance of homeownership during the state’s housing crisis.
According to the project’s website, the Royal Vista Golf course closed on Feb. 29, 2024. This has led to the course to be unmaintained for more than seven months.
Opposition to the plan is not new.
Despite public pushback, the Los Angeles County Regional Planning Commission on Wednesday, July 28, 2021, voted 3-1 to allow developer RV DEV LLC to proceed with the next step, which at the time was apply for a zoning change to the Rowland Heights Community Plan.
While technically, the golf course address, 20055 E. Colima Road, is in the city of Walnut, the planned development would be on a portion of the course in Rowland Heights, which is unincorporated and overseen by Los Angeles County agencies.
Concerns in the last three years have ranged from overcrowding in schools, environmental issues brought on by heavier traffic, water usage, the elimination of open space as well as the detrimental effect it would have on wildlife in the area.
The golf course was built in 1963.
RHCCC President Yvette Romo opposed the housing project and feels left out of the decision-making process as the council acts as a liaison between L.A. County and the Rowland Heights community.
“You know, a lot of times, being an unincorporated part of L.A. county, we’re not an official city, we’re unincorporated,” she said. “Sometimes we feel like the stepchildren in the county. Sometimes our voices aren’t heard.”
Romo’s concern echoed other residents over bringing more traffic to a small community.
“[Colima Road is] a two-lane major street that gets us through Rowland Heights,” she said. “It cannot support the infrastructure of thousands of new drivers on the road.”
“We strongly disagree with that many houses,” Romo added.
Miller, aware of the concerns residents have concerning infrastructure, said that infrastructure was already accounted for before Archuleta endorsed the project.
“There’s plenty of traffic studies and impact studies on exactly what the impacts of this development will be,” Miller said. “And so, sometimes the developer will need to account for that in order to maybe expand or strengthen or modernize infrastructure in order to meet what the anticipated requirements are.”
He also added that the portion of taxes generated by the new development can be directed toward improving Rowland Heights’ infrastructure.
In the final environmental impact report on the Royal Vista Residential Project, Local Development Review Branch Chief Francis Duong stated that the project is forecast to increase traffic into the SR-60 Freeway, which many residents use daily.
In an interview with Miller, he said developments tend to not have unanimous acceptance from the community.
“So, you know, we try to be cognizant of all the constituents, but at the same time, the needs of the community and the region and in this case, housing is so dire, there was 158 acres there,” Miller said. “We felt like this particular development had merits and that there would still be open space afterwards.”
A public hearing on the Royal Vista Residential Project will be held at 9 a.m. Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, with a public live stream and call-in number.
Originally Published: August 20, 2024 at 12:52 p.m.