State Senator Backs Contentious Plan for Homes on Golf Links

UPDATED AUG. 29 at 11:45 a.m.:

RV Dev’s controversial plan to build 360 homes on a golf course in Rowland Heights has received a boost from state Sen. Bob Archuleta.

Archuleta, D-Norwalk, endorsed the proposal by the Irvine-based developer controlled by an LLC run by George Peterson to redevelop the Rowland Heights half of the closed Royal Vista Golf Club at 20055 East Colima Road, the San Gabriel Valley Tribune reported.

Peterson is the same well-heeled “sugar daddy” developer who appeared regularly on early seasons of reality TV show “Real Housewives of Orange County.”

Project Dimensions, one of Peterson’s Irvine-based companies, sponsored the original plans for the Royal Vista project in 2021. The revised plans by RV Dev LLC run by the RV Res I LLC that state business records say is run by Peterson call for 360 homes on the east side of the golf course in unincorporated Rowland Heights, officially located in the city of Walnut but actually on private property under the jurisdiction of Los Angeles County.

The Royal Vista Residential Project would redevelop 75 acres of the 156-acre course, according to an email from Jon Conk, vice president at Project Dimensions. The project entails 200 single-family homes, 72 townhomes, 58 duplex homes and 30 triplex homes, with 28 acres of publicly accessible open space and recreational trails. The 27-hole golf course, split between multiple land owners, closed in February.

Conk noted that on July 24, the Los Angeles County Regional Planning Commission unanimously approved the project, certifying the Environmental Impact Report and recommending a zoning change and General Plan amendment for passage by L.A. County’s Board of Supervisors.

Some 23 percent of the for-sale homes would be set aside for moderate-income households, which Conk described as “workforce housing.”

Pending final approvals, RV Dev could break ground early next year, according to a project website.

Neighbors have long pushed back against the proposed development they say could crowd local schools, cause more traffic and pollution, use more water and destroy open space used by wildlife.

This month, Archuleta weighed in on the side of the developer — and his field deputy caught an earful from residents at a recent community meeting who argued that infrastructure can’t handle a new influx of residents.

Members of the Rowland Heights Community Coordinating Council opposed the project, saying they felt excluded from the decision-making process. Opponents suggested the defunct golf course should be turned into a park that would “preserve nature,” according to the Tribune.

Council President Yvette Romoshe told the Tribune that Colima Road, a major thoroughfare in Rowland Heights, “cannot support the infrastructure of thousands of new drivers on the road.”

“We strongly disagree with that many houses.”

Conk said the coordinating council “has been involved” in the project since 2021, and the developer has incorporated some of its suggestions. He said the pollution and wildlife issues were addressed in the certified EIR.

Kile Miller, field deputy for Archuleta, rejected naysayer opinions, saying new developments generally aren’t accepted by communities, but their benefits far outweigh their drawbacks.

He 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 told the Tribune. “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 added that a portion of taxes generated by the new development can be directed toward improving Rowland Heights’ streets and more. Conk added that the proposed project already includes some off-site street improvements.

Clarification: Previous story did not include information from Project Dimensions, including that the project was approved by the Los Angeles County Regional Planning Commission.

— Dana Bartholomew