Anaheim kills plan by Salt Development to build 500 homes in Anaheim Hills

The City of Anaheim has killed a controversial plan by Salt Development to build nearly 500 luxury apartments in Anaheim Hills, citing the threat of wildfires.

The Anaheim City Council voted 5-2 to reject the seven-story, 498-unit complex and 40,000 square feet of commercial buildings proposed for Deer Canyon, south of the 91 Freeway off of Santa Ana Canyon Road, the Orange County Register reported.

The $500 million project, fought by neighbors, was approved late last month by the city Planning Commission.

But city staff had recommended denying the 76-acre development known as Hills Preserve in the hilly neighborhood south of Yorba Linda, saying so many homes would hamper wildfire evacuations.

Councilwoman Natalie Meeks, who represents Anaheim Hills, said the fear during wildfire evacuations is real — that it wasn’t right to put the buildings in an area designated by the state as a very high fire hazard severity zone.

Plans by the Salt Lake City-based developer had called for a Mid-Century Modern-style building with 498 luxury apartments, from studios up to three-bedroom units. It was to include a rooftop pool, bowling alley and sauna.

The project included a parking garage, six large-lot estate homes, plus two pads for 40,000 square feet of commercial buildings, likely medical offices and a restaurant.

Salt was to develop one side of the property and donate 46 acres, or 60 percent of the land, to the city to expand its adjacent Deer Canyon Park Preserve. The 103-acre wilderness, acquired in 1994, is now used for hiking and horseback riding.

The developer also upped its offer to $1 million, from $500,000, to fund affordable housing elsewhere in the city. It emphasized community fire protection, including plans to add fire hydrants, reduce vegetation and build retaining walls to help reduce fire risk.

Brian Hobbs, co-founder of Salt Development, argued that wildfire evacuation concerns had been exaggerated by residents who didn’t want development in their backyards.

“The opposition to this project is hammering away on fire safety and evacuation and inventing new facts and introducing new opinions because they know it’s emotional, scary and hopefully can scare the elected officials into rejecting a project,” Hobbs told the council.

Salt Development had notified the city that if the Hills Preserve was denied it could invoke the state builder’s remedy, which allows developers to bypass local zoning rulings in cities that have failed to certify their state housing plans, providing they meet a threshold for affordable housing.

The builder said it has builder’s remedy plans that call for 1,280 homes on the site, with the required 20 percent affordable units threshold.

“After last night, we are reviewing all of our options regarding the property,” a spokesperson for the project told the Register.

— Dana Bartholomew