Old Norco vs. New (Daily Bulletin 082706) As more move to the city, some feel rual lifestyle being threatened

I guess my lot fits somewhere in-between the old and the new. I don't have but .243 of an Acre and what they are talking about in Norco is .50 and up. There are still lots in the High Desert that you can find that are 2.5 acre's, but the new lots that are being pass off in the New High Desert today are no more then .125 of an acre, and very few that are being build on directly that are starter homes like they used to be, on an acre or more. At one time that was where you went to get the large bit of land. Just outside of Norco is a place that used to be Dairy Farms that are being subdivided up homes are being built on the land, but the subdivision is not on .50 of an acre or more it is on the .12 of an acre instead. They figure they can make more money with more homes on smaller lots.

However the trend is bending back to the people that want the yard work and the extra fun and horses and the like. So the planning that they have done and the surveys that have been also gathered have appealed to as many people as they will appeal to and now the larger lots with neighbors further away is what people want.

Some feel it is treatened!! YOUR DAM RIGHT IT IS!!

BSRanch

Old Norco vs. New
As more move to the City, Some feel Rural lifestyle being treatened
By Aundrea Bennett, Daily Bulletin Staff Writer.

NORCO - Giant new houses encircled by spacious, manicured lawns and alive with the sounds of young families line streets in the city's hills.

The scene is familiar and common for almost any upper-middle class suburb in the region.

In Norco below these rows of recently built and freshly painted homes are the rustic flatlands of Horsetown USA, with its unique and carefully guarded lifestyle.

"When I first moved here, this was all hills," said 20-year city resident John Bills, as he gestured to the houses now above his East Street home, where he used to ride horses and hike freely. "I don't like that those hills are now private. As far as real estate, it's probably changed for the better. But it's not like Norco. It's beginning to become more and more like Orange County."

For some old-time Norconians, the words Orange County have become the equivalent of an obscenity, and they fear that newer residents may want to change their beloved rural Norco.

"The old Norco didn't want Orange County people coming in and destroying their lifestyle," said Jennifer Beaudet, who moved from Orange County and now lives in a Hidden Valley area development. "I can tell you from experience that we're referred to as ‘New Norco.' There's a dividing line."

About five years ago, new residents began streaming into homes built along the city's southern and eastern edges. Their arrival helped boost the city's population by nearly 3,000 – from 24,493 in 2001 to 27,263 in 2006 – small compared to neighboring Eastvale and Corona, but significant for Norco, which is just 14 square miles.

As newcomers began to settle into Horsetown USA, Norconians began to notice that some of their new neighbors in the hills were not as horse-happy as them.

Wanda Crowson, owner of Olde Tyme Realty in the city, said families moved into Norco for reasons other than animal keeping.

"Most of them are just into the big lots, more than animals, for their RVs and boats. I know some have horses, but a majority don't. They put in pools," Crowson said. "We encourage people who come here to know this is Horsetown USA. If they move to Norco, don't try to change what we've had for years."

In recent years, the city took extra measures to ensure that their equestrian-friendly community stayed that way.

In addition to the city's requirements that streets have a horse trail on one side, and that lights are needed only when their absence creates a danger, a specific plan was drafted in 2001 for new homes.

The plan requires that each lot have a chunk of space dedicated as a "Primary Animal Keeping Area." Homeowners cannot build anything on that portion of their lots that might impede animal keeping for future residents.

In 2003, to further secure its way of living, Norco adopted a charter that requires a four-fifths vote – rather than the usual majority – to change anything pertaining to animal-keeping rights, zoning rights and horse trails.

Kelly Cast, who moved from Orange County to Corona to her two-year-old home in Norco, said she and her husband, Jim, did not buy their home for the ability to build corrals in the back. Rather, it was the overall atmosphere that seemed idyllic for their three children.

"It's nice to have a rural, slow-paced lifestyle," Cast said. "We're not here to threaten their lifestyle or get rid of the horse trails. We moved here because it's a great place for kids to grow up."

For Will Land and his wife, Laura, the location and space sold them on their house in the Hidden Valley area a year and a half ago.

"We looked around, and it was the view that got us. And for the price, you get much larger land and privacy," Land said. "But we don't have horses. I'd say one out of every eight to 10 of the houses have horses. We have two border collies, and we wanted a lot of yard because they're really active and hyper."

Land's story is mirrored by many other residents'. Though the city's median home price is more than $600,000, the enormous lots and floor plans of the new homes made them by far the best buys for many new Norconians.

Cherry Baker said the deal was done when she saw what her five-year-old home offered for what it cost.

"We had lived in Orange County for 18 years and were ready to move up to the next step, but to do so was about $1 million at the time there," she said. "Here, we bought a brand new house twice the size and with a bigger lot than what we could've got in Orange County."

The stigma of an Orange County invasion in Norco is unfounded, resident Pat Overstreet said.

"Almost all of us are Orange County transplants. I was when I moved here 28 years ago, specifically so I could have a horse in my backyard," Overstreet said. "I certainly wouldn't deny anyone their dream home and their dream acre. I have mine.

"I do worry about them carving every hill in Norco," she added. "And people moving here without concern for animals and saying, ‘gee, there's dust and smell and flies,' because they haven't done their homework."

Although she loves the rural atmosphere, Baker said there are a few things that irk her as well as her Hidden Valley neighbors.

"I talk to people all the time and the smell does bother everybody, especially when it rains. And it's nice to see horses walk by, but when they crap on your lot, that's not nice," Baker said. "The flies are annoying and, whenever it rains, the dirt trail in front of our house turns into a big mud pile. But you take the good with the bad. Every area has its drawbacks, too."

While these annoyances are tolerated today, many old-time Norconians fret there may be enough residents in the future who are not in love with equines and will turn things around.

"Some older residents feel they might be endangering our lifestyle," said Berwin Hanna, president of Norco Horsemen's Association. "We just keep an eye on it. It all depends on the number of animal-keeping people living here and on the City Council to keep this lifestyle from getting voted out."

While animosity does exist between old and new, their differences are not so extreme, Councilman Herb Higgins said.

"They moved here for the same reason we like it – the freedom and the open space," Higgins said. "It's the toys that are different. The older residents have the animals and the newer residents have speed boats and dune buggies, but the principles are still the same."

The destiny of Horsetown USA remains unknown, as do the ways in which the old and new will relate in the future. This uneasy divide may widen still, but it may also close, creating an altogether new experience for everyone.

"These people set in their lifestyle are in an older, small, rural town, and they don't want to change," Baker said. "But that's what happens when a city grows. You're not going to have the small-town thing forever."

Andrea Bennett can be reached at (909) 483-9347, or by e-mail at andrea.bennett@dailybulletin.com.