RIALTO The Planning Commission unanimously gave its stamp ofapproval to a 726-home development on county land that would becomepart of the city s south end Tuesday night.

The Rancho El Rivino project by Young Homes will be located on landthe city would annex just north of El Rivino Road on both sides ofCactus Avenue.

he City Council will likely take up the proposal in January.

The 165-acre development is one of a number of recent projects to bebuilt south of Interstate 10. In September, the council approved aheavy industrial center by Panattoni Development that will be builton Riverside Avenue and Agua Mansa Road.

To make the El Rivino project viable, the city will need to constructa new fire station to service the area. City officials are currentlyin negotiations with Young Homes on a development agreement to fundconstruction of the fire station and other necessary infrastructure.

At the meeting Tuesday night, a number of Bloomington residents wholive near the project raised concerns that it would transform what iscurrently a sparsely populated area.

They said they moved to the area to get away from an urban setting.They also urged the commission to delay its decision until afterNovember

2007, when Bloomington residents will vote on whether toform a city.

It would probably be in the commission s best interest to postponeits decision, said Eric Davenport, chairman of the group ofresidents seeking to incorporate.

Rialto Development Director Mike Story addressed the issue by tellingcommissioners that their task was only to consider the project. Hesaid the Local Agency Formation Commission, not Rialto, would makeany decisions regarding annexation.

Other residents complained that the project will cause schoolovercrowding and worsen traffic problems.

In addition, attorneys for the TXI Riverside Cement Co., which owns acement plant south of the project, sent a letter to the city raisingconcerns about whether the project would be a good fit for the area.

The project s impacts on the area were all taken into consideration,said Kent Norton, of Michael Brandman Associates, which produced theEnvironmental Impact Report on the project.

He said the development would provide impact fees to compensate forits effects on traffic and local schools.

Contact writer Jason Pesick at (909) 386-3861 or via e-mail atjason.pesick@sbsun.com.

BS Ranch Perspective:

I knew that this was not going to go that smoothly for the Rialto Planners or Planning Department. This is not anywhere near over with and will probably take up in January when they have this tabled for. The City Council is Smart they moved this to the next Council to deal with, and they also are betting that the People of Bloomington will forget that the time has passed and gone by for the planning of the taking of the land or annexing of the land. That way there will be less of an argument in January when they plan to take this up again, the move is entirely to hope that the people of Bloomington forget and they can annex the property without any argument from the Bloomington people.

BS Ranch