392 homes planned for Escondido Country Club

The company chosen by Escondido Country Club owner Michael Schlesinger to create a future development plan says it hopes to build 392 homes on the abandoned fairways, surrounded by a green belt but consisting of no golfing element.

New Urban West said this week that the number of homes is necessary to pay for the upkeep of various planned amenities that will be paid for by new residents.

A tax assessment district that was earlier contemplated will not be pursued, the company said, based on negative feedback from residents who live nearby.

The company will continue to refine the plans and then submit them to the city within the next couple months to begin the years-long planning process. Should the City Council eventually approve the plans, New Urban West will only then buy the property from Schlesinger and build the project.

The long-awaited announcement was met with mixed reaction from the surrounding community which has been waging a battle for four years with Schlesinger.

Some who live in the area still want the golf course to return. Others understand that golf is out of the picture and now simply want a quality project. Others are sick and tired of the overgrown and fenced-off links because they are devaluing their property and want something, anything to replace the blighted course.

Mayor Sam Abed, whose council will ultimately decide if the project will be built, said the community needs to agree.

“I said two years ago, I said it a year ago and I say it now, we’re not going to approve any project that is not acceptable to the community or the Country Club,” Abed said Tuesday. “And I’m talking about the vast majority of the Country Club.”

But he also praised the developer for its efforts in meeting with the community over the past year.

“New Urban West is the only hope for Escondido and the Country Club to develop a quality project that provides valuable amenities to the Country Club residents and Escondido residents,” he said.

The number of homes planned for the project is only 38 fewer than Schlesinger proposed in a 2014 ballot initiative which was overwhelmingly rejected by city voters.

A pamphlet describing the plans began arriving in mailboxes of residents who live near the golf course on Tuesday.

The number of homes does not sit well with Mike Slater, the president of the Escondido Country Club Homeowners Organization (ECCHO).

“We haven’t had a meeting yet so I have to give you only a guess about what our initial reaction is, but I think the reaction of the ECCHO board and our supporters is that we will not support this New Urban West Plan,” Slater said.

“The voters defeated (Schlesinger’s) proposition for around 400 homes by over 61 percent in November, 2014. So I can’t see any support from the community for these many homes —392.”

In a written statement, New Urban West officials said they have spent a great amount of time crafting a plan that meets the community’s desires.

“Guided by their input, we have created a plan that features an expansive greenbelt and other amenities that will bring back the social fabric of the community that was once so vibrant.”

The company said it is proposing a “financially viable plan that will help breathe new life into a community that has suffered for far too long. Our hope is that we can move forward with continued input from the community as our collective work progresses toward an approved project.”

After years of losing money, the country club and golf course were purchased by Schlesinger, a Beverly Hills real estate speculator, in late 2012 and shut down within months. Schlesinger soon announced plans to build more than 600 houses on the land which infuriated the surrounding community.

Signatures were gathered and taken to the City Council which adopted new open space zoning designations for the land, essentially barring development. Schlesinger sued the city, saying that the existing zoning allowed housing development. To deny his right to develop the land was to destroy the value of his investment, he argued.

In 2014, Schlesinger was able to place on the ballot an initiative that would have allowed for the building of 430 homes on the land. Although he outspent his opponents by 10 to 1, the initiative was soundly defeated.

But later a judge ruled that Schlesinger’s rights had been violated by the city’s declaration of open space. Schlesinger eventually settled the lawsuit with the city and agreed to pick a respected development company to pursue a viable project. Part of the settlement included the provision that he no longer be involved in the process.

As outlined by New Urban West, the plan calls for three villages to be built on the fairways, all consisting of single-family homes which will sell from the low $500,000s to the high-$600,000s, which will match or exceed the value of existing homes in the area.

The two-story homes will range from approximately 1,800 square feet to 2,900 square feet with some being age-designated for seniors.

The entire project will be surrounded by a greenbelt ranging in size from 50 feet to 125 feet creating a buffer between the old and new houses.

The clubhouse will be rebuilt and a new swimming pool will be constructed. A gym facility, tennis courts, pickle ball courts and a professionally managed community farm will also be created.

The amenities will be available to all new residents of the project and, for a membership fee, to people in the surrounding community.

New Urban West has indicated it would like the city to help pay for upkeep of some of the amenities but Abed nixed that idea emphatically Tuesday.