Agreement between homeowner’s group and development company New Urban West should clear the way for 380 homes

ESCONDIDO — After six long years of controversy and community divisiveness, the battle over the development of the former Escondido Country Club land is over.

In a statement issued jointly Wednesday by a homeowner’s group and development company New Urban West, the two sides announced they had reached a settlement that should clear the way for construction of 380 homes on the 109 acres of the former golf course in northwest Escondido.

New Urban West will pay the Escondido Country Club Homeowner’s Organization (ECCHO) a bit more than $763,000 as part of the agreement, a figure that represents the amount of money opponents have spent on lawyers, consultants and experts over the years while battling development plans, ECCHO attorney Everett DeLano said.

In 2017, a split Escondido City Council approved New Urban West’s “The Villages” project, but ECCHO filed a lawsuit challenging the approval on numerous grounds.

ECCHO, comprised of homeowners who live near the golf course, have been fighting development plans since 2013.

Last November, a Superior Court judge ruled in favor of the city and dismissed the legal case, but ECCHO filed an appeal that threatened to delay construction for a year or longer depending on future judgments.

New Urban West then said it was open to settlement negotiations that could include reimbursing ECCHO all the money it had spent in the past half-decade.

The settlement does not include a reduction in the number of homes that were approved for the acreage. The development company has said for several years that 380 homes were the least that could be built if the project were to be economically sound.

“We are pleased to have reached an agreement with ECCHO that makes the organization and its members financially whole, ends all litigation, and allows the long-awaited revitalization of the Escondido Country Club to proceed,” New Urban West said in the statement.

“Fortunately, for everyone, this long saga is now over. The blight will soon be cleared, property values will benefit, and the people of this community can begin to heal and come together.”

Added ECCHO in the statement: “Over the past six years, our community has endured great pain, stress and uncertainty. Today, that all ends.”

A spokesman for the city’s planning department Wednesday said work on the development plans has been proceeding at City Hall this year and though there are still some steps to be taken, he guessed construction could begin as early as the fall.

The future of the property has been hotly debated ever since the Country Club land was purchased in late 2012 by Michael Schlesinger, a Beverly Hills land speculator who shuttered the club and golf course a few months later, saying it was financially unsustainable.

A series of court challenges, a public vote, a well-publicized chicken manure incident, and other things ensued as residents of the area protested development plans.

Schlesinger sued the city, saying the City Council’s move in 2013 declaring the property could only be used for recreation or open space, violated his property rights. A judge agreed and the city then settled that suit.

Schlesinger then chose New Urban West to pursue development permits and agreed to sell them the land only after all permissions to build had been obtained, and only after all litigation had ceased.

As part of the settlement announced Wednesday, ECCHO said it won several concessions from the developer aside from the cash.

They said New Urban West has committed to provide residents in the existing area access to parks and trails in the new neighborhood at no cost to them, and that the company will fully mitigate all traffic impacts caused by the project, including the widening of El Norte Parkway and the installation of two traffic signals at key intersections on Country Club Lane.

They said that New Urban West has also agreed to assign a community liaison to handle concerns regarding construction issues.

“This has been a very difficult time in the history of our beloved community,” ECCHO said in the joint news release. “However, with these major concessions from the developer, we know our neighborhood can move forward with the confidence that our community will be protected and remain the jewel of Escondido.”

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