Nuevo Energy Co. is again seeking to entitle more than 800 acres north of Brea for residential and neighborhood retail development.
In November, Houston-based Nuevo, a big independent producer of oil and gas in California, filed an application with Brea to develop a 13-acre parcel in the city. Now a company official said Nuevo plans to file a similar application with the county instead covering 797 acres in adjacent unincorporated land. The area is east of the Orange (57) Freeway, between Lambert Road and Tonner Canyon Road.
In filing to develop 56 single-family homes on the Brea parcel, the company withdrew a previous filing with the city covering the entire 800-plus-acre area and calling for 1,445 homes, a golf course, retail development, natural open space, a trail system, neighborhood parks and continued oil production operations.
That plan, dubbed Brea Highlands, had generated opposition among Brea residents who consider it the last bastion of undeveloped space between themselves and the intrusion of greater Los Angeles into Orange County. The initial filing was put on hold when a group of Brea residents put an initiative on the city ballot which, if passed, would have required projects like Brea Highlands to undergo the scrutiny of a public vote. That initiative failed in November.
It is unclear how closely Nuevo’s planned filing with the county will resemble its original plan for the site.
“We’re in the early stages of working with the county, so there’s not any more specifics at this time,” said Karin Knapp, director of public relations for Nuevo.
“It will be a predominately residential project with small commercial developments,” said Josh McDonald, public relations director for the Orange County planning department. “Our indications are that Nuevo will be filing a more detailed document in the very near future.”
Whatever Nuevo submits would be subject to change as it moves through the county’s planning process.
Jones & Stokes, a Sacramento-based environmental planning and natural resources management group with an office in Irvine, is preparing an environmental report for the site. Jones & Stokes officials were unavailable for comment, but the company’s Web site includes a description of the Brea Highlands project and notes that environmental issues include encroachment on the habitat of the California gnatcatcher and remediation of damage done by past oil and gas operations.
Nuevo acquired the acreage in 1996 from Unocal Corp. The company said last year that it intended to sell part of the land and other parcels in California to raise up to $50 million in cash. Nuevo Chief Executive Douglas Foshee said at that time that his company was “not in the real estate business.” However, local real estate sources said the land did not attract top-dollar bids because it was not entitled.
Nuevo declined to comment on its plan for the land once it is entitled, but industry sources said its options would be to joint venture with a development company, sell the land to a single developer or sell the land piecemeal to several developers. n
