County approves Lovemore Ranch (again)
The first time most residents heard of Lovemore Ranch was first in August of 2024 when developer Axel Cramer presented the project during a community meeting in Joshua Tree. Since then, the development has faced setbacks in the form of appeals, court cases, and in San Bernardino on Tuesday morning: a Mitigated Negative Declaration (MND) redux that put the project back in front of the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors.
Lovemore Ranch is a 64-home subdivision planned for an 18.5 acre Single Family Residential zoned lot in Joshua Tree. The lot sits in a low-density residential use category, which allows homes with a minimum lot size of 7,200 square feet. Amongst those 64 lots are two non-resident lots: a recreational space in the middle of the property and an onsite wastewater treatment plant, which would sit alongside a detention basin planned for stormwater runoff on the north side of the property.
The previous MND was set aside by a court ruling in June of this year in a lawsuit brought by the Joshua Tree Village Neighbors. San Bernardino County Planning Manager Paul Toomey gave the board background on what was missing from the previous document: a consultation with the Regional Water Quality Control Board and stormwater detention design options.
“So in summary, the reconsideration of the Lovemore Project requires that the board consider the initial Mitigated Negative Declaration that added additional information and clarification as required by the court order,” he told the board.
That corrected MND was recirculated amongst 132 parties by mail, along with a Public Notice published with local news outlets. Toomey says that the staff suggestion is that the revised document is adopted to move the proposed development out of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) process.
In public comments on the item, thirteen people spoke up against the project. That included many members of the Morongo Basin Conservation Association (MBCA), which was responsible for the original appeal of the project’s approval.
Many of the comments said that the current MND reapproval process was simply a paper shuffle without any real additive environmental analysis of the project. Other public commenters included Baback Naficy, who is the lawyer that represented the Joshua Tree Village Neighbors in their case against Lovemore and the county.
You can read all public comments below.
Other public commenters were more colorful in their description of the concerns they have about the project, such as Joshua tree resident Emily Felt.
“Let me say it one more time. As a resident of Joshua Tree, this will be devastating to our town. People are already making plans to sell their house and move away if this goes through… and I mean, would you want to live in sewage town? Would you want to live next door to a sewage facility? Would you want to visit a place that has sewage smell everywhere?”
Lovemore Investments LLC principal and development frontman Axel Cramer also spoke to the board, saying that the two items that the court challenged the MND on had been fixed.
“The project before you today, including the tentative map, conditions of approval, CEQA mitigation monitoring and reporting program and technical studies as well as the vision is the same project you approved last April with no changes. I’m excited to bring housing to Joshua Tree in a way that is sensitive to both the environment and the spirit of the place and respectfully ask that you reapprove the project. “
After the close of public comment, discussion was concise and swift with the County Board of Supervisors. Supervisor Curt Hagman noted that the development as proposed would be less dense than the current zoning allows, with only 64 lots proposed vs. the allowed 92.4.
He also stated that what was in front of the County board on Tuesday morning was more about notification of the public rather than water analysis.
“That’s why I make sure just the residents know that what we do today is not the end-all be-all for the septic. It has to be approved by another entity. All those different things will be taken into account at that point,” he said during closing comments.
Keep up on county public notices on our Public Notices page.
Chairman and Third District Supervisor Dawn Rowe said that regardless of any future developments, she would like to see improvements to the area in regards to traffic.
“We have visitors that come into the national park. We have an elementary school at the offset of Sunny Vista. Traffic regardless of any development has been a concern on that east-west and I’d like to look at doing some traffic improvements and I can bring those forward at a later date but I just wanted to let you know that that’s something that I’d like to see improved regardless of any development,” Rowe said.
The public hearing was closed and called to a vote, with four voting yes to the approval and Supervisor Paul Cook voting no.
Public Comments
The public comment period at the meeting was held to 3 minutes for each speaker. Thirteen speakers in total offered their feedback on the proposed approval of Lovemore Ranch. Developer Axel Cramer also gave a public comment at the end of the period.