Lawsuit order against County and developer halts progress on LoveMore Ranch

In May of 2025, a group of residents in Joshua Tree entered into a lawsuit with San Bernardino County and the developer behind the LoveMore Ranch project, saying that the proposed project skirted around environmental considerations regarding wastewater treatment and stormwater run-off.

The proposed 64-home development in Joshua Tree known as the LoveMore Ranch has been sent back into the CEQA process after a decision in a lawsuit against the developer and San Bernardino County. A group of Joshua Tree residents entered into the lawsuit after they say the development and the county didn’t properly consult with the Regional Water Quality Control Board regarding a proposed packet wastewater treatment planned for the north side of the property.

In an order issued by San Bernardino County Superior Court Judge Jeffrey R. Erickson, the court agreed and said that important information about the wastewater facility and its potential environmental impacts was omitted from the environmental review process. The court also found that there wasn’t proper stormwater run-off impacts in the environmental review. After an updated hydrology study determined that water run-off could become a problem after construction, the court says that the project’s Mitigated Negative Declaration should have been recirculated for public review and comment.

The project cannot move forward until the applicant gets the project reevaluated to identify the deficiencies in the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) process, and the court has set another date for December.

The Joshua Tree Village Neighbors said that they will send out a press release soon through their newsletter, and we’ve reached out to LoveMore Ranch developer Axel Cramer for comment.

Another development is headed for undeveloped land in Joshua Tree: