Fifteen minutes before the 6pm meeting on Thursday, there was already a line snaking outside the Joshua Tree Community Center where a presentation was being prepped by the LoveMore Group about the “LoveMore Ranch,” a name given to the planned development on an 18 and a half acre lot that sits at 61650 Alta Loma Dr.
Currently the lot is open desert and it’s zoned as “single family residential,” and was sold for $300,000 in September of 2020. In those first few weeks, owner Axel Cramer says he and his friends hauled 10,000 pounds of trash to the Landers landfill and have been stewards of the land for the last four years.
Cramer was at the door greeting everyone as folks filed in to the Community Center to hear about the latest large-scale development to hit the hi-desert. Instead of a typical town hall meeting format, the community center had large displays around the room describing the project and its principles, along with similar info printed out and available at each table.
Other members of the LoveMore group sat at the front: – which included a Land Use Master Planner, Architects, Civil Engineers and Contactors – were already mingling with residents and the room filled up quickly.
LoveMore Ranch’s founder Axel Cramer began the meeting introducing the team and described what he calls the 5 Core Pillars behind the project: Nature, Sanctuary, Community, Lifelong learning, and a sustainable development model for the future. The Fifth generation San Diegan described his love of Joshua Tree and his background in impact investing – which is described on their website as “projects that balance financial returns with social and environmental benefits.”
Questions were going to be addressed in smaller breakout groups, and as Axel wrapped up the introduction one resident stood up to offer his feedback immediately:
“I’ll just speak. I think everybody here is on the same page. We think this is a disgusting money grab of a development. And our property, next to where we live… we are going to do everything we can to fight this development, tooth and nail.”
From that point on, it got pretty loose. Small groups formed around members of the LoveMore Ranch team where they fielded questions in room that was quickly turning cacophonous. While the information provided at the meeting and on the group website appeared to try and preempt questions about plant and animal habitat loss, stress on the water table, and dark skies concerns – as I walked around the room a lot of the questions seemed to center around the density of the development.
I caught up with Axel’s table – it was easy to spot as it was a few layers deep with residents asking questions at a rapid rate.
Soon, a question broke through from a resident wondering “why 64 houses?”
Cramer says that the 18 acre lot is zoned to accommodate anywhere from 57 to 115 homes – and the planned 64 homes were chosen for this project as it wouldn’t make financial sense if the number were below that. Cramer then reiterated that his bottom line isn’t just the money, it also includes the environment and the community.
Along with homes, the development plan includes a swimming pool, after-school programs, and shared gardens – which he said will be run by an HOA.
After what felt like a brief 90 minutes the meeting had to wrap up – and conversations dwindled down as community members filed out into the warm August evening.
Not every conversation overheard was critical of the project, with community members thanks for the group for the direct discourse the high-energy community meeting provided. But the fractured nature of the question and answer sessions left the end of the meeting without much sense of what really happened last night, or what will be happening in the near future with the project.
Axel Cramer says that the group and the county are still looking to receive feedback on the project, but next steps will include preparing to subdivide the lot and start building the infrastructure that the LoveMore Group says will “set a new standard for sustainable development.”
You can visit their website at lovemore.group where you can find frequently asked questions, renderings of the planned developement, and a form where you can submit your own comments to the group.
