That the City Council authorize the City Manager to execute a project processing and reimbursement agreement with Lennar Homes of California, LLC for the expedited processing of the proposed Westridge Hills Project at 1400 South La Habra Hills Drive. 

On January 17, 2023, Lennar Homes of California, LLC ("Lennar") submitted a preliminary application for the proposed Westridge Hills Project, pursuant to the requirements of the Senate Bill (SB) 330, the Housing Crisis Act of 2019 and the Housing Accountability Act (Government Code Section 65589.5). This preliminary application was followed by the subsequent submittal of a development application for the Westridge Hills Project on July 13, 2023.

The Westridge Hills Project proposes to replace the existing Westridge Golf Club, located at 1400 S. La Habra Hills Drive, with 534 residential dwelling units, consisting of 142 two-unit dwellings (also referred to as “duplexes” or “duets”), 110 affordable-rate senior apartment units, and 282 single-unit dwellings; a centrally-located private community center for use by the development’s residents; habitat enhancement and conservation areas; and other open space areas. The Proposed Project is located on the same site as the prior Rancho La Habra Project, which was denied by the La Habra City Council on November 2, 2020.

On August 11, 2023, the City sent Lennar a letter stating that the development application submitted on July 13, 2023, was deemed incomplete. Lennar submitted a revised development application on September 12, 2023, which the City deemed incomplete on October 12, 2023. On January 18, 2024, Lennar submitted additional revised application materials, which were sufficient for the City to deem Lennar's development application for a Vesting Tentative Tract Map complete on January 19, 2024.

On February 21, 2024, the City released a Request for Proposals (RFP) from qualified professional environmental consultants to perform a review of the Westridge Hills Project in compliance with California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). The RFP was released through PlanetBids, an eProcurement software company used by the Community and Economic Development Department to procure consultants to augment department staffing. According to the Bid Summary prepared by PlanetBids, a total of 69 vendors registered with PlanetBids were notified of the RFP, three prospective bidders were identified, and one proposal was received by the RFP deadline of March 11, 2024. Staff reviewed the proposal from Infrastructure Engineers, a Bowman company ("Bowman"), and deemed that the proposal adequately provided the scope of services requested by the RFP.

On April 1, 2024, the City Council approved and authorized the City Manager to enter into an agreement with Bowman to prepare an Environmental Impact Report (EIR) pursuant to the requirements of CEQA for the proposed Westridge Hills Project (the "Bowman Agreement"). The Bowman Agreement included a not-to-exceed cost of $218,956 to prepare the EIR and they anticipated to complete the work within an 18-month timeline. Once the City received a deposit from Lennar to cover the costs associated with the Bowman Agreement on June 20, 2024, the preparation of the EIR began with a kick-off meeting on July 10, 2024, followed on October 24, 2024, with the release of public notice of preparation (NOP) to prepare an EIR and a public notice of a public scoping meeting to identify environmental concerns that should be studied by the EIR. The scoping meeting was held on November 7, 2024, in the La Habra City Council Chamber. 

If the preparation of the EIR had followed the schedule assumed in the Bowman Agreement, the EIR would have been ready for review by the Planning Commission in January 2026. However, Lennar did not provide final edits to the expanded project description, a task that Bowman anticipated to be completed in Month 3 (September 2024), until August 27, 2025. This nearly one-year delay has significantly impacted the timeline. Based on the timeline provided in the Bowman Agreement, the remaining tasks are to prepare the Draft EIR, route it for public review, respond to public comments on the Draft EIR, prepare the Final EIR and present it to the Planning Commission. If this process proceeds as planned, it is anticipated to take fourteen months to complete, which would result in presenting the EIR to the City's Planning Commission in March 2027.

On October 22, 2025, Lennar submitted an email to the Acting City Attorney requesting to expedite the City's processing of the proposed Westridge Hills Project, as well as a signed copy of the attached processing and reimbursement agreement (Lennar Agreement), which was prepared by the Acting City Attorney. The Lennar Agreement would require Lennar to pay the direct cost of the City bringing on staff from consulting firms, previously approved by the City Council, to provide on-call consulting services related to Planning, Building Safety, Engineering and Traffic. These firms include: City Advisors, Bowman, MIG, VCA Code, Wildan, Transtech, and True North. These consultants would assist City staff in expediting the processing of the proposed Westridge Hills Project. The Lennar Agreement requires Lennar to cover the cost that the consultants will charge the City for their services, plus an additional 25% to cover City staff time and costs associated with managing the consultants.

Lennar is currently paying the costs associated with the Bowman Agreement, plus an additional 25% to cover City staff time and costs, as well as the flat fee required for the processing of the Vesting Tentative Track Map (VTTM) ($6,532). The Lennar Agreement would require Lennar to cover any costs associated with Bowman expediting the schedule, in addition to the existing not-to-exceed cost of $218,956 in the approved Bowman Agreement. 

Lennar has submitted a proposed schedule that would result in the Planning Commission's review of the EIR and the VTTM for the proposed Westridge Hills Project on April 27, 2026, nearly 11 months earlier than currently anticipated by the 18-month schedule in the Bowman Agreement. Staff has reviewed Lennar's proposed schedule and believes that it is unrealistic and will need to be modified based on the availability of the City's on-call consultants. Staff has also provided this schedule to Bowman so that they can identify reasonable timeframes to expedite their tasks related to the preparation of the EIR and the associated cost. If the City Council approves the Lennar Agreement, staff will reach out to the City's on-call consultants to identify reasonable timelines for assistance and associated costs, as well as the specific individuals to be assigned to this project.

The Lennar Agreement states that individuals used by the City to expedite the Westridge Hills will be selected from the City’s existing list of previously approved on-call consultants, at the sole reasonable discretion of the City Manager or his designee(s). The Lennar Agreement requires the City to inform Lennar of the identity of these outside consultants and the proposed scope of services to be undertaken. Lennar will have ten business days from the date of such notice to notify the City that a proposed consultant may have a conflict of interest, or that the proposed scope of services is not within the scope of activities contemplated by the Lennar Agreement for the purpose of expediting the processing of the proposed Westridge Hills Project.

The Lennar Agreement requires Lennar to maintain a deposit with the City of at least $40,000 to cover the costs associated with the consultants selected to expedite the proposed Westridge Hills Project. If Lennar fails to make timely deposits required by the agreement, the City may immediately terminate the expedited processing. In addition, Lennar may terminate the agreement at any time by notifying City in writing. In the event of such termination, the City will terminate any efforts to expedite processing of the proposed Westridge Hills Project and any processing and consideration of the project will occur within the City’s standard processing times.

Lennar is currently responsible for the payment of a flat fee of $6,532 to process the VTTM, as well as the actual costs associated with the Bowman Agreement (not to exceed $218,956), plus an additional 25% to cover City staff time and costs.

If approved by City Council, the proposed Lennar Agreement would require Lennar to pay the direct cost of the City retaining additional contract staff from its previously-approved on-call consulting firms to expedite the processing of the proposed Westridge Hills Project. The Lennar Agreement would require Lennar to cover the cost that these on-call consultants charge the City for their services, plus an additional 25% to cover City staff time and costs associated with managing the consultants. The Lennar Agreement requires Lennar to maintain a deposit with the City of at least $40,000 to cover the costs associated with the consultants selected to expedite the proposed Westridge Hills Project. If Lennar fails to make timely deposits required by the agreement, the City may immediately terminate the expedited processing.