The Press Enterprise has been following a story that basically culminated in a failed bid to build more homes in the very southern portion of Menifee.

You can read the history here...

http://www.pe.com/..../PE_News_Local_H_land25.241b3fa.html

And the results of the outcome here...

http://www.pe.com/..../PE_News_Local_S_habitat03.3a23215.html

To sum it up, Anheuser-Busch owns a lot of land along the south-eastern border of Menifee and Murrieta. The County wants to extend Clinton Keith road east to Winchester Rd, but the road would cross into Anheuser-Busch's land.

In an attempt to do things fairly and equitably, the County entered into an agreement to swap properties with Anheuser-Busch. The County would get the company's present property of 658 acres, and in exchange the County would give Anheuser-Busch 265 acres of land that it owned.

One caveat with this, is that the 265 acres of County land is currently marked as wildlife conservation.

The County obtained this parcel of land in 2002 from a couple of families that lived on it for 70 years. The families sold this land to the County with the agreement that the County would maintain it as conserved for wildlife.

As soon as the exchange took place, the Anheuser-Busch company planned to subdivide it into a 3,100 unit housing development.

That caused those two families to issue a lawsuit to block the exchange.

Just last Monday, June 9, the Riverside County Regional Conservation Authority ruled on the matter, and made the exchangement agreement null and void.

As to what happens next is uncertain, but it might mean eminent domain proceedings against Anheuser-Busch, to get the land the County needs to extend Clinton Keith Rd.

Labels: Anheuser-Busch, Clinton-Keith-Road, Eminent-Domain

My husband and I are very intrigued to find out if anyone knows about the two bronze statues of kids playing at the construction site at Clinton Keith and the 215. We noticed the first one awhile back and saw over the weekend that a second one has been added. The site has been graded for some time but seemingly no work is happening currently.

Thanks!

Labels: Clinton-Keith-Road, Murrieta, Statues

Three Comments!

The Traffic along Newport Road is awful in the AM. I am concerned about what will happen with Centex at The Lakes is completed and the Newport Road Extension to Winchester. Does anyone know if there are plans to widen Newport, between Menifee Road and Antelope? It would appear that the island down the middle would need to go?

Second- What about plans for a fwy bridge at Holland or Garbani, in addition to an onramp? This would alleviate a lot of the traffic.

Third- I have seen the light poles on the floor at Scott and Antelope for the last week, it would be nice to see them up and working sometime soon!

FYI: I have heard a few plans from Murrieta leaders. I understand that Clinton Keith construction will begin next year and the plan is take it all the way to Winchester. Also, there is supposed to be new bridges, about 6 lanes built at Scott Road/215 and Clinton Keith/215 and also at Baxter Rd, where on onramp/offramp will be. This is in preparation for the new hospital off Antelope in 2008 (See previous listing, there was an article in the Californian last month).

Labels: Antelope-Road, Centex-at-the-Lakes, Clinton-Keith-Road, Newport-Road, Scott-Road, Traffic