Riverside LAFCO approves Beaumont Point annexation after waiver to avoid creating island in Norton Younglove Reserve

The Riverside Local Agency Formation Commission voted July 24 to approve the annexation of the Beaumont Point specific-plan project into the City of Beaumont and related water districts, overruling staff concerns that the map would create an unincorporated island within the Norton Younglove Reserve portion of the county’s Multi-Species Habitat Conservation Plan. Commissioners approved the sphere-of-influence amendment to the San Gorgonio Pass Water Agency earlier in the hearing and then adopted option 2 for the reorganization after debate and public comment.

The Beaumont Point project, proposed by landowner Beaumont Point Partners, would annex about 540 acres and 11 parcels into the city and to water providers so the development can receive municipal services. Applicant representative Mike Canfield said the excluded Norton Younglove Reserve area is permanent open space managed by Riverside County and “never going to be used for any kind of urban development,” and urged the commission to accept the proponents’ justification not to include that land in the annexation. “This property is open space, never going to be used for anything for any kind of urban development,” Canfield said.

Commission staff recommended approving the technical sphere-of-influence amendment to San Gorgonio Pass Water Agency but warned that the proposed annexation boundaries would create a gap—an unincorporated…