Council keeps Wineville Marketplace hearing open, asks developer for concessions on trails, gateway and north‑side improvements

The Jurupa Valley City Council on Thursday declined to approve the Wineville Marketplace project and instead continued the public hearing so staff and the developer could negotiate additional conditions raised by council members and residents.

The project before the council would amend the general plan and rezone a 33‑acre site at Limonite Avenue and Wineville Avenue to allow 232 residential units and about 24,000 square feet of neighborhood‑serving commercial space. Senior staff said the developer is proposing to reduce previously approved commercial acreage to about 3.67 acres and to build a mix of single‑family homes, townhomes and clustered units. The staff presentation also said the project would provide major street and utility improvements, trails, five open‑space areas and an inclusionary housing obligation estimated at about $1.1 million if paid in lieu.

Diversified Pacific, the applicant, defended the design and outreach process. "We have spent over five years of time and resources to plan the new home community," Nolan Legio, the company's vice president for forward planning, told the council. Matt Jordan, a managing partner, added, "We have tried to approach this in a most collaborative way with the major stakeholders in this community," and said the team was prepared to accept a set of concessions to address council concerns.

Residents who live near the site were sharply divided. Opponents, drawn largely from long‑time equestrian neighborhoods, said the rezoning to PUD‑2 and the project scale threaten the community's rural, horse‑oriented character and will worsen traffic on already busy Limonite Avenue. "PUD 2 would also be in sharp contrast to and sandwiched in between the nearby equestrian neighborhoods," one speaker said, urging denial. Supporters argued the development would provide badly needed housing and local retail jobs, aid the city's RHNA obligations, and pay for road and utility improvements.

Key council concerns centered on: the project’s potential to alter allowable future density under California’s density‑bonus laws; the adequacy of proposed traffic and equestrian trail treatments; how much of the promised infrastructure would be built rather than waived under future state incentives; and the condition of the Limonite corridor (north side) adjacent to Sky Country.

Councilmembers asked the developer to confirm a short list of commitments before bringing the matter back to the dais. During deliberations the applicant signaled willingness to accept several items discussed earlier by staff or the planning commission — including a condition for three‑rail vinyl fencing on the north side of Limonite or a $300,000 in‑lieu payment to the city for those improvements — and to consider gateway monumentation and a corral facility at the commercial center.

Staff also provided a technical clarification during the hearing: while some hypothetical density‑bonus scenarios discussed by the council produced much larger theoretical unit counts under certain state laws, staff noted that those outcomes would require the developer to secure substantial affordability subsidies and satisfy multiple state requirements before the city would see such an outcome in practice.

With no clear council majority to approve as presented, the body voted to leave the hearing open and continue the item so staff can work with the developer on (at minimum) the north‑side Limonite improvements, agreed‑upon trail and equestrian treatments (including DG equestrian tread where appropriate plus a parallel sidewalk), a gateway element, and a clearer infrastructure fair‑share package. The public hearing remains open; staff will re‑notice the continued hearing date once negotiations conclude.