Law Would Ban Homes Near Planned Freeways

An proposal to prohibit residential development within half a mile of the corridors of three planned freeways met with general approval from the Board of Supervisors Tuesday.

The board did not vote on the ordinance, however, because its sponsor, Supervisor Bruce Nestande, said he wanted to reword it “to make it a little more precise.” He said he will introduce it again in a week or two.

The ordinance would prohibit new residential construction near the approved or proposed corridors of the Foothill, Eastern and San Joaquin Hills freeways.

Nestande said there were some areas along the San Joaquin Hills Freeway corridor where some developers may already have obtained approval to build homes. The revised ordinance would make provisions for those situations, he said.

“We have almost unanimous developer consensus on this,” Nestande said. “If people live in homes built right up to the corridor, they immediately become enemies to that corridor. . . . If you don’t go ahead and put some discipline around the corridors, they get very hard to develop.”