Issue link: https://imageup.uberflip.com/i/1291633
10 SOLERA DIAMOND VALLEY | OCTOBER 2020 By Dick Roppé, Resident Usually when writing an article, I have a good idea where I want to go with it. Not the case this time. Unless you have been pandemically sequestered at home and don't go out much, you might not be aware that something is happening to the property across from us on the south side of Mustang. I know my curiosity was piqued when I saw black fencing going up, water lines being installed, traffic being metered, and ten huge grading vehicles corralled just south of Mustang. It can't come as too much of a surprise that the vacant land to the south and west of us would someday be developed. Someday has arrived. I decided to take on the difficult and tedious (onerous too) task of looking for answers. I wanted factual information not just the speculation and rumors that seemed to be floating around the "Island." The land that is being developed can be identified by the surrounding short black plastic fencing. It is bordered by Warren, Mustang and Poplar. The property east of the fencing is vacant for now. At first, I thought it might be appropriate for SDV management or the board to send out information to the residents. That was a no go. I made calls and left phone messages with the Hemet planning and engineering departments, no luck. Exasperated, I finally called the City Manager and was told that they would get back to me. Later that same day the office called and let me know that Lennar was the builder. That's all they would tell me. But now, at last, I had a place to start! I'm not going to understate the amount of time and persistence it took to contact a living and knowledgeable person at Lennar. I made phone calls, left messages and sent several emails to Lennar. It seemed that the only way I was going to get any information was via email or chat. No results there either. I finally made contact with a "live" representative and was given the name of the project manager. Another step forward. I told the manager I was working on an article informing our residents about the Lennar project. He said he would have to clear any release of information with his boss. Clearance was granted and a call arranged. The following are the talking points of our conversation: The grading will be completed in 90 to 120 days. Lennar is scheduled to start building models April 12, 2021. The models are scheduled to open in August 2021. Homes will be constructed in phases and be market driven. At build out there will be 294 homes – single and two story models. My take is that these dates might be fluid. Another developer (unknown) owns the vacant land to the east. This parcel will either be developed or sold to the Hemet Unified School District for a school site. I hope this "investigation" has shed some light and answered some of the questions we all have. If You Build It, They Will Come Note: The deadline for submission of this article was September 10th. Subsequent to that date, a meeting was set up by Steve Day of Neighborhood Watch and held at The Lodge on Friday, September 25. The information in this article was obtained from the builder and may or may not be in conflict with the information presented by the city.