Mountain Springs Planned Community

In the late 1980's a group of approximately 150 residents from Tuolumne County had the idea to fulfill a need for a golf facility and related planned community in a area of gently rolling hills about two miles south of the City of Sonora. The area was ideally located above the fog of the valley and below the snow of higher elevations allowing for golf on a year round basis. Access could be by one or more local roads. One from Lime Kiln road that intersected with Highway 108 and another route from Jacobs and Old Wards Ferry Roads provided more direct access to local commercial areas in South Sonora.

After forming three land partnerships the local investors acquired approximately 900 acres of land. They hired noted golf course designer Robert Muir Graves and gave up the agricultural tax exemption status of the Williamson Act when they started the 10 year withdrawal process. Construction of the course by local contractors began in 1989 and was substantially complete in the spring of 1990 when the golf course started operation.

During the 10 year period required for withdrawing the land from the Williamson act numerous ideas for the community that would complement the Mountain Springs golf facility were discussed and researched. The County planned for the development of the Mountain Springs Community as they addressed long term growth solutions in the County 1996 General Plan Update.

In 1998 the land partnerships decided to blend their ideals derived from the many years of living in Tuolumne County with a group that had previous experience in implementing quality planned communities with related commercial and recreational amenities. The Mountain Springs Joint Venture was formed in 1998 and the more detailed planning process for a community that would complement the existing golf facility began. Additional land was needed for a second vehicular access road from Lime Kiln and to adequately allow for circulation within the community. Approximately 200 acres of additional land was subsequently optioned bringing the overall plan to around 1,100 acres.

Numerous consultants that included land planners, engineers, accountants, environmentalists, and historians were hired and a number of development plans were studied and refined. A Community plan for 2,076 homes, less than two homes per acre, was submitted and Tuolumne County then required and oversaw the thorough Environmental Impact Report (EIR) and solicited comments from citizens and interested agencies. After a great deal of additional study and comment from agencies and citizen groups the Community Plan along with the EIR, Development Agreement, Tentative Map for the first phase, and required mitigation was approved by the Tuolumne County Board of Supervisors in September 2001. The plan as approved included 1,500 homes of various sizes and densities, a Village Center with hotel lodging, office and related commercial, and over 40% of the Community in open space and golf course. Because of continued concerns by local residents over the size of the community the planning approvals were withdrawn by the partnership in December 2001 to permit further study and refinements with additional input from County residents on how the community could be reconfigured and still address a portion of the Counties future growth.

After much additional study and numerous meetings with local individuals, groups, county staff, consultants, utility providers, environmentalists, etc the Mountain Springs partnership is proposing a revised plan that substantially reduces the homes to less than 900 homes for an overall density of less than one home per gross acre. The homes are proposed to provide for a range of housing with clustered housing in and around the golf course and lower density larger lots of approximately 2 acres and greater adjacent to other residential and agricultural areas in the north west, west, and south. As the community is currently proposed the total number of homes would include 800 retail homes in various price ranges and an additional 10% or 80 homes which are targeted to a moderate level of affordable housing. The Village Center would be designed to incorporate housing in closer proximity to the hotel and related commercial facilities. Open space, including over 6 miles of new community trails in conjunction with the Golf facilities, would still comprise over 40% of the community.

The information contained in this web site is intended to inform you of how we plan to address many of the issues related to the development of a master planned community and provide a another vehicle for public comment. This information will be periodically updated and refined as we receive your suggestions and conduct additional research. Addressing issues related to growth is not easy and we welcome your input. It is much easier to make adjustments and refinement early in the planning process. We sincerely hope you will work with us to be part of the solution as we move forward with the process of revising the Mountain Springs Community Plan. We want to hear your suggestions and recommendations on refining the plan for the Mountain Springs Community and encourage you to contact us and submit your information.