Santa Clarita / Antelope Valley : City Council Approves Developer’s Revised Plans for Residential Project : Housing: Lancaster’s Del Sur Ranch will include nearly 2,500 houses and a man-made lake. But there are concerns about the location and water use.

LANCASTER —  Ending months of controversy, the City Council has approved a developer’s revised plan to build nearly 2,500 houses and an adjoining 21-acre private lake in a remote area, despite concerns about the project’s location and water use.

In a series of votes Monday night, council members accepted the Encino-based Larwin Co.’s request to reconfigure its original Del Sur Ranch project approved by the city in 1990. The change adds the man-made lake and replaces many original larger lots with smaller parcels.

If built, the 880-acre Del Sur Ranch would be the second largest residential project ever approved by Lancaster officials, Planning Director Brian Hawley said. Because of the recession, Larwin never began construction under its original plan and instead sought the revisions from the city.

Michael Nolte, an assistant to the president at Larwin, said the company believes that the lake, combined with an adjoining planned park, will provide the project’s estimated 8,000 residents with “a superb amenity” not found in any other housing development in the Antelope Valley.

Del Sur Ranch would be located about five miles west of any already developed portion of the city in an irregular area between 90th and 105th streets west, and from Avenue G to Avenue H-8. The property at the city’s far west end is mostly former alfalfa fields.

The Serrano Ranch project, a planned 4,732-unit, 1,775-acre community on the city’s far east side, is the only larger development approved by the city, in late 1991. But Hawley said he was not aware of any actions by the project’s partners to actively pursue its development.

Del Sur Ranch drew opposition from many homeowner leaders in the city who questioned the wisdom of an 8-foot-deep lake in the desert that will hold about 46 million gallons of water. Nearby residents also complained that the project will ruin their area’s now rural character.

The region’s other best-known experience with a developer-built lake occurred in the Lake Los Angeles area, where the 27-acre lake dried out when Watt Industries stopped adding water in 1981. The lake has remained dry ever since, and now residents want to change their community’s name.

Despite the concerns about the lake, which Larwin officials said will be fed by well-pumped ground water, an environmental impact report on the entire project predicted that it will ultimately use less water with the lake than in the original no-lake version that envisioned more landscaping.

Under Larwin’s plan, all Del Sur Ranch residents will be required to pay an annual fee estimated at about $50 to maintain the lake. Fishing and boating will be permitted, but swimming will be prohibited because the lake also will hold runoff water from the project.

Larwin’s plan also calls for a private swimming pool club and private beach along the man-made lake, both open only to project residents. Nolte said Larwin plans to develop a public boat launch area so that non-project residents can use the lake for boating under some conditions.

Under Larwin’s original development agreement and a subsequent time extension, the company is supposed to start some construction by next April. But the review of the lake project and final city approval of it took so many months that company officials expect to seek another extension.