Yorba Linda : Council Rejects Proposal to Build on Shell Land

The City Council unanimously denied a plan that would have allowed more than one home per acre on part of a 275-acre parcel owned by Shell Oil Co., a move intended to “retain the character of Yorba Linda,” Councilman Irwin Fried said.

At the Tuesday night meeting, attended by about 300 residents, many of them members of the Organization of Unified Concerned Homeowners (OUCH), the council denied an amendment to the city’s General Plan that would have allowed three homes per acre in the unincorporated hilly area north of the city. A total of 275 homes would have been built, but the rest of the acreage would have been open space.

Barbara Gordon-Freeman, an OUCH member, said the organization wanted Yorba Linda to remain rural. “Most people in Yorba Linda are low-density in their philosophy,” she said.