By Anthony Saude

Chino – The tension during the December 19 City Council meeting was so thick you could cut it with a knife, the holiday season did nothing to dissipate the feeling.

A proposed development of 43 single-story, ranch style homes on the corner of Francis and Yorba avenues was on the agenda and it had already been denied by the Chino Planning Commission by a 3-2 vote on December 4. The developer of the Francis Estates, Borstein Enterprises was there to appeal the decision, requesting the zoning be changed from 2 units per acre to 3.6 units per acre. Eriik Pfahler, senior vice president of Borstein Enterprises was reported as saying, “we aren’t going to build on 20,000 square foot lots, It just doesn’t make financial sense”.

The proposed development is located in an unincorporated part of San Bernardino County that falls into the Chino sphere of influence. The city would annex the parcel of land in to the city so it could be connected to the city’s sewer system.

The developer went to the council hoping that they would reverse the previous decision by the planning commission only to be rejected again. The council vote was a tie, Mayor Ulloa and councilman Gary George voted against the project. Councilman Paul Rodriquez and mayor pro tem Tom Haughey voted for the project. Councilman Earl Elrod was absent from the meeting so without a majority vote to overturn the previous decision the decision to deny the project stood.

Mayor Ulloa was reported as saying that to vote to overturn the decision for such a tiny area just doesn’t make sense to her.