San Bernardino County supervisors reapprove 64-lot Lovemore Ranch subdivision in Joshua Tree after court ruling
The board voted 4-1 on Nov. 3 to vacate its 2025 approval and approve the tract again with a recirculated environmental document. Supervisor Paul Cook voted no, and 14 people spoke.
San Bernardino County supervisors on Nov. 3 threw out their 2025 approval of the Lovemore Ranch subdivision in Joshua Tree and approved it again, after a court ordered more environmental review on two issues.
The vote was 4-1, with Supervisor Paul Cook opposed. Supervisor Joe Baca Jr. made the motion and Supervisor Curt Hagman seconded it, according to the clerk's record. Fourteen people spoke during the hearing.
Tentative Tract Map No. 20443 splits a vacant 18.49-acre parcel north of Alta Loma Drive, between Hillview Drive and Sunset Road, into 64 home lots of roughly 7,200 square feet up to 13,068. Two lettered lots hold recreation space, open space, an on-site wastewater treatment plant and a drainage basin. The applicant is Lovemore Investments LLC.
The court ruling
The board first approved the tract 5-0 on April 8, 2025, after rejecting the Morongo Basin Conservation Association's appeal, according to the Land Use Services Department report.
A group called Joshua Tree Village Neighbors then sued the county. On June 4, 2026, San Bernardino Superior Court sided with the group on two limited points, the report says.
The court said the county needed to consult the regional water quality board about the wastewater plant. It also said the environmental document had to be recirculated for more review of stormwater and drainage. The court rejected the group's other claims and ordered the county to set aside its approvals.
The revised review
The county recirculated its mitigated negative declaration from Aug. 4 to Sept. 3. The new version says peak stormwater runoff after construction would top current levels, so the project is expected to use an on-site basin holding at least 20,233 cubic feet, possibly combined with storm drain pipe, to bring flows back down.
The Colorado River Basin Regional Water Quality Control Board's first letter, dated Sept. 3, said the wastewater plant and its effect on groundwater needed more consideration, according to the report.
County staff met with water board representatives Sept. 21. A revised Oct. 9 letter replaced the first one. According to the county, it confirmed the wastewater system will go through the water board's own permit process after the county acts, and it raised no substantive concerns about the county's analysis.
The county received 62 other comments, the report says. They raised traffic, density and appearance, and questioned whether a full environmental impact report was needed.
Staff wrote that the court had not required an environmental impact report. The report says the tract's density of about 3.5 units per acre is under the zone's limit of four.
The report also cites the state Housing Accountability Act. As the report describes that law, an agency cannot reject a housing project that meets objective standards, or cut its density, without written findings of a specific health or safety harm that cannot be avoided.
In addition to required notices, the county advertised the hearing on Z107.7 FM in Joshua Tree, the report says.
