In a secretive session from which the public was excluded conducted on the day before Thankgiving, the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors apparently worked out the final details and then ratified the sale of 1,253 acres of “surplus” flood control property to an entity owned by a developer who has emerged in the last several years as one of the the most generous donors to the board members’ political war chests.
The outcome of the negotiating session and the vote it entailed was announced in a room located on the Fifth Floor of the county administration building behind double barrier consisting of a gate and a locked door beyond which members of the public are denied access. Immediately after the meeting concluded, county officers were closed, rendering information relating to whether the sale has been effectuated un available until December 2.
It is believed, but has not been confirmed, that the agreed-upon price for the acreage is $93 million, or $74,221.87 per acre.
The tentative deal, which was partially prevailed in documents that were contained as within the agenda packet for the regularly scheduled November 19 meeting of the board of supervisors on involves 1,252.21 which lie within what is now referred to as the Etiwanda Heights Neighborhood and Conservation Plan Area, contained within the current Rancho Cucamonga City Limits. The property, set amidst what under normal conditions is a dry alluvial creek, during fall, winter and spring rainstorms transforms into a raging river, was used historically by the San Bernardino County Flood Control District to manage stormwater runoff from the San Gabriel Mountains flowing south into both the Day Creek and Deer Creek streams. Over the past four decades, according to Noel Castillo, San Bernardino County’s chief flood control engineer and Terry Thompson, the director of San Bernardino County’s real estate services department, improvements made by the San Bernardino County Flood Control District, including the Day Creek and Deer Creek Debris Dam, spreading grounds, and channels, have rendered the property unnecessary for flood management and surplus to San Bernardino County Flood Control District needs.
The deal that was reportedly finalized late Wednesday morning is, the Sentinel is informed, the culmination of negotiations which began in September 2023 between developer James Previti and his representatives on behalf of his company, Frontier Enterprises, and the San Bernardino County Real Estate Services Department, including its director, Terry Thomas. Those exclusive discussions, given clearance by San Bernardino County Chief Executive Officer Luther Snoke, ripened into an understanding that Previti’s company was qualified to take on the development of the property, knowledgeable individuals within the county have said. Previti reportedly expressed interest in the full 1,253 acres, while indicating that he was not prepared to undertake a comprehensive project at once. In response, on October 22, 2024 the board of supervisors officially reiterated its declaration that the 1,253 acres of by the San Bernardino County Flood Control District-owned property is not needed for flood control use, pursuant to County Policy 12-17, Water Code Appendix Section 43-6, and Government Code section 54221(f)(1)(N). Thereafter, the San Bernardino County Surveyor’s Office prepared updated legal descriptions of three distinct areas of the property, referenced as the South Area contain ing approximately 730.94 acres, the Central Area containing approximately 320.32 acres, and the North Area containing approximately 200.95 acres. The property has been redefined as consisting of 1,252.21 acres.
At some time prior to November 19, 2024, the county reached a tentative agreement with Previti, which specify that he is to pay $93 million plus interest for the property and complete the transaction within a five-year original term, and that if he is “unable to complete the purchase in either a single acquisition for the entire property, or in multiple acquisitions that total the entire developable property, [he will] have the option to extend the original term for five more years following the expiration of the original term.”
To actuate the agreement, Previti is required to pay the San Bernardino County Flood Control District $2.5 million within fifteen days of the county’s approval of the agreement. If he is to extend the agreement another five years toward the end of the first five-year term, Previti “shall submit an additional extension deposit of $2,500,000.00 to the San Bernardino County Flood Control District at least 10 days prior to the expiration of the original term.”
Previti is required, within one year after the approval/signing of the agreement, to submit a minimum of 60 acres of the property that he intends to acquire in the first phase for the county’s review, provided that such portions shall consist of entire acre parcels within the South Area.”
The tentative agreement, a copy of which was contained in the back-up material for the November 19 board of supervisors meeting agenda, requires that Previti, as his company’s development of the property proceeds, acquire property to be set aside to me mitigation requirements imposed by what the agreement refers to as “resource agencies,” such as the California Department of Fish & Wildlife, “and as may be necessary to meet the required amount of mitigation land needed to develop the target parcels.” , within the Central Area and North Area.
The tentative agreement states that, “Approximately 159 acres of the property is subject to an open space easement that was approved by the board of supervisors on September 8, 1986 and granted to the county as mitigation for the Day Creek Water Project. The open space easement that is held by the county will remain on the Property if the San Bernardino County Flood Control District sells the property.”
In 2017, when the City of Rancho Cucamonga was holding public discussions with regard to the 4,085-acre to 4,115-acre North Eastern Sphere Annexation Project, which encompassed what was then refereed to as the 1,200 acres of flood control property, municipal officials indicated that just 579 of the 1,200 flood control district acres would be developed. In the tentative agreement for Previti’s purchase of the 1,252.21 acres, there is no limitation on development of the property beyond the 159 acres to be preserved as open space.
The tentative agreement does not require Previti to act as the owner/developer of the subdivisions to be built on the acreage, and it allows him to sell the property, at his own discretion to any purchasers, as long as he provides back to the county 50 percent of the profit – that is, the difference between what he pays to buy the land from the county flood control district and the amount he obtains by selling it.
In preparation for finalizing the agreement, Previti, who is the president and CEO for Frontier Enterprises, located at 2151 E. Convention Center Way, Suite 222 in Ontario, had Richard Munkvold, who is the chief financial officer for Frontier Enterprises, form a limited liability company, Rancho Etiwanda LLC. Richard Munkvold signed the articles of organization for Rancho Etiwanda, LLC, located at 2151 E. Convention Center Way, Suite 222 in Ontario, on November 12, 2024.
When the board of supervisors considered the purchase and sale agreement with Previti and the accompanying escrow instructions On November 19, it delayed final action on the matter, due to what was described as “missing paperwork,” until December 3.
Of a sudden his week, however, it made an urgency announcement of the Wednesday morning meeting at which the deal was to be finalized. The meeting took place in the Magda Lawson Room on the fifth floor of the county administration building, a small meeting room from which the public is normally excluded.
Previti, with his business partner, Jeff Burum, has donated since 2020, over $300,000 to members of the board of supervisors or committees having a bearing on their campaigns or ones having a direct impact on them both politically and financially. Reportedly, Previti and his companies – Frontier Homes, Frontier Enterprises, Frontier Communities, FH II LLC, Rancho Etiwanda LLC. – will participate in the development of the 1,253 acres in tandem with Burum and his company, Diversified Pacific.