The Fontana Planning Commission on August 4, 2026 approved the construction of a 108-townhome subdivision with a density of 16.12 units to the acre on property at the northwest corner of Baseline and Palmetto Avenues.
The project proponent was Monte Vista Homes, which has proven very aggressive in seeking from the City of Fontana entitlements to proceed with high density projects. In the subject case, the parcel on which the homes are to be built is 6.7 acres.
The planning blueprint under which the development is taking place – the Walnut Village Specific Plan – is 46 years old, having first been derived in 1980. Throughout that time, no serious proposals for the development of the 6.7 acres had been filed with the city’s planning division. In 2024, the city adopted an updated version of the specific plan which upped the permissible density on the property to a range of 12 to 24 units to the acre.
In 1980 in Fontana, the average number of units permissible under its then-extant specific plans were eight units to the acre.
The 108-townhome project, consisting of Spanish-style and New England cottage-style structures by Monte Vista Homes at the Baseline Avenue/Palmetto Avenue site is the first development approved under the specific plan since its 2024 update.
During the presentation for the project, Fontana Associate Planner Cecily Session-Goins said, “This specific plan has been in place since 1980, but back in 2024, we rescinded the original specific plan and adopted a new one with a new land use plan for the areas that were underdeveloped in the specific plan.”
In order for the project to proceed, two existing single-family homes on the 6.7 acres will be razed.
In essence, the residential units will be attached, four to a group, making them four-plexes. There will be no yards to speak of for the homes, although the project is to include a so-called tot lot next to a 20-foot-by-30-foot grassy area. Access into the neighborhood will be made from both Baseline and Palmetto.
The Fontana Planning Commission’s chairman, Joe Armendarez, joined with the four other commissioners – Ricardo Quintana, Torrie Lozano, Dylan Keetle and Gilbert Roldan – in giving the project a unanimous thumbs up.