By Andrew Alonzo | aalonzo@claremont-courier.com

The deadline for the public to weigh in on Village Partners’ revised proposal for the Village South development has been extended from May 22 to July 20.

This comes after Village Partners notified the City of Claremont on March 23 of its intention to alter part of its Village South project from a mixed-use development of 429 units to 140 three-story “row house” style townhomes, and claimed the revised plan was exempt from additional California Environmental Quality Act review.

The extended public comment period is due in part to a dense, 1,004-page exemption statement document Village Partners delivered to the city on May 11. The report, “Village South Townhome Project CEQA Exemption Statement of Reasons,” (viewable at claremontca.gov, search “Environmental Quality Act Documents”) contains hundreds of pages of studies and research supporting the developer’s contention that the new plan should not be subject to updated environmental review.

“It’s not fair to the public to have 60 days to review a 31-page document, and then on day 50 … get a new 1,004-page document that is on the same topic,” Claremont City Planner Chris Veirs said, referencing the report. It “was not really something we’d asked for, but it is clearly an extension of this CEQA determination notice that we were doing. So that’s why we are recirculating and allowing another 60 days for the public to look at this additional documentation on the site.”

Comments can be emailed to Veirs at cveirs@claremontca.gov or sent via U.S. Mail to P.O. Box 880, Claremont, CA 91711.

A conceptual rendering of a triplex row-townhome design proposed for the Village South site. Photo/courtesy of City of Claremont

Village Partners’ lengthy “statement of reasons” report, prepared by EPD Solutions, “describes the reasons supporting a finding that the proposed Village South Townhome Project is exempt from further CEQA review pursuant to its consistency with an adopted Specific Plan for which an [environmental impact review] was prepared. Residential development projects that are undertaken pursuant to a specific plan for which CEQA documentation was previously prepared are exempt from further CEQA review if the projects are in conformity with that specific plan and the conditions described in CEQA Guidelines Section 15162 have not occurred.”

Christopher Burt, Village Partners’ attorney, notified Veirs of the developer’s request to compare its new project with the Village South Specific Plan’s — Claremont’s zoning guide dictating the 24-acre site’s development — certified environment impact report in a May 8 correspondence.

“EPD’s analysis confirmed the truth already established by the Section 65589.5.1 Notice – the Project is exempt from CEQA,” Burt wrote.

Burt did not respond to requests for comment.

“The real problem is, is this new project consistent with the Village South Specific Plan? And that’s the more important question,” Veirs said. “Right now, we’ve got this back and forth over this new state law [AB 1633] regarding CEQA, but the real crux of this question is going to be compatibility with the existing zoning and general plan guidance for the site. We can’t make a final determination on that until we have a complete submittal. We may or may not have it at this point.”

The city is a week into its 30 day “completeness review” of the report as well as additional documents such as revised project plans and justification statements, Veirs said. Should the submittal be determined complete, the City has another 30 days to determine if the project is consistent with zoning and development standards. The city has 90 days to review and make a determination on the applicant’s CEQA exemption. It’s unclear what might come after that if the city determines it’s not valid.

“We need to circulate this and give the public an opportunity to review it as well,” Veirs said. “I mean, that’s the whole purpose of CEQA and there’s laws to informing the public.” In addition, the city must also compare emailed copies of the report with hard copies delivered to city hall Tuesday to check for possible discrepancies.

“Even if the EPD Report is not in final form, the applicant’s submittal of the report has potentially triggered deadlines under the State’s Housing Laws,” Veirs wrote in a May 19 letter the city sent out to stakeholders, adding it was unclear if the EPD report was “in final form.”

“For example, the EPD Report is not signed and includes several blank pages and missing figures,” read the letter. “On May 11, 2026, the applicant emailed a link to the EPD Report and its appendices to the City as separate files (rather than one fully-assembled file).”

Village Partners’ request for alterations to the development will cost money to review.

“When you start talking about experts who are doing the analysis on the developer’s side, the city is going to have to go hire its own experts to peer review that material,” Veirs said Wednesday. “So that’s another thing that we’re going to be working on. That’s one of the things that in the next few days we are probably going to have to get out some sort of response as to impact to overall fees … so that we can take into account any estimated costs that we have from our consultants that we’re going to have to hire.”

Veirs said the city will be reimbursed however.

More information is available on the “South Village Development” page at claremontca.gov.