Posted August 2026 | By Eric Engelbert | Updated as the project progresses.
La Habra's Westridge Golf Course Is Being Replaced by 534 Homes. The City Already Said No Once.
The Westridge Golf Course has occupied a 150-acre hillside in northern La Habra for decades. That is about to change. Lennar Homes filed a Vesting Tentative Tract Map in January 2023 to demolish the course and build 534 homes on the property, including 110 affordable apartments, 80 townhomes, 62 duplexes, and 282 single-family residences. The city of La Habra previously rejected a nearly identical proposal in 2020. This time, Lennar filed under California's Builder's Remedy law, which strips cities of most of their authority to deny projects that include a minimum percentage of affordable housing when the city's Housing Element is out of compliance with state law. La Habra's Housing Element was not compliant when the application was submitted, and the project has been moving through environmental review ever since.
This post covers the history of the site, how the project evolved from the rejected 2020 proposal to the current Builder's Remedy filing, what 534 homes on a former golf course actually looks like, and where the project stands today. For a broader look at La Habra's development pipeline, see the OC New Developments page.
The Golf Course That La Habra's City Council Tried to Keep
Golf course closures and conversions to housing have accelerated across the country as participation in the sport has declined and as the land underlying these properties has become more valuable for other uses. La Habra's Westridge Golf Course is part of that national trend, but the local story has an added layer of political conflict that stretches back years before the current proposal.
The property owners first engaged Lennar Homes around 2020 and brought a proposal to the La Habra City Council that would have produced 448 homes under the project name Rancho La Habra. That 2020 proposal was not just a housing application. Lennar packaged it with a substantial community benefit offer: a 16-acre public park, a 4.2-mile trail system, conversion of the existing clubhouse into a community center, approximately 80 acres of open space, a $1.5 million cash payment to the city for uses of its choosing, and a $1 million contribution to the city's affordable housing fund. The full benefit package was valued at approximately $40 million, with additional fees flowing to local schools.
The La Habra City Council rejected that proposal. The reasons were primarily political. La Habra voters had passed Measure X, a slow-growth initiative that restricted large residential developments, and elected officials were reluctant to approve a project that would test that measure's limits. The city said no, Lennar walked away, and the golf course kept operating.
What changed between 2020 and 2023 was not the golf course. It was state housing law.
Builder's Remedy: Why the City Cannot Simply Say No Again
California's Builder's Remedy is a provision within the state's Housing Accountability Act that limits a city's authority to deny or reduce the density of residential projects when the city does not have a valid, state-approved Housing Element on file. Every city in California is required to update its Housing Element on a cycle aligned with its Regional Housing Needs Allocation. When a city fails to do that, Builder's Remedy becomes available to developers as a tool.
Under Builder's Remedy, a project qualifies for protection if at least 20 percent of its units are affordable to lower-income households, or if 100 percent of the units are affordable to moderate-income households. Lennar's Westridge Hills proposal includes 110 affordable apartments, which represents approximately 21 percent of the 534 total units. That threshold is sufficient to trigger Builder's Remedy protections.
What that means in practice is that La Habra cannot deny the project based on inconsistency with its general plan or zoning ordinances. The city can still require full environmental review under CEQA, request design modifications, and impose standard conditions of approval. But the core right to build the project at the proposed density cannot be blocked the way the city blocked the 2020 Rancho La Habra proposal. A neighboring city, La Canada Flintridge, tested this by attempting to deny a Builder's Remedy project outright. A court ruled against the city in 2024, ordering it to process the application. La Habra is aware of that precedent.
La Habra adopted a compliant Housing Element after the Westridge Hills application was submitted, but the Builder's Remedy status attaches at the time of application filing. Lennar filed in January 2023 when the city was out of compliance, and that protection carries forward through the project's review process.
What 534 Homes on 150 Acres Looks Like
The Westridge Hills site encompasses approximately 150 acres on the hillside north of Imperial Highway between Beach Boulevard and Idaho Street. The project proposes a mix of housing types that reflects both the topography of the site and the affordability requirements that triggered Builder's Remedy protection.
| Project Name | Westridge Hills |
|---|---|
| Prior Project Name | Rancho La Habra (rejected 2020) |
| Developer | Lennar Homes |
| Address | 1400 S. La Habra Hills Drive, La Habra, CA |
| Site Area | Approximately 150 acres (former Westridge Golf Course) |
| Total Units | 534 (282 single-family, 80 townhomes, 62 duplexes, 110 affordable apartments) |
| Affordable Units | 110 apartments (~21% of total, qualifying for Builder's Remedy) |
| Community Amenities | 8,700 SF private community center, private roads, open space, detention basins, native habitat conservation areas |
| Application Filed | January 2023 (Builder's Remedy) |
| 2020 Proposal | 448 homes (Rancho La Habra), rejected by City Council |
| EIR Status | Draft EIR in progress; scoping meeting held November 2024 |
| RHNA Contribution | 534 units toward La Habra's 803-unit 6th Cycle obligation |
The project includes a privately maintained 8,700-square-foot community center for residents, private internal roads, landscaped slope areas, native habitat conservation areas, and detention basins to manage stormwater runoff from the graded hillside site. The 2020 Rancho La Habra proposal had offered public parks and trails as community benefits in exchange for city approval. The 2023 Westridge Hills filing does not carry that same public benefit package because Builder's Remedy removes the negotiating dynamic that made community benefits necessary in the first place.
Where the Project Stands: Not Approved, Under Environmental Review, and Facing Organized Opposition
Westridge Hills is proposed, not approved. The city issued a Notice of Preparation for the Draft Environmental Impact Report in October 2024 and held a public scoping meeting in November 2024. The Draft EIR is still being written. No entitlement vote has occurred. The golf course continues to operate while the review process unfolds.
The opposition that blocked the 2020 Rancho La Habra proposal never went away. Jim Lees, who founded the Save La Habra group in 2020, returned to the City Council podium at the November 2025 council meeting along with other residents to speak against the project. The same concerns that drove thousands of residents to write to the city in 2020, primarily traffic, density, and the loss of open space, remain the core arguments against Westridge Hills today. The community context has not changed even though the legal context has.
Builder's Remedy does limit what the City Council can do, but it does not eliminate all discretion. The city's own Notice of Preparation states that the council is not required to approve the project. What Builder's Remedy prevents is denial based on general plan or zoning inconsistency. The city can still shape the project through the CEQA process, require mitigation measures, and make findings based on substantive environmental impacts. If the council were to deny the project after the EIR on grounds that Builder's Remedy does not protect against, Lennar would almost certainly challenge that denial in court, as other developers have done successfully in similar situations across California.
After the DEIR is completed and circulated for public comment, the city must respond to all substantive comments and certify a Final EIR before the project can go to the Planning Commission and City Council for entitlement hearings. Given the complexity of the site, the organized opposition, and the volume of CEQA topics to analyze, the project is unlikely to break ground before 2027 at the earliest, and the timeline could stretch further depending on how the approval process unfolds.
What Westridge Hills Means for La Habra Buyers
Westridge Hills would be the largest single residential addition to La Habra in the city's recent history. The 534 units span a range of product types, from the 282 single-family homes that will appeal to move-up and equity-rich buyers, to the 80 townhomes targeting first-time buyers and downsizers, to the 110 affordable apartments serving households who cannot access the market-rate product on the site. That breadth is unusual in a single project and reflects both the site's scale and the affordability mandate built into the Builder's Remedy filing.
The hillside location adds genuine value. Westridge Golf Course sits above the flatlands of central La Habra, and the upper portions of the residential site will have views that do not exist anywhere else in the city's current housing stock. Single-family homes on the higher pads will command premiums. The 8,700-square-foot private community center and the internal open space and trail areas will further differentiate the community from La Habra's older suburban neighborhoods.
For buyers watching La Habra, Westridge Hills is the long-range story. The project is still years away from delivering homes. If you are looking at La Habra now, the relevant question is what the current resale and smaller infill projects offer while you wait for this community to develop. There is meaningful activity in the city beyond Westridge, and the overall trajectory of La Habra's housing element compliance makes it an increasingly active market to watch.
Questions About La Habra New Construction or the Westridge Hills Timeline?
Westridge Hills is the biggest residential story in La Habra right now, but it is years from delivering homes. If you want to buy new construction in La Habra today, there are new construction homes available now that I can show you and compare against the broader resale market. I also track Westridge Hills as the EIR progresses and can keep you informed when the timeline becomes clearer.
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