Salt Development Moves Ahead on Anaheim Hills Apartments

Salt Development has moved forward with a controversial plan to build nearly 500 apartments and six luxury homes in Anaheim Hills, while creating a 46-acre nature preserve.

The Anaheim Planning Commission is expected to consider plans by the Salt Lake City-based developer to build the seven-story building and homes on 76 acres along Deer Canyon in the hilly neighborhood south of Yorba Linda, the Orange County Register reported.

The property lies south of the 91 Freeway and Santa Ana Canyon Road between a shopping center to the east and homes to the west and south.

Plans for the $500 million project known as Hills Preserve call for a Mid-Century Modern-style building with 498 luxury apartments, from studios up to three-bedroom units. It would include a rooftop pool, bowling alley and sauna.

The seven-story building would be on the lowest part of the property and sunk into the hillside to preserve views.

The project would also include a parking garage, six large-lot estate homes, plus two pads for commercial buildings, likely medical offices and a restaurant.

Salt would develop one side of the property and donate 46 acres, or 60 percent of the land, to the city to expand its adjacent Deer Canyon Park Preserve. The 103-acre wilderness, acquired in 1994, is now used for hiking and horseback riding.

“I feel like we’ve taken an extra step to do something that’s really worthy of Anaheim Hills,” Salt Development co-founder Thomas Vegh told the Register. “We’ve taken that step to make this special.”

The project, proposed in late 2022, has drawn fierce opposition from local residents worried about traffic and a development they say would strain roadways and water supplies, displace wildlife and create fire risks.

“The last time we had to evacuate, it took me 90 minutes to go four miles,” Doug Hill, who has lived in the Anaheim Hills since 1996, told the newspaper. He said local infrastructure was never intended for dense housing.

An environmental impact report done for the development said wildfire evacuation during a worst-case scenario would take 210 minutes if the apartment homes are built, compared to 186 minutes if they are not, according to the Register

Salt, which pledged to give $500,000 to a new city trust fund to finance affordable housing, said the apartments are expected to rent from $2,400 to $16,000 a month.

If approved by the Planning Commission, the project would likely go to the City Council next month. If approved, the developer could break ground as soon as next summer.

— Dana Bartholomew