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Growth in the Inland Empire

Beaumont mirrors a population expanding at warp speed.

By Michael J. MedleyPublished: October, 2005

Is Beaumont the little town that could? That question reverberates as loudly as the earthmovers in an Inland Empire neighborhood near you. Riverside and San Bernardino counties represent the fastest-growing areas in the United States, an unprecedented growth spurt that is, among other places, touching down at the eastern edge of the Inland Empire in the once rural Beaumont.

The town with a population of just over 11,000 a scant five years ago has a current population of 21,000 and the conventional thinking is that the number will reach 100,000 by the time the process is done. Seemingly from week to week, large tracts of land that were once roamed by grazing cattle and sheep _ the Inland Empire until just a few years ago also was defined by its huge dairy farms and as a way station en route to the desert or a secluded route to northern San Diego County _ have been graded and turned into new housing. Do not be fooled by the city limits signs that may read a population figure of 18,000. The sign painter can’t possibly keep up with Beaumont’s growth.

Two years ago, Inland Empire Family Magazine published a comprehensive story on the impact of the region’s phenomenal growth, the problems that come with that growth and the efforts being made to make it manageable. Like watching a baby grow, unassuming dots on a map have burst forth as bustling cities seemingly overnight. The September 2003 report noted that by 2020, the twin counties’ population will have grown by 2 million people (the size of Houston), to more than 5.5 million residents (the size of Toronto, Canada).

Over the past two decades, places like Corona, Moreno Valley, Rancho Cucamonga, and Temecula have gone through Beaumont’s present-day growth pains _ each with varying degrees of success. This story will focus on what some of Beaumont’s leaders may have learned from the challenges in those communities and how that will affect the families who are racing to make the little town that could, the big town that might.

Schools, health care
Two items of particular interest to families considering moving to a new area are schools and health care. Dr. Frank W. Passarella, superintendent of the Beaumont Unified School District, Greg Bowers, executive director of facilities for the school district, and Gary Curto, director of development for San Gorgonio Memorial Hospital, are among those fighting the good fight to stay ahead of the growth curve.

Today’s landscape is déjà vu for Passarella. “It’s very similar to what Murrieta and Temecula went through,” he says. “I used to work for the Murrieta school district years ago and I watched when they went from a very small town to just a building boom, a thriving community.”

When Passarella entered his current position as superintendent in July 2002, the district’s total enrollment was about 3,700 students. In 2005, he says, “We’ll have 5,807. Now, that doesn’t sound like a lot of growth, just a couple thousand students, but if you look at the percentage gained, we’ve gained about 42%. Everything is hitting us. We’re trying to build schools, acquire property, and remodel the existing schools so that they look nice for the community.”

Staffing those new schools has become a full-time job. “Assistant Superintendent of Personnel Dan Brooks hires teachers all year long,” says Passarella. “Most school districts hire teachers at the beginning and they’re pretty well done. This year we’ve already hired about 40 new teachers.”

As facilities director, Greg Bowers not only oversees the planning, design and construction of the new schools, he also tracks the city’s residential population growth. Some 28 residential developments fill the city’s planning department books. “We’re trying to stay even with the growth rate. It takes six weeks to frame a house; (it) can take us up to five years from the very conception of the project, environmental studies, property acquisition, designing the school, going through all the approvals and the jurisdictional issues.”

That is a potential five years before construction even begins. Those numbers may seem daunting to some, but Bowers is a man with a plan. “We’ve been very proactive. Our mid-range plan, which we are working on right now, is nine projects. We’ll have three new elementary schools beginning construction within the next year to year-and-a-half. For long-range planning, as our community grows, we’ll probably end up at buildout with three comprehensive high schools, four to six middle schools, and 22 to 25 elementary schools.”

Passarella and Bowers also express a desire to make the new schools community-friendly. “We really believe in neighborhood schools,” says Bowers, and he gives a great deal of credit to the residential developers for their cooperation in realizing his vision of schools that kids can ride their bikes to from home.

A standout
The district’s crown jewel is Beaumont High School, currently under construction and scheduled to open in time for the 2006 school year. It will have an opening day enrollment of about 2,600 students and Passarella uses that number to put Beaumont’s growth into perspective. “Our district is growing so fast that we’re building a high school to hold the capacity of what the whole school district used to be. One school is going to be as big as the entire district was five years ago.”

Drive by the San Gorgonio Memorial Hospital today and it appears as much like a low, rambling ranch home as it does a medical facility. If Gary Curto has his way, that image is going to change dramatically over the next five or six years, as dramatically as the area’s population. Curto is the hospital’s director of development and he is working to raise the funding and coordinate the effort that will lead to a six-story medical-surgical tower, a new ER and intensive care unit, and a helipad for the transport of patients in extreme need.

The hospital is located in the neighboring city of Banning, but serves Beaumont and the entire San Gorgonio Pass area. “We are the only game in town,” says Curto. “We’re the only game between Redlands and Palm Springs. Our statistics tell us that there could be 220,000 people in the pass area between Calimesa and Cabazon by 2025.” That is a far cry from the collection of small towns where people might stop for gas or a bite to eat on their way to Palm Springs.

The hospital is already feeling the impact of that growth. This past summer Curto said, “We’re seeing volume in our hospital that we normally see in the fall or winter months. Summer months are usually quieter,” because “flu, pneumonia and those kinds of things are not happening, but we’re seeing more kids with broken bones with all the families moving in. Our ER business has gone up about 15-20% over the last two years. Last year we saw 18,000 and this year we’re expecting 20,000.”

Wal-Mart’s coming
Wal-Mart, which targets consumer areas on the rise, recently received approval to build a store in the city and other “big-box” stores are expected to follow. Plans suggest a new regional shopping center near the convergence of the 60 and 10 freeways, something that could provide more jobs in the city and make Beaumont more than another bedroom community that offers its residents less expensive housing and a long commute to work.

Also, a recently updated General Plan could mean fewer homes being built and restrictions on expansion south of I-10. As of this writing, the plan had not yet been considered by the City Council, which must make the final approval of the changes.

Beaumont schools chief Passarella grew up in Orange County and spent part of his youth working at Disneyland. He used a Disney-esque phrase to describe Beaumont’s growth, saying it could be “an E-ticket ride.” Fast, furious, and maybe even fun.

Michael J. Medley is senior writer at Inland Empire Family Magazine.

Inland Empire numbers
Here is a breakdown of key areas of growth in the Inland Empire - Beaumont, Temecula, Corona and Rancho Cucamonga:

City of Beaumont
Population Trend: 1970: 5,484; 1980: 6,818; 1990: 9,685; 2000: 11,384; 2005: 21,000 (est.); 2006: 31,000 (projected)

As of Aug. 12, the city of Beaumont Planning Department reported 10 residential projects currently under development with a total of 13,457 units, and 18 projects not yet under development with an estimated total of 12,164 units.

The Beaumont Unified School District reports a total enrollment of 5,807 students, K-12, for the 2005-2006 school year.

The city of Beaumont was incorporated in 1912.

For information about the city, contact City Hall or the Beaumont Chamber of Commerce.
City Hall: 550 East Sixth Street, Beaumont, CA 92223
951.769.2850 www.ci.baumont.ca.us
Chamber of Commerce: 726 Beaumont Ave., Beaumont, CA 92223
951.845.9541 www.beaumontchamber.com

City of Temecula
Population Trend: 1990: 27,099; 2000: 57,716; 2004: 82,083

The Temecula Valley Unified School District had an enrollment of 25,000 students, K-12, in the 2004-2005 school year. The district includes 14 elementary schools, two charter schools, one K-8 home school, six middle schools, one continuation high school, one high school independent study and three comprehensive high schools.

City of Corona
Population Trend: 1970: 24,519; 1980: 37,70; 1990: 76,095;
2000: 124,966; 2004: 145,398

The Corona-Norco Unified School District reported an enrollment of 45,659 students in the 2004-2005 school year. The district includes 29 elementary schools (4 in Norco), 7 middle schools (1 in Norco) and 8 high schools (2 in Norco)

City of Rancho Cucamonga
Population Trend: 1980: 55,250; 1990: 101,409; 2000: 127,743
2004: 159,346

The city is served by five separate school districts _ Alta Loma, Central, Cucamonga, Etiwanda, and Chaffey Joint Union High School _ with an approximate enrollment of 25,000 students in the 2004-2005 school year.

Job Growth
The Inland Empire’s job market is expected to grow modestly this year, creating about 20,000 new jobs, according to Chapman University’s Economic Forecast.

Reasons for the 2% increase include growth in the nation’s real GDP, construction spending on residential and nonresidential projects in the Inland Empire, and an improvement of the export market.

However, a spending slowdown in construction and a continuing decline in the number of permits in the second half of this year will affect spending and job formation in this sector into 2006.

Total dwelling units are forecast at 45,184 this year, down from a record 51,687 in 2004.

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