Maps, artist renderings and computer animation were presented to more than 100 residents at a neighborhood meeting Monday, touting a proposed housing development on the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains — but few accepted the high-tech fanfare.

Instead, many neighbors remained highly suspicious and demanded answers to the 110-home project that a local congressman is behind.

Rep. Gary Miller, R-Brea, representing Miller Development, is proposing to build homes priced from $1.6 million to $4 million at the site of a former Christmas tree farm known as Carrari Ranch. The city is expected to present a draft of an environmental impact report in four weeks.

But some residents have already gotten a head start in opposing the project by forming a neighborhood group Save Our Mountains Alliance. The group has hired a lawyer and a consultant and is preparing to pick apart the environmental report and Miller’s proposal at future public hearings.

Heading the opposition to the Carrari Ranch project is Sandra Maggard, who lives on Reales Street, just south of the proposed development. Like so many of the residences in the neighborhood, Maggard’s is a grand home, privately.

built under strict city ordinances. Everything from architecture designs to grading limitations were meticulously measured, according to Maggard.

“You don’t get to build the dream home you want, you have to do it according to city regulations,” said Maggard. “Why are there no rules for (Miller)? That’s the aggravating point.”

The 381-acre proposed project site consists of hillsides, canyons and ravines. Developers are hoping to build on 98 acres of the site with single-family homes ranging from 4,000 to 5,500 square feet.

Ken Ryan, of EDAW, the design firm representing Miller Development, told residents that 74 percent of the site will be set aside as permanent open space.

“Nothing beyond 98 acres; 110 homes is what’s proposed and no more,” Ryan said.

Currently, the project site falls into the unincorporated land north of the city limits and south of the San Bernardino National Forest. Its approval rests on both the city and the county’s Local Agency Formation Commission.

The city’s General Plan designates the site to be hillside residential and open space. Amendments to portions of the city’s General Plan and an addendum to the city’s hillside development regulations are among the requirements needed to approve the development.

Future traffic is one of the residents’ many concerns. The Carrari Ranch project, which is designed to be a gated community, will have one entry and exit point at Delphin Place. According to Ryan, two additional access roads leading to the project will be for emergency vehicles only.

After Monday’s meeting, Maggard blasted Ryan for misleading the residents, adding that one of the emergency access roads is a dead-end.

Maggard said she would have liked the city to be involved at the neighborhood meeting.

“The whole planning and approval process is greatly compromised if the Planning Department does not take responsibility to protect its residents from developers giving skewed and often inaccurate information,” Maggard said.

Ryan told residents Monday that according to the city’s traffic study, traffic flow at key intersections is expected to be good, or designated as class A level of service.

Many scoffed and some even laughed at the assessment that traffic will not have a significant impact.

“I’m not sure he said any accurate statements,” said resident Brent Jetton about Ryan. “They’re bending about 10 rules so this project can happen. This thing is set up to go through and there’s not a whole lot that we as a public can do about it.”

Issues of traffic, schools and park property are bound to come up when new developments are proposed, said Mayor Bill Alexander on Tuesday.

“Every time the development has gone farther north, there’s opposition to it,” Alexander said. “From what I have seen of it, it looks like a decent project.’

The controversy surrounding the project has pushed Carrari Ranch into the election spotlight with three open seats on the City Council, including Alexander’s. Prior to Monday’s meeting, members of Save Our Mountains Alliance have passed out fliers urging a vote for Alexander’s opponent because they believe the mayor supports the project.

On Monday, council members Rex Gutierrez and Diane Williams, who are both up for re-election, attended portions of the neighborhood meeting.

Williams said she couldn’t say whether she supported the plans because she hadn’t seen the details yet, but that the project has only one entrance for residents is a cause for concern.

Three years ago, the Grand Prix fire scorched the location of the proposed project and threatened many of the homes belonging to the residents at Monday’s meeting. The neighbors are certain that the road planned for the project are insufficient to move future residents in case of another fire.

According to Ryan, the developers are putting $750,000 into the construction of a new fire station slated for Heritage Park.

The fate of the Carrari Ranch project will determine the building plans of one nearby resident Alan Winston, who has placed his house plans on hold. Winston owns a lot at the corner of Reales Street and Delphin Place, at the entrance to the proposed project. He said if the plans are approved, he would sell his lot.

“Basically (the project) is going to destroy that whole area,” Winston said. “That area has been used for years for hiking. And when it’s been raining, those ravines are like rivers — there’s a gorgeous waterfall, and when they fill in those ravines, everybody’s afraid of what’s going to happen to all that water.”

According to the city’s initial study of the project, the site will be mass-graded in a series of tiers that would cut 1.7 million cubic yards of dirt.

Residents who built their own homes say they have all had to follow restrictions including how much dirt they can move and suspect that the project can go through because Miller has clout as a local congressman.

“I think that people should fight for what they want and Miller should have the right to do construction on where he can,” Jetton said. “But the city is supposed to be impartial and if they don’t take an impartial stance, then the whole system is screwed up.”