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Merced County Backs 16,000-Home Development

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Sep 3, 2008 3:33 pm US/Pacific

Merced County Backs 16,000-Home Development

MERCED (AP) ―

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Despite concerns about water shortages and high foreclosure rates, Merced County is allowing plans for a 16,000-home development to move forward.

Developers say the new community of Laguna San Luis west of Los Banos would take 30 years to complete and would ultimately house 45,000 people.

The Merced County Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to accept plans for the development. The project must still pass environmental reviews before it receives final approval.

Critics say the development would create pressure on farmers' dwindling water supplies and cause real estate values to decline in one of the regions hardest hit by the country's subprime mortgage crisis.

The planned housing development is the largest ever proposed in Merced County.